If you’re using your own videos to promote your business, stamping them with a logo might be a good idea. Not only does it help you increase brand recognition, but it’s also a surefire way to protect your content from being used by someone else.

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to quickly add a logo to a video in VSDC, free video editing software for Windows. VSDC is a non-linear editor which means you can display several videos and images in the same scene by blending and overlaying them.

Before getting started, make sure you have your logo in high quality at hand. You’ll first learn how to overlay it on a video file, then we’ll go over the ways to make it monochrome and semi-transparent.

Here is how to add a logo to a video in VSDC

If your logo was created by a professional designer, you probably had it delivered in one of the following formats: AI, EPS, PDF, SVG, PNG, or JPG. For our purposes, a .PNG logo with a transparent background will be the best option. Such logos look more natural as if they were initially embedded in the video. However, if you don’t have a .PNG file, it’s not a problem. You’ll be able to place any image over a video in VSDC.

Step 1. Launch VSDC and upload your footage using the Import content button on the start screen.

Step 2. Use the Add object menu and select Image. Then find the logo on your PC.

When you select the logo from your computer, the Object’s position settings window will pop up and prompt you to adjust the image position on the timeline. Make sure to select Add new layer. This way, the image will be placed one layer above the footage on the timeline, and it will be easier to tweak.

Step 3. Resize and place the logo wherever you want. For instance, you can place it in the corner or stretch it to the size of the scene and make it nearly transparent so it will look like a watermark.

Once you add the logo to the video, all you need is to make sure that the logo is visible throughout the entire clip. To achieve that, simply match the duration of the files in the scene. The easiest way to do that is by manually stretching the logo file on the timeline. If you want the logo to appear in the video for a short period of time, again, just manually shorten its duration and relocate the file on the timeline if needed. For example, sometimes, instead of displaying a logo non-stop, creators make it appear multiple times during the video.

How to make your logo semi-transparent or monochrome

To make the logo in your video semi-transparent, you need to decrease its opacity: it’s as easy as 1-2-3. Select the logo on the timeline and go to the quick Tools menu at the top. Next, select the wrench icon and toggle the Opacity control to achieve the desired effect.

You can also use color filters to adjust the logo or even make it monochrome by applying one of the quick styles from the menu.

No logo? Create a text watermark within seconds

Instead of a logo, you can add a text watermark to your video. Use this option to feature the name of your brand, your social media handle, or your website address.

Export your video with a logo

Once ready, open the Export project tab and select the desired format to export your video. Remember, you can change the video codec, quality, resolution, size, and other parameters before saving the file. You can also upload it directly to YouTube by selecting the Web >> For YouTube option.

Go ahead and try it for yourself! Download the latest version of VSDC to your PC and add a logo to your videos. VSDC is completely free, it reads all multimedia formats and places no unwanted watermarks on your video after export.

Planning to feature your brand in the video intro or outro? You can apply various effects to the logo and display it in a creative way! Check out this glitched logo intro tutorial as an example:

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Since we’ve launched our YouTube channel, many of you asked us to share tips for making video tutorials. Although it might be challenging to write a one-size-fits-all guide, we’ve decided to describe our methods in the post below.

This guide will be helpful for those who want to produce software tutorials in a video format, but generally, the same sequence of steps will work for any other type of video tutorials.

To get started, you’ll need the following (all tools are free):

- Video editing software – we recommend VSDC Video Editor for PC and iMovie for Mac

- Desktop screen recorder – we recommend VSDC built-in screen grabber or OBS

- Webcam video recorder – we recommend Bandicam or a built-in camera app on your computer

Note that you’ll only need the web camera and webcam video recorder if you want to place a video of yourself in the corner using the picture-in-picture effect. If you’re not planning to make a public appearance, you can record voice commentaries or even make do with subtitles only.

Now, without further ado, let’s review the steps we take when we make video tutorials for our YouTube channel.

How to make a tutorial video, step by step

You may already have an idea of the tutorial you want to record. If you do, jump to Step 2. If you don’t, there are plenty of tools to help you with the research – we’ll mention some of them below.

This is what a typical process of video tutorial creation looks like:

1. Search for the idea and inspiration
2. Break down the scenario into steps
3. Perform a rough rehearsal with that scenario
4. Write the final script (below, we share the structure we use for video tutorials)
5. Record the video tutorial
6. Edit the video tutorial
7. Add audio: music, voiceover, or your talking head
8. Add intro and outro
9. Save and publish your tutorial

Now that you have a general idea, let’s look at this process in detail.

