CamStudio Quick Start

CamStudio Recorder allows you to capture cursor movements, menu selections, pop-up windows,
layered windows, typing, sounds and everything else you see on your screen.

Important Note: With CamStudio, once you record your presentation / window you will not be able to
edit any settings or any part of it. It is advisable to define all the settings PRIOR to recording. The
steps to set the settings are found in section 2.

Section 1
Opening CamStudio Recorder
• Go to Start > All Programs > CamStudio > CamStudio

To start recording, click the red button. A rectangle will

appear for you to select the area you want to record.

• When you want to stop recording, click the blue stop

button. A dialog will appear for you to name and save the
file.

• To pause a recording to adjust your screen, click the

pause button. You can resume recording by clicking on
the record button again.

Minimizing CamStudio

CamStudio is minimized to the system tray instead of the taskbar. To restore CamStudio,
double click its icon in the system tray.

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Section 2
¾ Setting Regions
From the main menu, choose Regions >Region or Fixed Region or Full
Screen

1) Region
Before recording starts, you can define an arbitrary rectangular region with the mouse.
When you press on the record button, the cursor turns into a pen on cross-hairs, which
you use to define a rectangular region on your screen by click-dragging the left mouse

button.

2) Fixed Region…

You can capture a fixed-size rectangular region. A dialog allows you to define the size of
the region in pixels.

If the Fixed Top-Left Corner checkbox is not selected.

Before the recording starts, you can move the fixed-size

region around the screen to determine where you want the
input area to be.

If the Fixed Top-Left Corner checkbox is selected.

Recording will start immediately when the Record Button

is clicked. The region of capture is specified by the Left,
Top, Width and Height values of the dialog above.

If the Drag Corners to Pan checkbox is selected, you can drag

either one of the four corners of the recording region (indicated
by the flashing rectangle) with your mouse during recording. The
mouse cursor will change to a four-pointed arrow when it is over
one of the corners. When this happens, click and drag the region
to the new location.

3) Screen

The entire computer screen is captured.

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¾ Setting Video Options
From the main menu, choose Options >Video Options

Setting the video options allows you to optimize your video

recordings by choosing between the file size, quality and frame
rates of your video files.

The quality setting determines how nicely your picture is

saved. A lower value means a lower picture quality but
also a smaller file size. Only some compressors use this
value.

Auto Adjust
Use the Auto Adjust settings to set the Key Frame Rate,
Capture Rate and Playback Rate automatically through the
slider.
Shift the slider to the left to increase the frame rate and to the right to reduce file size. It
is better to have it located in the middle.

¾ Setting Cursor Options

From the main menu, choose Options > Cursor options

Setting cursor options can help illustrate the action you are
recording by drawing attention to the area where the action
happens. The following cursor effects can be selected:

Hide Cursor

The cursor will be hidden during screen capture

Show Cursor

Use Actual Cursor – The actual shape and

position of the cursor will be recorded during
screen capture.

Use Custom Cursor – Replace the recorded cursor with a

customized one.

Use Cursor From File - Replace the recorded cursor with a

cursor that is loaded from file.

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Highlight Cursor

When this option is selected, the recorded cursor will have a highlight area around it. This helps in
calling attention to the movements of the cursor. You can set the shape, size and color of the highlight
area.

¾ Recording Audio from Microphone

From the main menu, choose Options->Record audio from
microphone

When enabled, CamStudio will record your voice input from the
microphone while it is capturing video. You need a sound card
with an attached microphone to use this option.

Setting Audio Options for Microphone

From the main menu, choose Options->Audio Options->Audio

Options for Microphone
Use this dialog box to set the recording format and compressed
format of your audio.

Volume - Use this to adjust the input volume of your microphone if your recorded audio is barely audible.
If CamStudio is unable to locate your volume control, you will need to adjust the volume manually
through Start : Programs : Accessories: Entertainment : Volume Control.

Recording Format -- The recording format is the format your soundcard use to record your voice from
the microphone. Its main attributes are samples per second (measured in kHz), mono/stereo input, and
bits per sample (usually 8 or 16 bit). Larger values for samples per second and bits per sample will
result in better recording quality, but at the expense of the movie file size.

