Question / Help Virtual webcam text right but I'm reversed

[ally el dee]

Hi, I'm new to OBS and trying to use it as a virtual webcam for my online teaching which requires me to have a full wall of school logos displayed behind me. Problem I am having is I can either have myself the 'correct' way round and the text reads backwards OR I can have my text reading the right way round and I am reversed (so if I raise my right hand it shows on the left side of the screen). I am teaching English, so left and right are pretty essential and I obviously can't have my logos showing in reverse to the students. Can anyone offer a solution because the 'flipping' feature is not resolving this issue. Thank you.

 

[koala]

Usually, that's no issue. You record your environment as it is, and your audience understands intuitively what you mean, if if you point here and there.
Just record it as you were actually standing in front of your class. It's done by millions of teachers and reporters for decades. To see how other people do such teachings, fire up Youtube and search for videos of english teaching classes. I bet you get hundredths to thousands of hits.

Of course, you can go a step further, because your school logos don't need to be physically there. Get a photo or a drawing of these logos and include the image with an image source in OBS. Depending on how you size your camera source within OBS, and on how you place the source within OBS, you can be in front of the image, part of the image or even behind the image.

 

[johnhite]

ally el dee said:
I'm teaching English, so right and left are essential in my videos and I frequently have to do my essay for me including logos in presentations and tasks for english learners.
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Hi, I also tried Screencast-O-Matic, Camtasia and iSpring Suite. You may also be interested in a couple of video tutorials by Jerry Banfield who explains how to create online courses fast for free with OBS. Or there's a guide by Stewart Lee offering tricks about recording video lectures with a minimum time commitment.

 

[FerretBomb]

If you have a greenscreen, you can simply remove the background with a chromakey and insert a logo-wall graphic on the layer below your webcam which will fill in the transparency, then use a horizontal flip to put the camera into 'mirror' mode, unless you're wearing a shirt/hat/tie/etc with text on it (which will show as reversed).

Otherwise... this is a pretty standard thing. It's camera- or stage-direction.
Just as when you're facing a live class, if you raise your right hand and gesture to your right, for anyone looking at you, you'll have raised the hand on and gestured to their left. It's simply an adjustment to make and remember, if you're working with composited-in assets rather than physical props. There's definitely an adjustment period.
It isn't like looking in a mirror, where when you raise your right hand, the hand on the right in the reflection (which would be the reflection's left hand) goes up. It's totally normal, and trips everyone up when they first start seeing their own blocking from the audience's point of view in the preview. Just a skill to learn and become proficient in.

It CAN help to put a couple of post-its on either side of your camera though, when you're first practicing it, with RIGHT on the left side, and LEFT on the right side, with arrows. Just as a quick reminder for yourself, until it becomes second nature. Likewise, to spend 15 minutes every few hours or so coming back and practicing it, when you aren't doing a live presentation.