If you record software demos, you know that there can be points in the video where you are waiting for something to happen or when the process just takes a long time to complete, and it might not be the most exciting thing to watch. Rather than trying to edit sections out of the video, you could instead adjust the clip speed to speed up certain parts. This can help you show the whole process while keeping your viewer’s interest.
Here's how you can do this in Camtasia.
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In your project, ensure your audio and screen recordings are separated. You normally don’t want to apply clip speed to the audio track as it will distort the voiceover or music.
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If they are combined, right-click on the media in the track and select Separate Audio and Video. This will place the audio and screen recordings on separate tracks.
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Isolate the section of the video that you want to speed up. To do this, select the screen track, move your playhead to the start of the clip, right-click, and select Split Selected. Repeat at the end of the section.
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When using Split Selected, be sure you are only selecting the track you want to split. If you know you’re going to be removing the corresponding section of the audio track (for example, if it’s only dead air while a process is being demonstrated – see Step 7), you can select both tracks. If you know you need to split all your tracks, you can select Split All instead.
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Select the section, right-click, and select Add Clip Speed.
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Once a clip speed is added, it will display on the track in a blue bar, as shown below.
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In the Properties panel, a Clip Speed section will display. To adjust the clip speed, do one of the following:
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If you know how long you want the clip to run for (for example, if you have a set time for a voiceover track that you’re trying to match), you can adjust the Duration by entering a specific time for Minutes, Seconds, and Frames. This will automatically update Speed so your clip matches that duration.
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You can enter a higher number for Speed to increase the speed of your track. This can be used if you are looking for a good pace rather than trying to match specific audio. Play with this setting until you arrive at something that feels natural and not too fast. You can also use fractions of 1 (e.g., 0.5x, 0.25x) to slow down the clip speed.
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After you adjust the clip speed, the section will adjust in the timeline, and you will need to adjust your other clips accordingly.
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If you were adding a clip speed to speed up a section of your video, you may need to cut out some of your audio track to line them up correctly. Use Split Selected to isolate the section of the audio, then select the clip (make sure you are only selecting the audio track) and press <Delete> to remove it. You can then move the remaining section of your audio along the timeline as needed to line up with your video.
I hope this gives you another option you can use when editing your videos!
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