A very new user here. I am making demo videos (how-to) and I would like to highlight certain parts of the video…like a word or where to enter information. The video is a screen capture of a desktop application and I wanted to highlight things…similar to drawing squares in animations in powerpoint. can this be done?
Many ways to achieve that, it all depends on how fancy you want to get.
If you just want a simple on/off effect with no fades or keyframes, then just create a small coloured block or download a png in the color of your choice.
You then place this block on a video track above the screenshot of your application.
You then use the position and size filter to scale the block and the opacity filter to allow some transparency.
Repeat as required.
You will also see I used the white balance filter, not required, I simply used it just to change the red slightly.
Final result below as a mp4 (zipped).
Hope it helps.
would there be any way of making the highlight bar something other than a solid brick that needs to be changed to see through? like making it a see-through highlight rectangle around the words/menu choices in the video.
Absolutely, just make an outline of a block/square/rectangle and save it as a PNG with alpha channel then put it on the video track above.
Then use the size and position to adjust it.
Make sure that the “DISTORT” option is enabled in the size and position filter.
An example PNG attached below.
The inside is transparent so you just have to “stretch” it around the area you want to highlight.
Make your own square box with 4 video tracks, 1 mask each.
To fine tune each position, click next to % and use the scroll wheel.
You caln also use Keyframes with the filter.
Here is the MLT file: avbox.mlt (11.9 KB) if you wish to download it and use the above image. Just make sure both are in the same directory/sub directory.