Camtasia 2022 Out Now – New Features Breakdown

Camtasia 2022 was just released. And this time around, it is jam-packed with new features. I think this is one of the most extensive, and shiny new upgrades we have seen in a long time.

There are a number of new features to be excited about, and some that perhaps in my book, aren’t as interesting. Here I’ll try to cover both. The new version has an extensive feature list, and some features have also been left out. You’ll find a full feature list at the bottom.

If you have an active maintenance agreement then the new version is free, and you should have received an email with your download instructions already.

If you’re not under maintenance agreement you can upgrade here

And if you want to buy the full version, you find it here

So what is Camtasia?

TechSmith Camtasia is an easy-to-use, but feature-rich, all-in-one screen recording, video editing, and software program. Built with beginners in mind, but still advanced, Camtasia allows designers to create professional training videos quickly and efficiently. It is available for both Windows and Mac.

To think about when upgrading

So new Camtasia is out, and you are eager to start testing out all the cool new features. But there are a couple of things to keep in mind. First, I suggest you keep your previous copy installed. Multiple versions of Camtasia can be installed at the same time, and when new major versions are released, there are usually a number of bugs. So it’s good to have a backup in case you have urgent projects, or if you are started working on a project before upgrading. The second reason is that compatibility is not always 100%, and you may discover that older projects and templates don’t work as intended in later versions.

More Camtasia Assets

Before jumping in and checking out the new features, I just briefly wanted to mention our huge collection of Camtasia assets, called SuperCallouts. This is a crazy large bundle with no less than 800 beautiful Camtasia templates and assets in 24 modules. 4GB of Camtasia goodness. Check out SuperCallouts here!

Camtasia New Features

As I mentioned, there are A LOT of new features. Some smaller and some big ones. Here I cover 14 I feel can influence your videos and workflow the most.

The new Home experience

So the first thing we see when starting 2022 up, is the new Home Experience. Big beautiful thumbnails of your last projects, easy access to help, and some other nice features. Not groundbreaking, but helpful.

One noteworthy and very interesting feature is the new connection between Camtasia and TechSmiths other software. You can reach Snagit and Audiate with a simple click.

Cursor path and Cursor scaling

Previously the cursor was raster-based, meaning that when you scaled it up too much it started looking dreadful. If you captured your screen in 1080 for example, the cursor was very small, especially if your audience was checking out your video on a mobile phone. 2022 solves this elegantly with a vector-based cursor that doesn’t lose quality when scaled up.

New is also the Cursor path editing. You can now edit the path your cursor has made freely, or even replace it with your own new path. Smooth out the curves with the path tool.

Cursors can be added where there was none as well, so if you have an image and you want to show a certain action, it’s just to go ahead.

Editing the path takes some getting used to, and is more of a precise instrument for shorter segments, and not long-form videos.

In my book, the new larger and crisp-looking cursor is just one of those things that I wonder how I ever made it without before.

Camtasia – Audiate round-trip with text-based editing

I haven’t had a chance to try this out yet, but the possibilities are endless. You can send your video clip with speech over to TechSmith’s other app, Audiate, and edit the sound there, with functionality like removing uhms, pop sounds, and other cool features.

You can also edit the text in a text-based editor. This looks similar to any text editor, Microsoft Word for example. And when you send it back to Camtasia the video will also be edited to match the sound you just edited. That’s right, it will edit the video for you.

You will need an Audiate subscription for this to work. There is also an Audiate trial if you’d like to check it out.

If the possibilities are endless, unfortunately, the price for Audiate is also steep. So this option is not going to be for everyone.

If you are interested you find more information about Audiate here

Camera, Webcam, and Virtual Camera Support

Camtasia can now capture USB webcams, USB cameras, virtual cameras, as well as cameras connected to USB capture devices.

This has been on the feature wishlist for many users for a long time, and now it’s here. Or at least somewhat here. Still a work in progress, and some cameras work better than others. Users have also reported audio-sync problems. I have tested this with a couple of different setups and so far it has worked very well for me. You can now run for example the virtual OBS camera, which opens up a lot of possibilities.

In my book, this is a great addition, and I am sure we will see more improvements soon. And it’s also important to add that this is a problematic area, and no matter which editor you work with, you are probably going to experience hiccups when connecting with virtual cameras and capture cards.

Simplified Export Feature

The many choices when exporting video have always been a cause for confusion for many users. If you have been working with video editing before, you are probably well versed in the different options, and the possibilities it gives you. But if you’re new to this area, it can be a steep hill. What quality should I use, what is bitrate, and what the heck is H.264 profile and baseline.

TechSmith is trying to remedy this by making these choices for you. I am not a fan. At this point, it doesn’t remember your last settings but instead reverts back to the suggested settings. I hope this is a bug that will be addressed.

Some quality settings such as audio bitrate above 192 kbps, have simply been removed. Luckily if you want more options the Legacy exporter is still available, and I for one, sure hope it will stay there.

The new assets in the library

This is a big one. There are loads of new assets. Some great, a lot of good, and to be honest, a bit of fluff as well.

