Camtasia vs. Captivate, my two cents

 

I’ve been dealing with the same software quandary as others creating e-learning: work with Adobe Captivate or Camtasia?  And it really comes down to, what are you trying to create?  Both products offer different resources, so try to become familiar with what they offer and go from there.

I recently worked on a company orientation project that involved Powerpoint slides and screencast training of software.  At the time, I had to make a hasty decision about which software to use for the project.  I chose Camtasia for the trial, and successfully completed my project.

Once my 30-day trial with Camtasia was up and I prepared to purchase the software, I realized I should give Captivate a trial.  I’ve been playing with the trial of Captivate and reading various forums, but I’m going to stick with Camtasia (see below for links).

A quick list of the elements that swayed me to Camtasia:

– zoom-and-pan effect in screen recordings
– Powerpoint add-on to record the screen
– timeline editor (instead of slides like Captivate)
– multiple options for file formats (MOV, AVI, MP4)
– price – approx. $300

    Here are some resources I’ve found helpful in making my decision to stick with Camtasia for my purposes.

    – An extremely thorough comparison of Captivate and Camtasia by Michael Hanley

    -Summary of presentation on Captivate and Camtasia – be sure to read the comments at the end of the blog, lots of good feedback there.
    – Good example to demonstrate the zoom-and-pan effect in Camtasia

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