Film in the Lightboard Studio (Faculty of Science)

The Lightboard is a pane of ultra clear glass lit from the sides. A presenter is filmed through a glass pane, on top of which written annotations can be made with liquid chalk, which appear fluorescent on the glass. Animations, diagrams and videos can also be overlaid on the Lightboard. You can create visually engaging videos working through problems, make annotations over diagrams and point, gesture and interact with your content.

Lincoln Turner provide a demonstration in the video below of using the Lightboard in your teaching

The Lightboard Studio is located in Building 27, 10 College walk, Rm 203 and is managed by the School of Physics and Astronomy. Staff from Physics and Astronomy can access the Lightboard with their Monash Staff ID. If you are within the Science faculty but not in the school of Physics and Astronomy swipe access can also be arranged. For bookings and access to the Lightboard calendar, contact Tomas Zahora (Tomas.Zahora@monash.edu).

Currently, due to high demand Lightboard bookings are limited to staff within the Faculty of Science.

Support and booking for Business School staff is managed by Cameron.nichol@monash.edu

Prepare for your recording session

Important Notice: Due to the current COVID-19 situation, changes have been made to lower hand contact with surfaces in the Lightboard studio. It is now possible to record in the Lightboard without touching any surfaces with your hands. Please read the following procedures and recommendations below:

Bring your own laptop if you wish to present slides, use the red slides HDMI cord to connect.
Note: If your laptop does not have a full-sized HDMI output, please bring a video adapter as there are none provided in the studio.
The portable lapel microphones have been replaced by a microphone at the top-centre of the board. It is automatically switched on. Please do not touch or bump it. Stand where you would normally stand and present as usual. As always, check the audio level meter on TV1, you should aim to speak at a volume in the green or yellow range. If the meter is reaching the red range, reduce your volume.
Bring your own markers and microfibre cloths. If you do not have one, on your next visit to the studio, please take one pack of pens, and two cloths from the box provided. Please bring your own set with you every time you record.
Bring your own remote presenter ('clicker') if needed.
Use the Hand sanitiser provided before and after filming. Please leave this in the studio for everyone’s use.
Use the foot pedals to record/stop(red) and replay(Green) instead of the buttons attached to the board.

Explore the space with this 360 interactive tour of the Lightboard studio. Use your cursor to click and drag to explore the space. For the best experience, click the icon in the top right corner to view in fullscreen. Click esc at anytime to exit full screen.
Note: Some of the information provided in the 360 tour has changed due to COVID-19, please read the important notice above.
Effective use of the Lightboard depends on strong colour contrast between the text, any overlaid visuals and the black background. You should also consider what you will wear on the day of your recording. Below are some examples how different clothes might affect your recording.
Best clothing for recording with the Lightboard
Solid dark colours will provide the best contrast while still allowing you to stand out from the background.
Light clothing
Light clothing will not provide enough contrast if you stand behind text and any other overlaid visuals, making it very hard to read or see the content you are trying to present.
Colourful or patterned clothing
Highly patterned or colourful clothing may distract from the content you are trying to present.
Black clothing
While black clothing provides excellent contrast, it also may make the presenter blend into the black background, creating an effect of floating head and hands. You might want to break up the black by adding a coloured cardigan or jacket to make your silhouette distinct from the background.
Note: Wearing bright green while using the green screen will also create a similar effect.
Clothing with text or logos
The Lightboard films and flips the recording so that all text written on the Lightboard displays correctly. Inversely, it will also flip any written logos or text printed on clothing, making them appear backwards. Aside from possible legal issues with wearing logos, it may also be distracting and gives away the visual illusion of the Lightboard!
You can create even more interesting and engaging videos by adding a Powerpoint presentation to your Lightboard recording. Images, animations, diagrams and videos can be overlaid on the Lightboard, which you can interact with in a number of ways.
Lincoln Turner demonstrates examples of how you can use PowerPoint presentations to enhance your video.
Format your presentation
To make visuals stand out on the Lightboard, they must be bright or light coloured with transparent background on black slides. You should also change your slide size to Widescreen(16:9).
Keep your slides simple, with only a few visuals on each slide and arrange them in a way that leaves plenty of blank space for you to stand behind. This will give you space to interact with your visuals without overcrowding the screen.
Download the Lightboard Powerpoint template for example slides.
To change your slide background to black:
1. Open your PowerPoint presentation.
2. Click the Design tab, and then Format background.
3. Under Fill, make sure Solid fill is selected.
4. Click on the Fill bucket tool to open the colour selection panel.
5. Select Black.
6. Click Apply to All.
  Note: You may need to change text to white so it will be visible.
To change your slide size to Widescreen 16:9:
1. Click the Design tab, and then Slide Size.
2. Select Widescreen(16:9).
Display your presentation on the Lightboard
You can display your PowerPoint presentation on the Lightboard in a number of ways:
- Log into the room PC and find your presentation where it was saved on your computer. Start your presentation, then hit the BLACK PSC1 key on the board controls.
- Plug a USB with your presentation into the room PC. Log into the room PC and start your presentation, then hit the BLACK PSC1 key on the board controls.
- Plug the red HDMI cable into your laptop device and hit the BLACK PSC1 key on the board controls, then the LapS key on the advance board controls.

Finishing up

Clean the Lightboard with your personal microfibre cloth.
Use the ethanol(70%+H2O) in the squeeze bottle by the door to clean any other surfaces, such as your laptop and the HDMI cables.
Check you have not left anything behind, such as your laptop, pens, cloths, video adapter or remote presenter.
Swipe your staff ID on the reader on the right side of the Lightboard to log off and turn off the room systems.
Use the hand sanitiser before exiting. Please leave this in the studio for everyone’s use.
If desired, wash your hands with soap and water in the bathroom down the level 2 corridor on the right.

Where to find your recording

When you have finished, your recording will be saved to the Monash Shared drive(S:) under Sci-Global folder in the Lightboard folder. Once you have been added to the Lightboard users group, you can access the Lightboard folder under This PC > Monash Shared (S:) > Sci-Global > Lightboard.

Intellectual Property and Copyright

When using content that you haven't produced yourself, remember that copyright restrictions cover what you are allowed to include in a video, and these rules are different to the rules for print. If you are in doubt, check with Monash Copyright.

Some options for finding free-to-use content include:

Further tips for making engaging videos

Monash Bytes feature advice for video editing, uploading, and more. You can find it here:Learning Bytes - Audiovisual tools

Learning and Teaching: Teach HQ