What's the best Captivate output config. for video?

[orsonk42396462]

I'm using Captivate video output in Adobe Premiere for software recordings (obviously, not interactive in any way). If I am not concerned about keeping file size down, what are the best specs I should use to get the best-looking video output?

Thanks.

Orson

[StevePixel]

Hi Orson,

Not sure I understand the question. Do you mean that you have recorded video from Captivate that you want to bring into Premier Pro and then output from PP ( I'm assuming you want to add to it, or overlay something) is that correct?

Cheers,

Steve

[orsonk42396462]

Yes, that's right. I may be adding actual face-on-camera video, Adobe After Effects animations, etc. The software recording will be the "core," but I will add other graphic and animation elements.

Orson

[StevePixel]

Gotcha .. I would be very careful not to stretch the Captivate video in PP.  

So for example if you screen recorded in Captivate at 1980 x 1080 then that would be the output dimensions for Premier Pro. However if you recorded at 720 x 1280 and want to add stuff to the sides/tops/ bottoms and render in PP at 1980 x 1080 that would work too. The key is not to stretch the original Captivate MP4 . If its stretched at all it pixilate and blur the final output in PP. 

Cheers, 
Steve 

[orsonk42396462]

Steve, thanks. Great advice.

But I still would like to know the settings that bring the highest quality video output. I don't see recommendations in the Adobe documentation. I assume variable bit rate is better because it produces larger files -- which is fine by me. But not sure about some of the other settings. Any advice on this?

Orson

[Paul Wilson CTDP · Accepted solution]

These are the settings I use when publishing to video. I just cranked everything to ensure I was getting the best quality.

By the way, in earlier versions of Captivate, software simulations were limited to 1280 px. in 2017 you can record in full HD 2k or 4k resolutions.

Check out the Help file on that topic here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/captivate/using/record-software-simulations.html

[StevePixel]

Hi Orson,

Paul is correct in regards to output from Captivate, if you have no concern about file size. Captivates render settings are pretty limited though.

The bigger issue will be when you composite and render again from Premier Pro. You will be rendering the Captivate video twice, once in Captivate, then again in Premier Pro. It is the second render that will cause the quality hit to your simulation. 

The best advice I can give is what I stated above, and also to make sure you render the Premier Pro output in high quality MP4, as that is what is coming from Captivate so data loss during conversion will be minimized.

Cheers,
Steve

[orsonk42396462]

Thanks, Steve and Paul. Great, useful info for me.

Orson