Compressed Format -- This is the format that will be saved with your movie file. You can click on the
“Choose Compressed Format” button to select another compressed format. After recording your movie,
CamStudio will attempt to convert your audio from the recording format to the compressed one.

Your choices for the compressed format are determined by the recording format. If you change your
recording format, the compressed format will also change automatically.

Interleave Video and Audio – Interleave your audio and video for smoother playback on a slow device
such as CD-ROM. This will also allow better synchronization of your video and sound content. A value
of 1 frame/milliseconds will mean full interleave. Larger values will mean less interleaving.

Use system method for audio recording

If you set this checkbox, CamStudio will use certain system commands (MCI commands) to perform the
recording of audio from your microphone. This method is more stable and may give better sound quality
in some systems. If you experience low audio quality when recording from CamStudio, but managed to

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obtain high quality recordings from your system's Sound Recorder, you may want to consider setting this
option.

¾ Recording Audio from Speakers

From the main menu, choose Options->Record audio from speakers

By selecting this option, CamStudio will record the output from your
speakers while it is capturing video. This is ideal for recording a
gaming session or a movie stream. You will need a sound card with
speakers attached to use this option.

Please note that not all soundcards support this function. (Most modern
and branded soundcards usually allows you to record from your
speakers)

Setting Audio Options for Speakers

From the main menu, choose Options >Audio Options >Audio Options for Speakers

Most of the time, you only need to adjust the Playback Volume and Recording Volume.

Playback Volume
The Playback Volume controls the volume of your speakers. The sound signals going to your speakers and
can originate from a variety of sources. Examples include sound from CD, Microphone, MIDI playback
and Wave playback.

Recording Volume
The Recording Volume controls the volume of the recording line.

Important: For a good quality recording, it is important that both the Playback Volume and Recording
Volume are not set too high.

Recording Line Configuration

By clicking the Automatic Search button, CamStudio will play a few tones and attempt to
automatically detect the line. It is advisable that you use the Manual Search.

If you select the Manual Search button, CamStudio will ask you a few questions on whether you have
heard a tone when a particular line is used. You will need to turn on your speakers and listen carefully.

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Note:

• Normally, you do not need to perform a search at all because CamStudio will automatically do
that for you when you choose the Record Audio from Speakers option
• If the recording is set incorrectly, you will not get any audio from your speakers.

¾ Enable Autopan
From the main menu, choose Options->Enable Autopan

If this option is selected, the capture area will follow the cursor to wherever it goes during recording.
This has the effect of making the screen capture to occur at the region with the most action.

Autopan Speed

From the main menu, choose Options->Autopan

Speed

Use this to control the maximum speed at which the capture area follows the mouse. The
value is measured in screen pixels.

¾ Program Options
From the main menu, choose Options >Program Options

Use the program options to customize the way the program behaves when it starts/stops
recording. A tick beside the menu items indicates that option is enabled.

Minimize program on start recording

Hide flashing rectangle during recording
Save Settings on Exit
Capture translucent/layered windows
Play AVI file when recording stops >>
Temporary directory for recording >>
Recording Thread Priority >>
Name of AVI >>
Troubleshoot …

Save Settings on Exit

The Save Settings on Exit option allows you to save the program settings when you exit.
These settings will be loaded the next time you launch CamStudio.

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Play AVI file when recording stops

In here, you can choose to

• Do nothing when the recording stops.

• Use CamStudio Player.
• Use your system’s default player.

Name of AVI

With auto-naming, you can now avoid giving a name to every AVI you record. The name
of the file will have the following format 1422003_1520_26.avi and is saved in
CamStudio’s installed directory.

The name is formed using the system’s date and time of the recording.

¾ Keyboard Shortcuts
From the main menu, choose Options->Keyboard
Shortcuts

Use the above dialog box to customize your shortcut

keys for starting, stopping or canceling your
recording operation.

¾ Screen Annotations
From the main menu, choose Tools->Screen Annotations

The Screen Annotations feature allows you to add captions

to your screen during recording. An example of a screen
annotation is shown below:

Screen annotations consist of two main components: Shapes and Layouts.

