Screencasting on OSX

I record my screen with the built-in macOS recorder, capture my facecam as a separate track, and edit it all together in CapCut. I landed on this pipeline after Loom kept stalling on capture (while costing $20/month) and one-take OBS recordings ate my time. Here’s the setup, plus the tips I picked up along the way.

Screen Recording

For screen recording, use the built-in macOS screen recorder:

• Press Cmd+Shift+5 to open screen recording controls
• Select window or portion of screen
• Choose microphone input if needed
• Simple and reliable

Facecam

Record facecam as a separate track for maximum flexibility:

1. Record facecam independently:

   # Using QuickTime Player from CLI
   open -a "QuickTime Player" --args -record
   

   or

   # Using ffmpeg with webcam and audio
   ffmpeg -f avfoundation -framerate 30 -i "0:0" -c:v h264 -c:a aac facecam_$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S).mp4
   

2. Benefits of separate recording:
   • Easier to reshoot just the facecam portion
   • Can record multiple takes without redoing screen capture
   • Better control over camera settings
   • No performance impact on screen recording
3. Post-production in CapCut:
   • Import facecam as separate track
   • Use AI background removal
   • Easily position and resize
   • Add transitions or effects
   • Perfect sync with main content
4. Position scripts (for live preview while recording):

   # Example script to position Hand Mirror window
   osascript -e 'tell application "Hand Mirror" to set bounds of window 1 to {1600, 50, 1850, 300}'
   

Microphone cleanup

TBD if I need this.

Hosting - YouTube!

• Check out auto uploading via youtubeuploader

Video trimming

CapCut is my recommended choice for video editing:

• Free and powerful video editor
• Easy trimming and multi-take management
• Built-in background removal for facecam
• Text-to-speech and auto-captions
• Cross-platform (web, desktop, mobile)
• Export directly to YouTube

Captions and Chapters

ChatGPT prompts

Mouse Key Press Overlay

• KeyCastr
• Mouse - TBD

CUT: Previous approaches

QuickRecorder

QuickRecorder:

• Initially promising in 2024
• Multi-window capture and latest APIs
• Includes Microphone
• Cut due to preferring separate recording tracks for more flexibility

FFMPEG

1. Too low level

OBS

While OBS itself can be challenging, here’s a better approach:

1. Use OBS only for screen recording, not the full production
2. Record your camera/facecam separately
   • Gives you more control
   • Enables easy reshoots of just the video portion
   • Can apply background removal/transparency in post-production
3. Pro Tips:
   • Say “Take 1”, “Take 2” etc. at the start of each recording
   • This makes it easier to find good takes during editing
   • Look at the audio waveform to find natural cut points if not using transcript-based editing
4. Why the original approach failed:
   • Too painful to set up capture and screen size
   • Trying to get everything perfect in one take is inefficient

Loom

While Loom seemed promising, I ultimately cut it from my workflow:

1. Great features in theory:
   • Video edit via text transcript (remove ah/ums)
   • Window/Application capture
   • Mouse Capture
2. Deal-breaking issues:
   • Screen capture performance issues (slow, stopping fails)
   • Happens on multiple computers
   • Expensive ($20/month)
   • Better to use dedicated tools for each function