How to Draw (or add) a Highlight Circle?

[Joseph W. bourke]

Hi Ernie –

It depends partly on what software you’re working with – I use Camtasia Studio 6 to do software tutorials for a varied customer base, and there are features within Camtasia which will allow you to automatically put highlight circles (of varying styles) over mouse clicks, and even move and zoom in and out on the area of the screen on which you’re working. It automatically keyframes these highlights, and then you can go in and edit for timing.

I think you’re referring to the rougher type of circle which is drawn on the screen live (telestrator, I think they call it) during sporting events. Depending on what software you’re working with, I would make an attempt at somewhat automating the process by creating (in After Effects) an animated circular or elliptical paint stroke which I would render off in several versions and sizes as keyable motion graphics. Then it would be a simple matter during the edit (I use Premiere CS4) to drop those circles into the timeline on a separate video track, using them where needed, and sizing and moving them around as needed, since they have an alpha channel. By the way, render them as Quicktimes using the Animation, Millions of Colors+, and you’ll get a version with an alpha.

Joe Bourke
Creative Director / Multimedia Specialist
B&S Exhibits and Multimedia
bs-exhibits.com

[Ernie Munick]

I’m using Motion 4. Any clue what the proper steps would fall under?

Thanks for your super advice. Trying to do something like this, except my subject (a horse) would be moving.

https://erniemunick.com/QuestionForIan.mov Thanks for your time