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Loom is software that, in one click, overlays your face in a bubble as you can narrate your screen recording, uploads it as it's recording, and when you press s

by geor9e 2y ago

Loom is software that, in one click, overlays your face in a bubble as you can narrate your screen recording, uploads it as it's recording, and when you press stop it copies a link to your clipboard you can share immediately with whoever you are showing. It's a very polished and complete experience. OBS is for streamers. It could be set up in a similar way if you already have a twitch channel hooked into it. It won't be as polished and easy. macOS doesn't have any upload or overlay function so it's not comparable. ffmpeg is ffmpeg

nozzlegear 2y ago
macOS does have overlay functionality, it’s called presenter mode or something like that. Look for it in the green camera icon that shows up in the menu bar when you’re sharing your screen. It puts your face in a bubble overlayed on top of whatever you’re sharing, as you said. You’re right it doesn’t have upload though.
- DaiPlusPlus 2y ago
  > You’re right it doesn’t have upload though. That's surprising considering how Apple pushes iCloud integration...
  - stephenr 2y ago
    Apple also pushes privacy and on-device processing; But as for the feature itself: why on earth would you want a video uploaded somewhere else before you've even had a chance to watch it back at least once?
    - zztop44 2y ago
      Because you’re showing a colleague how to use a simple inventory tracker that you’ve created in Google Sheets. Or how the new multilingual Figma templates work. Or how to batch rename a folder full of files using the command line. Or whatever, really. You already know what’s in the video because you literally just recorded it. And it doesn’t need to be polished because it’s probably just going to one coworker, who will only view it once.
      - dcow 2y ago
        You can also watch the video before sending the link…
  - brailsafe 2y ago
    It may not have upload, but in any worthwhile collaboration solution you can literally just drag your screen recording into the rich text area of a comment and have it show up, maybe after converting it to a neutral codec. I did this in my last job with Jira, GitHub, and Slack, ez
    - dcow 2y ago
      Of course you can do this. Loom does the conversion and compression for you automatically so you have an instantly sharable video. Saves me time. That’s the point.
      - brailsafe 2y ago
        Yep, that's obviously where the value would be, but the basics have been default for quite some time unless you're using a linux or windows workstation
        dcow 2y ago
        the system video capture on macOS outputs a .mov not an mp4.
- nopcode 2y ago
  That works for FaceTime calls, but not for video recordings with QuickTime.
  - nozzlegear 2y ago
    Oh interesting, I just looked into it and apparently it requires the app to support it. Apps like Keynote, Zoom, Slack, Facetime and Teams Classic (but not "new Teams") all support it. That's really strange imo, you'd think the OS would just add the overlay to the video signal and pass it through to the app. I wonder why it's implemented this way. The other OS-level video features like portrait mode, studio lighting, reactions and center stage don't require support from the app at all.
camhart 2y ago
OBS works great when recording locally. Sure it works for streamers, but it also outputs to standard video formats easily. You don't need a twitch channel or anything like that. You'll need to figure out where to host the video after the fact (dropbox works well enough, as it allows the viewer to stream without downloading).
- benoliver999 2y ago
  Yeah I fired up OBS for the first time and it was surprisingly easy to get set up. Every time I had a 'right how do I do x?' moment I figured it out in seconds.
cyclotron3k 2y ago
I used loom for the first time today, not only did it do all the things you mentioned, but it perfectly transcribed what I said, then allowed me to cut out sections of the video just by deleting words and pauses from the transcription. I thought that was pretty cool.
j45 2y ago
OBS can record videos pretty similarly, and automatically save, stream, or even be compelled to upload it somewhere. I'm not sure if there's a simple way to get the link of the video hosted online back into your clipboard automatically. That is one feature Jing was superior to Loom on.
rrr_oh_man 2y ago
> ffmpeg is ffmpeg What an excellent comment :D
- codetrotter 2y ago
  See also: https://youtu.be/9kaIXkImCAM https://youtu.be/9kaIXkImCAM “Interview with ffmpeg enthusiast”
someguydave 2y ago
Why does adding your face in a screen bubble add value to a screen recording tutorial?
- zinodaur 2y ago
  Facial expressions can sometimes help humans communicate with each other
- geor9e 2y ago
  Are you asking in general why billions of online videos and conference calls are in this format? Or are you asking me personally? Personally I just like looking at my beautiful face.
toomuchtodo 2y ago
Where can I pay to build Loom functionality and polish into OBS, making this open source and available in perpetuity? I mean no offense to products of these sorts, but the constant reinventing of the wheel, product churn, etc is somewhat disheartening when people just want the ability to screencast in a frictionless manner.

by geor9e 2y ago

nozzlegear 2y ago

macOS does have overlay functionality, it’s called presenter mode or something like that. Look for it in the green camera icon that shows up in the menu bar when you’re sharing your screen. It puts your face in a bubble overlayed on top of whatever you’re sharing, as you said. You’re right it doesn’t have upload though.

