ScreenGenius Tip: Changing your background to white
I’ve been asked by several people lately how to change the video background to white from the default black. The easiest way I know to do this is to put a white PNG graphic as the bottom layer in your timeline. You can extend this graphic in your timeline for as long as your movie lasts, so from start to finish your background is white.
Here is the white PNG file (zipped) that I use as the background in my ScreenFlows. I just keep this file in a folder I call “ScreenFlow Media”, so it’s easy to find and drag into the media bin of each new project I start.
I’d be interested in hearing if anyone has a different way of doing this. If so, please share!
8 Responses to “ScreenGenius Tip: Changing your background to white”
December 31st, 2009 at: 10:00 am
Why not include this as an option in Screen Flow’s preferences where any color could be selected?
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Lynn Elliott Reply:
December 31st, 2009 at 10:01 am
That’s a great feature request, Joseph.
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December 31st, 2009 at: 1:26 pm
I totally agree with Joseph. Being able to select any colored background is a great feature request.
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January 8th, 2010 at: 5:31 am
It’s all very well saying “put a white PNG graphic as the bottom layer in your timeline” if you’re skilled and professional and think about this at the start of the project…. but for an idiot like me who only thinks of this when the bottom layer in my timeline is already occupied by a carefully assembled load of clips – how can I create a new layer at the bottom of the timeline? Or failing that, how can I select all the clips in all the layers and move them up a layer, without losing all the timing and relationships between them?
Any tips gratefully received!
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Ben R Reply:
January 8th, 2010 at 7:37 am
D’oh – found the answer to my own question; add the png to the end of the bottom layer, then drag it down to create a new layer.
Now I start wondering how to get rid of layers I’ve created and no longer need… no doubt that will be obvious too once I’ve found it.
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Lynn Elliott Reply:
January 8th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
HI Ben,
Yes, you got it. Or, you can easily create a new layer if you hold “Shift” while you drag a piece of media (or double click it) from the media bin. Getting rid of layers is not as easy. I end up repositioning all my media from the top-most layer down, and then I resize the depth of the timeline so the bottom-most (empty) layers don’t show.
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Howard Givner Reply:
April 16th, 2010 at 6:24 pm
Tried doing this, downloaded your white background, and inserted it at the bottom layer of the Timeline, but can’t seem to get it to work with the others. I’m using the demo version of Screenflow, maybe that’s the issue? And when I add it in, for some reason the other layers get locked. Any thoughts?
Lynn Elliott Reply:
April 19th, 2010 at 9:32 am
Hi Howard,
To my knowledge, using a demo version of ScreenFlow would not cause this problem. Without knowing your system & versions, it’s hard to know what’s going on. It’s probably best to email our support department desktopsupport@telestream.net – they’ll be able to diagnose it in no time!
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