Step 1. How to find an idea for a video tutorial

If you aren’t quite sure what your tutorial should be about, there are plenty of platforms to help you find inspiration.

Let’s suppose you want to make a video tutorial about using GIMP. Instead of creating a long generic overview of the program, it might be better to angle your tutorial and teach viewers something specific. But how do you find out what people want to learn?

First, YouTube search and Google search can be helpful. Just start typing “GIMP how to…” and read the autofill options suggested by the engine. The autofill options are generated based on the most frequent search queries, which means these topics are in demand. Next, when you select any of the suggested topics on Google, scroll down and see the “Searches related to…” section. It may also help you come up with ideas for your video tutorial.

Second, you can use keyword research tools like Keywords.io, Ubersuggest, and Answerthepublic to find the most popular search queries on any given topic.

If you choose to use one of these tools, it’s always better to select the searches with a lower volume of queries because there will be less competition for your tutorial in search results after you publish it.

Finally, feel free to get inspired by other bloggers. If you know a better, more efficient way to remove background in GIMP – go for it! If you want to come up with a new angle – go for it! If you can produce a tutorial in another language – go for it!

Step 2, 3, 4. Why you need to prepare a scenario

Here is the thing. You can go ahead and start recording the tutorial right away. But if you want to avoid the “Oh, snap, I forgot that!” moments and minimize editing, we recommend starting with an outline and expanding it to a full-fledged scenario describing what you will be doing and what you will be saying in the video.

Now, what should a video tutorial scenario look like? From our experience, the following structure works well:

1. Tell the viewers what this tutorial will be about
2. Give them a sneak peek of the result or the process
3. Show the tutorial including your commentaries
4. Encourage them to subscribe and comment on the video

The sneak peek will help engage the viewers from the beginning of the video, and the call to action at the end of the video will encourage them to connect with you. Want to know more about optimizing videos and growing on YouTube? We recommend learning from Brian Dean and his video marketing hub.

Step 5. How to record a video tutorial

If you know your subject well and you’ve prepared a scenario, this step will be the easiest one. Make sure to mute notifications on your computer, then hit the Record button and start your video tutorial. Don’t worry about bloopers – you’ll be able to cut them out later.

Most screen video recorders allow you to set the desired quality and frame rate. For the best results, we recommend using the following video parameters: 1080p and 60fps.

Another feature most video recorders have is a drawing toolset. The drawing toolset typically includes a highlighter or a pencil and a few shapes or arrows for you to point at the objects you’re talking about in the video. Many beginners try to incorporate these tools while recording the tutorial, but there is no need to do that. When you’re a beginner, they will only slow you down and ruin the flow of the script. If you decide to highlight any object in the video, you’ll be able to do it faster when you start editing.

Note, if you’re planning to record yourself using a webcam, you should do that simultaneously. Place the camera in front of you, connect it to your webcam video grabber, and hit the Record button before you start the tutorial.

Step 6. Video tutorials need very little editing

Most times, editing a video tutorial means cutting out “bloopers” or those seconds when your mouse freezes because you don’t know what to do or what to say next. You also might need to add transitions if your tutorial consists of several parts. Finally, text captions and lines will make your tutorial more informative and easier to understand.

You can easily add these elements using VSDC Free Video Editor. As a non-linear video editor, it allows you to place any object over the main video and fine-tune its appearance precisely.

Step 7. Time to add narration to the tutorial

If you have recorded a voiceover for your tutorial, it’s time to add it and synchronize the narration with the video. You might need to trim or split some parts of the audio, but overall, it’s a relatively easy task even if you have zero experience.

If you have recorded a video of yourself while doing the tutorial, you’ll need to apply a picture-in-picture effect (or a video-in-video effect in that case). Simply import the video of yourself to the editor and place it one track above the main video on the timeline. Next, resize the video of yourself and drag it to the desired spot - usually, the bottom right corner.

Watch the tutorial below to see how it works.

How to make a 'video-in-video' or 'picture-in-picture' effect

Pro tip: if you record yourself in front of a green background, VSDC will help you remove the background from the video and leave it transparent. The result will look something like that:

Step 8. Intro and outro will make your video tutorial complete

Typically, when you make a video tutorial, you want minimum effects because showcasing your editing skills is not the purpose – you want to focus on the content. However, you definitely should add a short intro and an outro at the beginning and the end of the video.

Use intros to highlight the name of your tutorial and talk about the lesson. Your intro can be short and simple – watch the video below to find out how to create one in VSDC:

How to create slide-in text intro for free in VSDC

The outro is the best place to add your call to action. This is where you can insert your website address, display your social media handlers, and encourage viewers to subscribe. If you’re planning to make more video tutorials, it’s a good idea to tell viewers why they should subscribe to your channel and what else you’re planning to publish.