DaiPlusPlus 2y ago
> You’re right it doesn’t have upload though. That's surprising considering how Apple pushes iCloud integration...
- stephenr 2y ago
  Apple also pushes privacy and on-device processing; But as for the feature itself: why on earth would you want a video uploaded somewhere else before you've even had a chance to watch it back at least once?
  - zztop44 2y ago
    Because you’re showing a colleague how to use a simple inventory tracker that you’ve created in Google Sheets. Or how the new multilingual Figma templates work. Or how to batch rename a folder full of files using the command line. Or whatever, really. You already know what’s in the video because you literally just recorded it. And it doesn’t need to be polished because it’s probably just going to one coworker, who will only view it once.
    - dcow 2y ago
      You can also watch the video before sending the link…
- brailsafe 2y ago
  It may not have upload, but in any worthwhile collaboration solution you can literally just drag your screen recording into the rich text area of a comment and have it show up, maybe after converting it to a neutral codec. I did this in my last job with Jira, GitHub, and Slack, ez
  - dcow 2y ago
    Of course you can do this. Loom does the conversion and compression for you automatically so you have an instantly sharable video. Saves me time. That’s the point.
    - brailsafe 2y ago
      Yep, that's obviously where the value would be, but the basics have been default for quite some time unless you're using a linux or windows workstation
      - dcow 2y ago
        the system video capture on macOS outputs a .mov not an mp4.
nopcode 2y ago
That works for FaceTime calls, but not for video recordings with QuickTime.
- nozzlegear 2y ago
  Oh interesting, I just looked into it and apparently it requires the app to support it. Apps like Keynote, Zoom, Slack, Facetime and Teams Classic (but not "new Teams") all support it. That's really strange imo, you'd think the OS would just add the overlay to the video signal and pass it through to the app. I wonder why it's implemented this way. The other OS-level video features like portrait mode, studio lighting, reactions and center stage don't require support from the app at all.

camhart 2y ago

OBS works great when recording locally. Sure it works for streamers, but it also outputs to standard video formats easily. You don't need a twitch channel or anything like that. You'll need to figure out where to host the video after the fact (dropbox works well enough, as it allows the viewer to stream without downloading).

benoliver999 2y ago
Yeah I fired up OBS for the first time and it was surprisingly easy to get set up. Every time I had a 'right how do I do x?' moment I figured it out in seconds.

cyclotron3k 2y ago

I used loom for the first time today, not only did it do all the things you mentioned, but it perfectly transcribed what I said, then allowed me to cut out sections of the video just by deleting words and pauses from the transcription. I thought that was pretty cool.

j45 2y ago

OBS can record videos pretty similarly, and automatically save, stream, or even be compelled to upload it somewhere. I'm not sure if there's a simple way to get the link of the video hosted online back into your clipboard automatically. That is one feature Jing was superior to Loom on.

rrr_oh_man 2y ago

> ffmpeg is ffmpeg What an excellent comment :D

codetrotter 2y ago
See also: https://youtu.be/9kaIXkImCAM https://youtu.be/9kaIXkImCAM “Interview with ffmpeg enthusiast”

someguydave 2y ago

Why does adding your face in a screen bubble add value to a screen recording tutorial?

zinodaur 2y ago
Facial expressions can sometimes help humans communicate with each other
geor9e 2y ago
Are you asking in general why billions of online videos and conference calls are in this format? Or are you asking me personally? Personally I just like looking at my beautiful face.

toomuchtodo 2y ago

Where can I pay to build Loom functionality and polish into OBS, making this open source and available in perpetuity? I mean no offense to products of these sorts, but the constant reinventing of the wheel, product churn, etc is somewhat disheartening when people just want the ability to screencast in a frictionless manner.