http://blogs.lobsterpot.com.au/2021/01/30/presentation-trickery-online-glassboard-like-lightboard-but-using-just-free-software/ Skip to content LobsterPot Blogs LobsterPot Blogs Blog posts by Rob Farley and other LobsterPot Solutions team members Menu and widgets * Company * Blog * Contact Us About LobsterPot Solutions SQL / BI / Analytics / Cloud Data consultants, trainers, and community leaders in Melbourne and Adelaide. We believe in getting the most out of your Microsoft Data Platform. You'll find well over ten years of blog posts here - have a read and get in touch if you want help with your data! lobsterpot.com.au Search Search for: [ ] [Search] Recent Posts * Adapting the tools of my trade February 9, 2021 * Scrolling credits in Teams or Zoom - for free and so quick and easy February 5, 2021 * Presentation trickery: Online glassboard (like Lightboard) but using just free software January 30, 2021 * My other job January 12, 2021 * The other side of the room December 8, 2020 Popular Posts * Handling special characters with FOR XML PATH(") April 15, 2010 * Presentation trickery: Online glassboard (like Lightboard) but using just free software January 30, 2021 * The SSIS tuning tip that everyone misses February 17, 2011 * SARGable functions in SQL Server January 22, 2010 * Two ways to find / drop a default constraint without knowing its name November 26, 2007 Archives * February 2021 (2) * January 2021 (2) * December 2020 (1) * November 2020 (1) * October 2020 (3) * September 2020 (2) * August 2020 (3) * July 2020 (2) * June 2020 (1) * May 2020 (3) * April 2020 (2) * March 2020 (2) * February 2020 (2) * January 2020 (1) * December 2019 (1) * November 2019 (1) * October 2019 (1) * September 2019 (1) * August 2019 (1) * July 2019 (1) * June 2019 (1) * May 2019 (2) * April 2019 (1) * March 2019 (1) * February 2019 (1) * January 2019 (1) * December 2018 (1) * November 2018 (1) * October 2018 (1) * September 2018 (1) * August 2018 (1) * July 2018 (1) * June 2018 (1) * May 2018 (1) * April 2018 (1) * March 2018 (1) * February 2018 (2) * January 2018 (1) * December 2017 (1) * November 2017 (1) * October 2017 (4) * August 2017 (1) * July 2017 (1) * June 2017 (1) * May 2017 (1) * April 2017 (1) * March 2017 (1) * January 2017 (1) * December 2016 (1) * November 2016 (1) * October 2016 (3) * September 2016 (1) * August 2016 (1) * July 2016 (1) * June 2016 (1) * May 2016 (1) * April 2016 (1) * March 2016 (1) * February 2016 (1) * January 2016 (1) * December 2015 (2) * November 2015 (2) * October 2015 (5) * September 2015 (3) * August 2015 (3) * July 2015 (2) * June 2015 (1) * May 2015 (1) * April 2015 (3) * March 2015 (1) * February 2015 (2) * January 2015 (3) * December 2014 (4) * November 2014 (6) * October 2014 (3) * September 2014 (1) * August 2014 (3) * July 2014 (1) * June 2014 (1) * May 2014 (1) * April 2014 (1) * March 2014 (1) * February 2014 (1) * January 2014 (2) * December 2013 (1) * November 2013 (1) * October 2013 (1) * September 2013 (3) * August 2013 (3) * July 2013 (1) * June 2013 (4) * May 2013 (1) * April 2013 (1) * March 2013 (2) * February 2013 (2) * January 2013 (2) * December 2012 (6) * November 2012 (3) * October 2012 (3) * September 2012 (2) * August 2012 (1) * July 2012 (1) * June 2012 (2) * May 2012 (1) * April 2012 (4) * March 2012 (5) * February 2012 (2) * January 2012 (1) * December 2011 (1) * November 2011 (3) * October 2011 (9) * September 2011 (3) * August 2011 (5) * July 2011 (1) * June 2011 (1) * May 2011 (8) * April 2011 (3) * March 2011 (4) * February 2011 (2) * January 2011 (6) * December 2010 (5) * November 2010 (14) * October 2010 (2) * September 2010 (6) * August 2010 (1) * July 2010 (4) * June 2010 (5) * May 2010 (3) * April 2010 (5) * March 2010 (3) * February 2010 (8) * January 2010 (4) * December 2009 (8) * November 2009 (4) * October 2009 (4) * September 2009 (1) * August 2009 (3) * July 2009 (11) * June 2009 (4) * May 2009 (1) * April 2009 (3) * March 2009 (3) * February 2009 (5) * January 2009 (2) * December 2008 (3) * November 2008 (5) * October 2008 (6) * September 2008 (3) * August 2008 (8) * July 2008 (1) * June 2008 (3) * May 2008 (2) * April 2008 (2) * March 2008 (8) * February 2008 (2) * January 2008 (2) * December 2007 (3) * November 2007 (9) * October 2007 (10) * September 2007 (1) * August 2007 (10) * July 2007 (15) * June 2007 (7) * May 2007 (4) * April 2007 (7) * March 2007 (9) * February 2007 (11) * January 2007 (18) * December 2006 (15) * November 2006 (18) * October 2006 (18) Presentation trickery: Online glassboard (like Lightboard) but using just free software I don't know if you've ever seen me present. I like to use whiteboards or flip charts, and that doesn't necessarily translate well to online presentations. It was at least ten years ago when I had an idea about giving online presentations with a whiteboard, but where the whiteboard would be between me and the camera. A glassboard rather than a whiteboard, obviously, so that I would still be visible through the glass but not obscuring the text. And the image would be mirrored so that the things I wrote would be readable to the audience, given that I'd be drawing on the other side of it. Recently I've found out this is a real thing called Lightboard, using ultra-clear glass and lights to make sure what's drawn glows enough. And considering this seems to have only appeared around 2015 (a good five years after I was musing about the concept), I really should've explored things further. [lightboard]This picture is from a site belonging to the National University of Singapore, but an image search gives plenty of examples In a world where technical presentations are more online than in-person, I've struggled a bit with how to give my usual style of presentation. I know I could set up something like this, and I've been tempted, but it would be a lot of effort, and it's not exactly portable, and I just haven't (although I know at least one person who has...) I know what you're thinking - and that's that tools like Teams do have whiteboards in their meetings. That's not what I want though - in those situations the main screen becomes white (or whatever colour the whiteboard background is), and the bit showing me disappears or shrinks to the corner. It's like sharing a screen. And my style isn't just writing on a whiteboard, it's pointing at the whiteboard, it's gesturing, it's all of that stuff that doesn't work if I'm constrained to the corner of the screen. If I had a greenscreen behind me I could do the "weatherperson" trick of moving in front of the screen to point things out, etc, but it's still not quite what I want. And so I got to thinking about what could be done. Enter OBS. That free piece of software that many people use now. Plus, from version 26 on, it can act as a Virtual Camera, so that Teams (or Zoom or GoTo or whatever) can show whatever OBS is doing. So if I figured if I could get this to behave the right way, I would be able to use it in live presentations. The button that appeared in version 26 is in the Controls pane in the bottom right of the OBS window. [image-12] There is no mode where I can just use my stylus to draw on the screen where my face is. At least I don't believe there is, but I found a workaround. The basic concept here is that I use my webcam as a source, but overlay a window capture from an application where I can draw with my stylus (PowerPoint will do, and is good for other reasons too). Then I set the application's background to a chroma key colour (like bright green #00FF00) and filter that out like a traditional greenscreen. I stretch that source in OBS bit so that the main drawing area is over my webcam feed, and all the menus and stuff is outside. To explain with pictures: I started with a plain PowerPoint presentation and set the background to bright green. I'm going to leave the PowerPoint application in this mode because I find it behaves better. And as I'm about to draw on it with a stylus, I don't want it to do anything weird by switching into 'presenter mode' or 'annotation mode' or anything like that. [image-2-10] Then in OBS, with the webcam as the bottom layer of the Sources, I add a Window Capture and use the PowerPoint screen. [image-1] Now select the WindowCapture and resize it to match the slide to the webcam. This slide is going to disappear though, when we add the filter. [ResizingOB] Right-clicking on the "Window Capture" source, I can go to Filters and add a Chroma Key filter, using the default Green. You'll notice that the bits that are green in PowerPoint have gone grey, indicating that