Getting Started with a New Project


Let’s start by using the wizard to create our first project. If you haven’t yet left the Welcome dialog, simply select Create a new project using the Wizard, and click OK. If you’re already in MenuMaker’s main user interface, go to the File menu and choose New…, where you’ll be given an opportunity to choose the wizard.

Once you’ve chosen to create a new project using the wizard, a dialog appears that asks us to choose our template. It consists of a Templates window where we choose the template, and a Preview window that shows us what the selected template actually looks like. The dialog looks something like this:

image from book

You may notice that I have a lot more templates available to me than appear in your template window. This is because TechSmith provides a vast downloadable library of Camtasia MenuMaker templates for your use, absolutely free. These templates are currently available for down- load on TechSmith’s web site[*]. The swanky new templates can be downloaded either collectively (careful, though: there are a great many templates here, and the file size is very large) or as individual themed collections. I highly recommend picking them up.

To pick a template, simply click its corresponding folder to open it, and then click on the template name. A preview of that template will appear on the left-hand side of the dialog. Keep in mind that a template isn’t just a background image (though that’s all you’ll see in the preview), but also a color scheme, and in some cases custom sounds and cursors (though these add to the template’s file size). Can you create your own custom templates? You bet, and I’ll show you how later on in this chapter.

Caution 

Before continuing, make sure you’re very happy with your template. While you can always pick another template from within the main user inter- face, a brand-new project is started whenever you do, so it is impossible to switch templates on a project in progress and retain all your work (don’t ask me why). Once you’re actively working in your project, you’re basically married to the template you’ve selected, so choose wisely. Note that you can always return to the Choose Template dialog while still in the wizard by clicking the Back button to page back through the dialog boxes.

Once you’ve found the template that best suits your project, just click Next and you’ll move on to the Choose Files dialog, where you can pick the files that will be included as part of your project. Just click the Add Files… button, and a dialog opens that will let you browse for all the files you want included. Once you’ve selected your file(s) and clicked OK, it appears in the dialog’s files window. You can also include files from different directories in your project with zero problems.

Tip 

Note that your options here aren’t limited to AVI video files. You can add just about any kind of file you can think of, including videos, images, audio, or documents. Just keep in mind that your audience is going to need the appropriate application to open whatever file you want to add, and unless you’re working in a corporate environment where everyone in the company has access to the same software, you cannot simply assume that your entire audience will have Microsoft Word on their machines, for example. So please be wary of adding files in formats that need costly, proprietary software in order to open them. If a particular file format has a free viewer application, you may wish to include it as part of your menu, or at least provide a link to download it (more on how to do this later).

One handy feature of the Choose Files dialog is that it keeps a running tally of the disk space needed by the project at the bottom of the window. This is useful for determining whether all your desired files are actually going to fit on a single CD-ROM or DVD-ROM. You can easily see if you’re going to go over the limit of the media format you’ve chosen, and if so, you can pare down the number of files, further compress your files (in the case of audio or video), or plan to split your content onto multiple discs. This total includes the file size of everything you’ve included in your project, including the menu itself.

If you wish to remove a file you’ve added, a simple click of the Delete File button will make it go away. Likewise, you can change the order of your items in a couple of different ways. The first way is with the Move buttons. Just click on the item you want to move. You can select multiple items by clicking and dragging. Then click Move Up to move your item(s) one step closer to the top of your list. Move Down obviously moves things in the opposite direction.

The second way to change the order of your items is by clicking one of the two Sort buttons. Clicking Sort By Name will put all your files in alphabetical order. Sort By Type will sort items by their individual file types. AVI files get paired with other AVIs, WAV files with other WAVs, Word documents with all the other DOC files, etc. Sorting by file type also puts the files in alphabetical order, just grouped by file type. You can obviously tweak the order to your liking by using the aforementioned Move buttons. Please keep in mind that the files you’ve added will all display on the main menu. If you have a lot of files you need to place in your menu, it may behoove you to create submenus for each chapter or file type rather than include everything on the main menu. More on how to do this later in the chapter. Once you’re happy with the main menu contents, click Next to move forward to the third and final dialog, Enter Title.

Here you’re prompted to pick a title for your menu. This title will appear in the title bar of your finished menu, provide the file name of your menu’s executable, and be the default file name for both your project file and the folder that contains your final menu (though these can be easily changed). That’s all there is to it! Simply enter a title and click Finished.

Before we move on to working in our main user interface, I should at least mention the other method of starting a new project, Create a new project (Advanced). It’s really not that different from the wizard, except for two things:

  • The options for picking both a template and a menu name are combined into a single dialog. Now you have everything on one screen, and getting a project started is more streamlined.

  • The step for adding files is absent. It’s often useful to skip this step if you want to start your menu but don’t necessarily have all your files assembled just yet. Also, you may be unsure of how you want your menu laid out. For example, if you think you might want a menu with submenus rather than everything massed together in a single menu, it’s a good idea to hold off on adding your files.

Regardless of whether or not you use the wizard, you needn’t sweat too much over the project creation dialogs. They’re only there to get things started for you. With the exception of choosing a template, all your decisions in these dialogs can be altered in Camtasia MenuMaker’s main user interface, which we’ll talk about next.

[*]At the time of this writing, the templates are available here: http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/accessories/mmtemplates.asp.




Camtasia Studio 4. The Definitive Guide
Camtasia Studio 4: The Definitive Guide (Wordware Applications Library)
ISBN: 1598220373
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2007
Pages: 146
Authors: Daniel Park

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