Shapes

A shape is just a floating window that will appear on top of all other windows on your desktop. An
example is shown below.

Instantiating a shape

To create the shape above, simply double click on the item Orange Gradient or drag it out of the
Screen Annotations dialog box.

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Editing the shape

To edit the shape, right-click on it to display a context menu

• The Clone command allows you to create a copy of the shape.

• The Resize command lets you change the width and height of your window.

• The Anti-Alias command lets you adjust the rendering quality of the shape. A higher
quality shape will take more time to draw.

• When you have finished editing the shape, you can save it with the Save command.

• The Close command will close / hide the shape on your desktop.

• The Close All command will close all shapes on your desktop.

• The Refresh command will redraw the shape.

• The Save Layout command will save all the shapes and their arrangement on your desktop into a layout.
Please refer to the Layout section below for more information.

Editing Text

Select Edit Text from the context menu to change the text of the shape.
Clicking on the Font Button allows you to choose the Font Name, Font
Style (Bold, Italic, Underline) and Font Color of the shape’s text. The
three buttons

are used for setting the alignment of text. The Choose

Language / Encoding button allows you to choose an appropriate font for
your language if it is non-Western (English, French, German etc). This
feature is available only on Win 2000 / XP. To change to Arabic, click on
the Choose Language / Encoding, select Arabic. Also note that you need
to have Arabic enabled on your computer and you need change the
language from English to Arabic on your computer. To do so, go to your
taskbar, next to the computer clock and select Arabic.

Editing Image

Select Edit Image from the context menu to change the image of the
shape.

The cutout / transparent region allow you to create non-rectangular

windows. It refers to the region that allows the background to show
through. There are two methods to create a cutout region.

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1) By Transparency Color
All areas of the image with the specified transparency color will be made transparent.
For example, if the transparency color is Black, the image

will be transformed into

2) By using a predefined shape.

Currently, the predefined shapes are round-rectangle, ellipse and rectangle.
For example, a round-rectangle cutout region for the image

will be something like

For a predefined cutout region, you can add a border, and set the color and size of the border.
You can set the Background color for a shape if the shape does not have an image.
Otherwise, you can click the Load New Image button to change the background image to a new file. The
file formats that are accepted are bmp, gif and jpeg.

Editing Transparency

Select Edit Transparency from the context menu to change the

shape’s transparency. This feature is available only in Win 2000 / XP.
The lower the number the more transparent your shape is. However if
you set transparency to 6 or lower, your shape will be too transparent
that it will be invisible.

Note that recording a transparent window will cause the frame rate to
drop significantly. You will also have to enable the Program Options ::Capture Translucent / Layered
Window setting for the shape to be properly captured into the AVI movie.

Resizing Shapes

Select Resize from the context menu to resize the shape.

Note that a shape with a large size will be drawn and displayed
very slowly.

¾ Managing and creating shapes

Screen Annotations

From the main menu, choose Tools >Screen Annotations

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In the Screen Annotations dialog box, right click on an item to display a context menu for managing and
creating shapes.
• You can also rename a shape by choosing the Edit Shape Name command or selecting a shape
and press F2.
• You can rearrange the order of the shapes in the list by dragging a shape onto another. For example,
to switch the order of the “Flat Text” and “Dialog”, simply drag “Dialog” onto the “Flat Text” item.
• The Shape Library command lets you
1) Save all your existing shapes into a file
2) Load a shape library file into the Screen Annotations dialog box and
3) Create a new (empty) shape library

• The New Shape command will launch a dialog box where you can specify the:
1) Name of the new shape
2) Image of the new shape
3) Size of the new shape
4) Initial text

Layouts

A layout is just the arrangement of one or more shapes on your desktop.

An example is shown below

You usually prepare all your layouts before recording starts. When you
start recording, you will click a hotkey / shortcut key to cycle through the layouts to display the
appropriate captions at the proper time.
You can mange your layout by clicking on the layout tab of the Screen Annotations dialog.