they'll be invisible. [image-3] Now back in OBS, I see myself again.. [image-4] ...but when I write in PowerPoint, it appears in front of me. (Oh, because I want to point at the things I draw, I flip the webcam horizontally. You might have noticed the writing on my shirt is backwards.) [image-5-10] And it's not just text that works. I can have standard bullet-point text. [image-6-10] And I can write in other colours too, just not green. But that brings me to an interesting set of tricks. The first one is to grab a screenshot of me on the webcam, and make it very saturated, and green. I can do this using just about any image editing tool. So now I have an image that looks like this. [image-7] I set this to my PowerPoint background, and I can easily see where I can draw and where I can't (assuming I don't move around too much). [image-9-10] I can also add gridlines to help my handwriting stay neater, and help me make sure I don't run out of room. But in many ways the biggest trick is around the flow of my presentation. Part of why I use whiteboards and flipcharts is because I feel like they help the audience connect with me better. There's something about writing live that means that people feel like I'm doing it on the fly, being more responsive to how the audience is responding, changing tack as I go. But it's not like that at all. When I present without slides, or even without a computer, I have to know my material really well. I have to know where I'm going. I don't have the crutch of a slide deck of bullet points. I need to know what I'm planning to write. How I'm going to make the various points. Even how the audience is likely to respond to various things. By knowing the narrative of my presentation really well, it gives me the freedom to move around the content if I feel like I need to, but I have to know my anchor points in my head, because I don't have them on the screen. So... as long as they're still green, and therefore invisible to the audience, I can indeed have them on the screen now. And whether I use consecutive slides with different colours (first green, then white/ black/whatever) to make it look like it's building, or whether I trace over the top using my stylus, I can have all the notes I like - even notes to myself that the audience can't see. I can have as many slides as I want and can move around them just like regular folk do. [image-11-1] When it comes to giving demos, I still need to add a separate screen or do traditional screensharing through Teams or GoTo or Zoom or whatever. But with a bit more effort I could do my demo in the background and still draw over the top. Or get a physical greenscreen behind me so that I can have a solid background or demo screen behind me and still have my drawings in the foreground. This can definitely go a lot further. But for my whiteboard-based presentations, this should work nicely. @rob_farley PS: I just made a short video at https://youtu.be/LdtmEf2XhSU to show drawing on the screen. It would've been better if I had taken a few minutes to sort out my lighting and background, but you can see the rough concept there. Posted on January 30, 2021January 30, 2021Author Rob Farley 5 thoughts on "Presentation trickery: Online glassboard (like Lightboard) but using just free software" 1. [8d1df6] Ankit says: February 2, 2021 at 8:49 pm Genious... Thanks for sharing.. Reply 2. [297b26] Shreedhar Kotekar says: February 5, 2021 at 5:29 am This is pretty neat and clever trick Rob. I came here from Scott Hanselman's video. Love it. Thanks for sharing. Reply 3. Pingback: Scrolling credits in Teams or Zoom - for free and so quick and easy - LobsterPot Blogs 4. [ace6f0] Kent Kingery says: February 7, 2021 at 2:59 am Absolutely brilliant! Also here from Scott's YouTube video. Thanks for posting this! Reply 5. Pingback: Adapting the tools of my trade - LobsterPot Blogs Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] Comment [ ] Name * [ ] Email * [ ] Website [ ] [ ]Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. [ ] Notify me of follow-up comments by email. [ ] Notify me of new posts by email. [ ] [Post Comment] Post navigation Previous Previous post: My other job Next Next post: Scrolling credits in Teams or Zoom - for free and so quick and easy Proudly powered by WordPress