Here is a quick tutorial to adding an animated subscribe button – the essential part of an efficient outro:

How to add custom subscribe button with a bell to your video

Step 9. Save and publish your video tutorial

Once the tutorial is ready, all you need is to publish it on your YouTube channel. Here are some of the best practices to help your video get noticed:

1. Include the keyword you’ve found during the research to the video title, the first lines of the description, and tags.
2. Select a relevant video category in the More options tab after uploading the video to YouTube. In your case, it will most likely be the “Howto & Style” or the “Education” categories.
3. Upload subtitles. You can insert the text from your own script or use the automatic speech recognition tool provided by YouTube. Even if you’re the one narrating, for some people, subtitles will be more convenient - keep that in mind.
4. Create a thumbnail using a free tool like Canva. The thumbnail will help your video stand out in YouTube search, so it’s worth investing a few extra minutes to produce one.
5. Share your tutorial on social media using hashtags. Even if only a few people – your friends and your mom, of course – watch the entire video, for YouTube it will mean that your content brings value and it’s worth recommending.

Download VSDC Video Editor

Have fun making your video tutorials!

Stressing out about your first video tutorial? We’ve been there. Looking at what you’ve created thinking you could have done it better? We’ve been there. Doubting anyone will ever watch your tutorial? We’ve been there, too! And guess, what? None of these reasons should discourage you.

Video tutorials are a great genre to dive in. People are looking for video tutorials all the time choosing this format over text tutorials. And if you have something you want to teach a bunch of strangers all over the world – now is probably the best time to do that.

So, have fun and enjoy creating!

Got any questions about the video editing part? Shoot us a message on Facebook.

If you want to use tutorials to grow your business, check out this video marketing guide.

Need inspiration? Subscribe to our YouTube channel. We publish short weekly tutorials for video creators of all levels of experience.

Motion tracking is a powerful feature that helps you apply a movement trajectory of any object in the video to any added object: it can be an image, a piece of text, a mask, or a shape. At VSDC, we’ve received a few questions about applying motion tracking to text (or, in plain English, “sticking text on a moving object”). To help you out with this task, we decided to publish this detailed tutorial.

If you’re new to VSDC, it is a lightweight and budget-friendly video editor for Windows with motion tracking on board. If you, for some reason, can’t afford the Adobe subscription or can’t use it because your computer isn’t powerful enough, VSDC is a fantastic alternative to rely on. It’s available for $19.99 per year and it requires as little as a couple of gigabytes of RAM on your PC.

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to motion track text in a video. Then, we’ll show you how to make motion-tracked text look better by adding a perspective, shadow, and opacity.

How to apply text tracking effect in VSDC Pro

Before you get started, you need to have a clear idea of which object the text will be following in the video. Suppose you want a piece of text to be attached to a person, just like in the example above. In that case, you need to decide in advance which part of the person’s body the text should be following while moving.

We recommend watching the video version of the tutorial first and then, reading the text guide below.

Here is a step-by-step text version of the guide:

1. Launch VSDC and upload your main video.
2. Make a right-click on the video and select Create movement map from the context menu.
3. You’ll be prompted to save that map on your PC. Later, when you need to apply the movement map to the text, you’ll pull it from the place on your computer where you’ve saved it.
4. Place the tracking frame around the spot whose movement you want to track. In our case, it is a person’s head.
5. Hit the Start analysis button and wait until the process is over.
6. If the movement trajectory is correct, click Apply editing.
7. Go back to the main timeline and add a text object using the toolbar on the left-hand side.
8. Adjust the style of the text using the formatting menu at the top. Then make a double click on it.
9. Open the Add object menu and select Movement >> Movement map.
10. You’ll be prompted to select the map you’ve created earlier. Hit OK.

Your video meme is ready! Use the Preview feature to see if everything looks the way you expected. Below, we’ll cover a few tricks you can use to make the text look more professional.

How to make motion-tracked text look better in a video

Most video memes are made in a fast-paced style and contain very simple text captions. However, you can achieve a much better look if you do one of the following:

• Highlight the text
• Add a shadow
• Increase opacity
• Add perspective
• Add an arrow

Notice how different the motion-tracked text looks with these adjustments in place.

You can apply just one effect or combine a few of them; below is the instructions to help you out.

