Panopto- How can I toggle between just my talking head and just the screen?
Panopto does not include this as a feature but you can accomplish it nonetheless with some savvy and Panopto’s Editing tools.
A typical recording has a Primary Stream (Camera with Audio) and a Secondary Stream (Screen Capture with no audio). The Viewer typically sees both streams side by side during playback. For this example we only want to see one video and edit between the Camera view and the Screen view.
In this article:
- We will make a copy of the Secondary Stream as it’s own separate video.
- We will then ADD it back to the original video as a second Primary Stream.
- We’ll then edit with the Focus tool to toggle between the Camera Primary Stream and the Capture Primary Stream (You can have as many Primary Streams as you like but are only allowed to view one Primary stream at a time) to show just the Camera at the beginning and end of the video while only showing the screen capture during the middle of the video.
- Once edited we will save only the Primary Stream as it’s own video and re-upload to Gauchocast for posting to a class.
Step 1:
Make a copy of the Secondary (screen capture) Stream as it’s own separate video.
To do this, go to My Folder in GauchoCast and find the video you want to edit. Hover your mouse over the file name and a series of buttons will appear. Select Settings:
On the left side of the screen that pops-up select Outputs.
Under Video Podcast, Type, Select “Secondary Video Only”. Select “Apply”.
To the right of the preview image select “Download Podcast”.
It might take some time to process.
Once done you now have downloaded a video with only the Secondary Stream and audio.
In this case, DO NOT re-upload the file to Gauchocast. You will be adding it back directly to your original file as a second Primary stream.
Step 2:
This is how you Add it back as a second Primary stream.
Find your original video in “My Folder.” Run the mouse over the title and buttons will appear. Press Edit.
At the left of the screen is a list of choices for editing. Select Streams.
Click on Add Stream to add a primary or video stream (Fig. 4).
You can drag and drop video, audio, or powerpoint files into the Primary or Secondary video sections. Drag your New Screen Capture Only video to the primary window.
Step #3-
Once the upload of your second Primary Stream is complete you will want to edit the video to show the appropriate stream in your presentation.
Use the Focus Tool:
When you have two or more primary or two or more secondary streams, you will see the focus tool appear to the right of the scissors icon (Fig. 1).
Figure 1
Select the focus tool then click and drag over the area of video that you want to focus on. This will trim out the other primary or secondary sources. The trimmed sections will be grayed out in the editor. For this example you have two primary streams. You can use the focus tool to go back and forth when editing the streams. The focus tool will highlight the stream that you are working on (Fig. 2).
Figure 2
When you are done editing press the green Apply button at the top of the window.
Step #4-
Once the video is done processing you can return to My Folder where you will follow the instructions from Step #1 except this time you will select “Primary Video Only” under Type of Video Podcast.
Download the podcast. This will be the Focus-edited version of your presentation.
Upload that video back to Gauchocast to be posted in the appropriate class folder.
Result:
Here’s my somewhat dull example. In this video I focused on my camera shot at the beginning (“intro”), in the middle (“pause to discuss a point”), and at the end (“conclusion”).
Step #5 (optional)-
Want to re-edit, change Focus points after posting?
Your original “Master” file is still intact. Just go back into Edit and re-adjust the Focus position(s). You’ll again need to download locally as Primary Video Only and then upload to Gauchocast as before.
Want to view the original twin stream video?
Your original screen-capture Secondary Stream is still intact!
Go into Edit. Adjust Focus to hide the complete screen-capture Primary Stream. Post the video like normal and the viewer will see the original twin-view version.