Let’s go in and check them out. A great addition is the counters. These have previously been available in the Camtasia asset place, and you could also create them yourself, with a bit of work. These are great and readily available in 2022.

Another great one is indicators. These are similar to the animated steps templates we offer on Callouts, but the really interesting thing is that you get the parts to put together your own unique indicator. Although many of them look very similar, and you will need to spend some time creating your own.

The Titles, which is a collection of titles and lower thirds, inspired by broadcast elements, is a good addition that will save you time if you don’t want to get a bit more advanced ones or create them yourself.

You will also find loads and loads of Arrow clicks. Interesting, but I fail to see how you can use these with the new cursor features. As these are library assets and not connected to the actual mouse, you will need to remove your clicks and exchange them with these animations. If you then want it consistent over a longer video, you will have your work cut out for you.

Bursts and collapses are great too. And so are the animated icons, called Micro Animations. Many of them are Lottie files, which means you will not be able to customize them further.

Another nice addition is the gradient backgrounds. They are cleverly done, with customizable colors. And for me a source of inspiration for sure. Great going, TechSmith!

All in all, the new library assets is a great addition, albeit it feels a bit unorganized and it would have been better if some of these were combined together giving us fewer but more advanced templates. Some assets are delivered in 7 or so different color versions. I would much have preferred to just have the one that has a custom color option, where I could pick my own color quickly.

If anyone from TechSmith is listening, I also have a feature request, please let us control the width of the library, and make it possible to have multiple columns.

New Canvas Align function

The intention is that now it should be easier to align elements on the canvas. Personally, I often work with many objects, and this has actually complicated workflow when trying to find the right alignment with multiple yellow lines blinking all over the place. I guess you shouldn’t have that many elements on screen 🙂 If you have just a few this will surely help you. And I think I need some time to get used to it.

Another feature request to TechSmith, please also add quick align buttons between objects!

New Anchor point feature

You can now spin media around a custom point, set by you, instead of only the center. To move the align point, simply hold down [ctrl] (command on mac) over the center x of an item and move it to a new location on the Canvas. The point can also be animated, which is great, but the new align function is not visible when moving your anchor, so it can be tricky to get it just right.

Currently, the anchor point location is not showing up in the properties, so you can’t set it manually. I hope this feature will be implemented in the near future.

30 new GPU accelerated transitions

We got loads and loads of new transitions in Camtasia 2021, and this time around 30 additional ones has been added. I didn’t see any that would make it into my favorite folder just yet, but they may come in handy.

New effect: Blend Mode

One of my favorite new features! You can now apply a blending effect on any layer.

If you’ve used Photoshop in the past, you have probably seen the blend effect in action. This opens up a whole array of new cool possibilities. I am hoping to get into this more in detail in a video soon. We have already added a new collection with 30 new blend effect templates to SuperCallouts, and 90 new templates will be added to Callouts Camtasia template section shortly.

The effect is great when you want to overlay effects over your footage. For example, rain, snow, smoke etc. will blend into your footage.

Effect: Spotlight (only new for PC)

Previously available on Mac, and now also added to PC. A cool effect to add a spotlight to your Canvas. You can control lots of details and animate it. Opens up a lot of possibilities to create new cool effects. Another great addition!

Effect: Outline edges (new to PC)

I am still figuring out any cool templates I can create from this, but haven’t really seen any useful implementations of this effect as of yet.

Spell Check on text-based Callouts/add as plain text

I like the opportunity to add text as plain text. For example, if you are working from a script and pasting in text, it’s great to have the possibility of getting it in unformatted.

The feature is a little bit hidden. I am not sure why. When you place an annotation and want to past in text, it will not appear in the drop-down menu. Instead, you have to use CTRL-SHIFT-V to paste it in, and voila, you pasted it as plain text. Great new feature!

I haven’t had a chance to check out the accuracy of the spell check yet, but I heard a few comments that it could be more accurate, but I am sure that will come.

HEVC video decoding support

You should now be able to import h.265 format video. This is a more modern improved video codec, compared to the often used h.264. I haven’t tested importing h.265 videos yet, but it should mean that you get higher quality videos with a smaller file size. With decoding, I assume this refers to importing video, not that you can render out videos in this format, at least not just yet. But it should simplify importing some videos from mobile phones that have previously created problems.

Repeat Media

You can now extend clips to the end or beginning of the timeline. Good functionality if you have a loopable background for example, and you want to have it running throughout your video. On those occasions, no copy and paste should be needed anymore.

My conclusions

So that’s it for the new functionality. There are some other things that I haven’t mentioned, but I think these cover the most important new features. Camtasia 2021 was a huge step forward, and I have to say that 2022 does not disappoint.

In my opinion, it’s well worth the upgrade. The biggest takeaways for me are, the cursor resize function, the blend mode effects, virtual cameras, and the spotlight effect, which will come in handy. H.265 support was a must, and pasting in as plain text is also a great addition.

More Camtasia templates: Be sure to not miss our huge Camtasia 2022 celebration pack, with 4G of great assets!

Upgrade Camtasia here