How to highlight motion-tracked text

The “highlighter” effect is called “Brush” in VSDC, and it’s located in the text editing menu. To access it, make sure you’re in the main timeline tab and make a single click on the text object. Then select the Brush color and toggle the opacity control.

How to add a shadow to motion-tracked text

The shadow effect will help you add volume to the text. To apply it, select the text object by clicking on it, then open the Video effects menu, proceed to Special FX and select Shadow.

Notice that the Properties window will slide-in from the right-hand side. This is where you can tweak the settings of the effect: the size, angle, and color of the shadow, for example. You can also switch to the Long shadow option if you want it to be more prominent.

How to increase or decrease opacity of motion-tracked text

Alternatively, you may want to make the text less prominent or even opaque. To achieve that, select the text object, go to the formatting menu at the top, open Text color and toggle the Opacity control.

How to add perspective to motion-tracked text

Adding perspective to text means slightly turning or rather swaying it horizontally or vertically. To apply this effect, click on the text object, open the Video effects menu, proceed to Transforms and select Perspective.

Then go to the Properties window, select a vertical or horizontal perspective and adjust the angle.

How to add a pointing arrow to motion-tracked text

Finally, if your text is attached to a small object or if you have multiple captions that are assigned to different objects, you can add arrows pointing at those objects and moving along with the text. The best way to do that is by adding a .PNG arrow image with a transparent background to the scene and assigning the same movement map to it you assigned to the text earlier.

Time to experiment with motion-tracked text!

You now have all ins and outs of working with motion tracked text. Go ahead and try it for yourself. If you need inspiration, make sure to check out our YouTube channel.

Got questions about VSDC? Our DM is always open on Facebook.

If you want to make a piece of text or an image move in a video, you can do it for free using VSDC Video Editor. The aptly named Movement feature allows you to move any object from point A to point B, adjust the movement speed and apply various effects to the moving object to make it transform or disappear in the process.

There are lots of ways to use text or image movement in your videos creatively! For instance, you can put together a simple but stylish intro animation or imitate some special effects.

Below, we’ll show you how to apply movement to a .PNG image. You’ll be able to replicate this tutorial for any picture added to the scene, a shape, an icon, or even a mask. Remember to download the free version of VSDC Video Editor before getting started.

How to make a picture move in a video: tutorial

Launch VSDC and use the Import content button to upload your project background – video or image. Next, open the Add object menu at the top and select Image (or use Ctrl + I) to upload the image you’ll be applying the movement to. In our case, it’s a .PNG image with a transparent background. Feel free to use files of any other format!

Place the image at its starting point (point A) and follow these steps:

1. Double-click on the image
2. Find the Movement icon in the menu on the left-hand side
3. In the pop-up window, leave the default settings and hit OK
4. Point to where the image should be moving during the playback and make a click

Congrats! You’ve created a trajectory and when you use the Preview button, you’ll see how the image moves gradually from point A to point B, as the video progresses.

How to enhance the object movement effect in a video

Now that you’ve learned the basics, there are a few more things you can adjust to make the object movement effect look more impressive.

First, you can specify the moment when the movement starts and when it stops. By default, the movement effect continues as long as the image is visible in the scene. However, you can change the timing by dragging the movement control points on the timeline. In other words, if you want the image to stop moving at a certain time, make sure to place the second (yellow) point in that moment on the timeline. Naturally, it will affect the speed. The shorter the duration of the movement effect is, the faster your image will be moving in a video.

Second, you can apply various effects to the image as it moves. Consider the fade-in and fade-out effects as an example. If you apply them, the image will gradually appear at the beginning of the trajectory and gradually disappear at the end of it.

Or, let’s suppose you want the image to rotate briefly in the middle of the path. Then go to the Video effects menu and select Transforms —> Rotate. Adjust the duration of the effect on the timeline and preview the result to see how it looks. In the example below, we’ve applied both the Rotate and the Fire effects to the moving image.

Master the moving object effect with VSDC

The free version of VSDC only allows you to apply movement from point A to point B. That is one movement path. If you want to build a more complex trajectory consisting of more than two points, check out our guide to making objects move in a video – this feature is considered more advanced and available in VSDC Pro (which is $19.99 per year).

However, if you need an image to follow a moving object in a video, the best way to achieve that is by using motion tracking. It’s a powerful Pro-level tool that helps quickly apply a trajectory of any object in a video to a piece of text, image, or icon.

Ready to try it for yourself? Then it’s time to download VSDC Free Video Editor and start your first animated video!

How to work with the movement object in VSDC Free Video Editor?

How to turn Image to a moving object| image scrolling effect on VSDC free video editor

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