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Tools and tips

Since this is an open source project, I feel the need to share with you the tools I'm using and some useful tips. I'll take as example the Practical 2.2, which summarises all my experience (being it my last video as of the time of writing this).

Hardware: MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011), Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 (64GB, Late 2015).

Software: Microsoft PowerPoint 15.24, LaTeXiT 2.8.1, Camtasia 2.10.6, Avidemux 2.6.12 for Mac and ezPDF 2.6.9.10, Mobizen 3.1.1.11 for Android.

Plot

I start by creating the first slide, with title and subtitle, rigorously on black background.

Then, I write a mathematical and a coding plot. This means, on a piece of paper, I do all derivations before hand (which took a day for back-prop) and I type on my keyboard the required coding which I later copy into a (non executable) script for the recording.

It comes the time now for some pretty math. I start up LaTeXiT and write the first terms of the most important formulas, in white, with 36 pt. Further derivations and explanations are done at recording time, so that the speed of presentation is sustainable. I use \bm{} for my bold math, and ^\top for transposition.

Show time!

The math

After converting the ppt into a pdf and having sent it to my Note, I fire up the first software I've ever bought: ezPDF. It's simply a must-have, if you own a Note, but I won't wander off right now. I choose Page layout and select Horizontal scroll, No seamless continuous page scroll, No page flipping, Immersive mode. I run Mobizen and start recording. Also on my Mac I start recording the audio with Camtasia, so that I don't have the sound of the S pen writing on the screen and I can also exploit the noise cancellation, particulary helpful when you have faltmates... I choose the Brush tool with a very light pastel palette and start the magic.

Tips

Anytime I make a mistake, I simply start over (I'll cut away anything and everything in the video editing phase). If I have to cough, sneeze, burp or xxx, I go on, better out than in. I'll cut it out later and laugh at it.

The coding

Back on my Mac I can start the coding part. I pull up the script I made before, send it to Gist and load it up on my Note. Then I start the recording with Camtasia, 3, 2, 1, action!

Tips

Same as before, plus: if I have to think (yes, sometimes I need to do that as well), I can press ⌘⇧2 to pause momentarily the recording. This is particularly helpful when I have to copy some web addresses or bigger chuncks of text.

The editing

Now that everything has been recorded (it's roughly 2 hours of video), I can start the chopping off (ending up with roughly 1 hour of video) and add effects like: zomming, masking, mouse torch, cartoonish rectagle drawing, text patches.

Tips

I do apply compression to my audio by choosing Dynamic Processor and setting Compression to -14 dB and leave the other settings unchanged. I have also to choose the canvas size to 720p HD and zoom the video accordingly (need to write zoom factor here).

The summary

After having spent 2 hours for recording the videos and 8 hours for editing them, I have a somehow rough idea of what I've been talking all the way through (at this time I usually simply want to puke...). It's time to write the Overview in my slide, using typewritter font and colours for coding elements, and record that as well. Usually it takes 5 minutes of recording and 30 minutes of editing.

And this is pretty much it. I'll add something else, if it comes to mind.

Packaging and shipping

Lastly, I open Avidemux, load the overview video, append the math and the coding ones, select Copy for both audio and video streams, choose MP4 muxer and click on Save. At the end, I fire up YouTube, upload my video and cry: I just pushed 48 hours of my life online.