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Camtasia Studio 6 builds on the enhancements of the last software version, like the SmartFocus feature that automatically zooms and pans to follow the action. This time it introduces HD-quality production settings that create screen recording with a dramatically smaller footprint, hot keys for the editing timeline, and video and audio tracks you can edit independently. The latter is especially useful for helping untangle a botched first-round of narration, for instance, from a perfect screen recording. In previous versions, you would just have to rerecord until you got them both right.

The new 'tilt' feature that lets you angle the video content is also neat, but is unfortunately hard to access in the Zoom and Pan editing menu. A handful of visual tweaks, including a darker, more icon-centric recording module, smooth the capture process with style.

Beyond these changes, Camtasia Studio remains largely the same powerhouse for creating and producing screencasts for the Web, mobile phones, and DVDs. Well-rounded production settings continue to present presets and tutorials to help novices; additional applications, like a standalone audio editor and the CD MenuMaker, round out the features.

The price of a creative screencasting license is steep, at $300, or $150 for an upgrade, but if the trial leaves you wanting more, Camtasia Studio is a worthwhile investment for frequent screencast producers requiring a lush feature set. Users looking to develop skills with prolonged use should start here too.