• Select a layout and right-click on it to display a context menu for

managing the layouts.
• You can rename a layout by choosing the Edit Layout Name command
or selecting a layout and press F2.
• You can rearrange the order of the layouts in the list by dragging a
layout onto another. For example, to switch the order of the “Layout 1”
and “Layout 2”, simply drag “Layout 1” onto the “Layout 2” item.

Instantiating a layout

You instantiate a layout by simply double click on the layout item or drag it
out of the Screen Annotations dialog box. By doing so, all the shapes that are
saved into the layout will be displayed on the desktop in their correct order
and position.

Saving a layout
To save a layout, first, arrange your shapes in their correct position and order. Right click on any of the
shapes to bring up a context menu, and select the Save Layout command.

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Cycling through layouts
You can cycle through the layouts by clicking the Next Layout key in the Screen Annotations dialog box.
Every click will close all existing shapes on the desktop and instantiate a new layout. Alternatively, you
can use a hotkey / keyboard shortcuts to perform the cycling. To customize the keys for navigating the
layouts, you can choose Options->Keyboard Shortcuts from the main menu or Objects->Layout Shortcuts
from the Screen Annotations menu.
Layout shortcuts
The keys for cycling through the layouts are
Next Layout Key – key for displaying the next layout
Previous Layout Key - key for displaying the previous layout
Show / Hide Layout Key - key for showing / hiding the current layout

¾ Video Annotations
From the main menu, choose Tools->Video Annotations
This feature requires a webcam to be installed on your system. The Video Annotations window is
essentially a webcam window. By placing a webcam window on your desktop, you can record its content
along with other screen content when the webcam window is inside your recording region.

The Video Annotation window does not only stream video content to your desktop. You can also add a
text caption, make a cutout region, or set transparency values (Win 2000 / XP only) to the video
annotation just like you did for screen annotations. To do so, right-click on the webcam window to
display a menu like this

The Edit Text, Edit Image and Edit Transparency commands have already been covered in the section
on Screen Annotations and will not be explained here.

Refresh Rate

The refresh rate indicates the number of times (frames) CamStudio will attempt to capture an image from
your webcam and display it on your screen. The actual rate will usually be much lesser, especially for
large sized images.

Video Source

You can use the video source dialog to select your webcam or video source for the video annotation. You
can also set the brightness, contrast, gain, exposure and other settings related to your webcam video.

Video Format

The video format dialog is used for selecting the dimensions of your webcam or video source image. You
can also set the pixel depth and compression (e.g RGB24, RGB32) of your video.
Note: You are advised to choose a small dimension (e.g 160 x 120) for the video format, as a large sized
format will slow down your system significantly.

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¾ Audio and Video Synchronization
From the main menu, choose Options >Audio Options >Audio and
Video Synchronization

If the video and audio track of your recording is not in phase during
playback, you can try to shift a stream slightly to make them back in
sync. This may happen if you are recording the output of a webcam.
Note : The dialog above only handles the case when the audio
streams appear to go before the video.

¾ File Size
An AVI file usually has a very large file size, especially for those lengthy and detailed videos. This is due
to the fact that a video file has to pack hundreds and thousands of images into a single file. It is thus very
common to have size exceeding one megabyte.
To reduce the size of the AVI file, you can do the following:
• Limit the area of the region being captured.
• Limit the (input) rate of which video frames are captured. This can be set in the Capture Frames
Every field of Video Options
• Change the compressor and compression quality. By changing the compression quality, you are
essentially making a tradeoff between picture quality and the file size.

¾ Producing Flash (SWF) Files:

CamStudio allows you to produce Flash files in two ways

1) Record directly to Flash

To record directly to Flash, simply click the button to toggle the recording mode to .
After that you may proceed in the same way as you record an AVI file.
There are a few options that you can adjust prior to recording to Flash. These are accessed with the
Options :: Record to Flash commands in the menu.

2) Convert an existing AVI file to Flash with the SWF Producer

The CamStudio distribution package includes a module known as the SWF Producer that is able to
convert an AVI file to SWF. This is actually a separate program that can function independently of the
CamStudio Screen Recorder.

The SWF Producer is launched by selecting Tools :: SWF Producer from the menu.

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