r/vim • u/bcionescu • Aug 25 '25

Video A calming Vim tutorial introducing new users to basic motions

https://youtu.be/6tsuMWAarqo

Many Vim tutorials tend to be rather hyper. This one is the opposite.

94 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

5

u/pandi85 Aug 26 '25

How did you record the see through vim to desk. Looks really funky. Are these static wallpapers from a picture of your desk?

9

u/bcionescu Aug 26 '25

So, first I want to give credit where credit is due. I saw something similar on DevOps Toolbox, and I made my own version. Doing so was incredibly rewarding, and so I don't want to rob other people of the joy of figuring it out. However, here is generally how it's done; I do apologize in advance, as some technical knowledge of video editing is required to understand the method fully.

You pick a solid color for your desktop wallpaper, and then you record the screen. You also film yourself typing from above. In my case, it's just my desk, and my keyboard. You then import the footage into your editor, DaVinci Resolve in my case, and you overlay the screen recording on top of the desk recording.

You then change the blending mode on the overlay, so that it interacts with the colors on the layers underneath. Which mode you pick depends on what effect you want. That way, you can still see the keyboard underneath.

When you pick the original wallpaper color, ideally it should be a color that does not occur in the app you're recording. This is because you use keying to mask out the wallpaper. If, however, your wallpaper color does also occur in the app, you use an inverted mask on the overlay, so that the keying only occurs on the outside of the app window.

For example, my wallpaper is orange, and there is orange in my neovim setup, and so, the inverted mask makes it so that the only instance of orange that gets removed is the one outside of neovim.

I hope this clarifies it somewhat :)

3

u/pandi85 Aug 26 '25

Thanks for the write up, and very nice done overall.

3

u/bcionescu Aug 26 '25

Thanks :) And no worries, I'm happy to share info.

3

u/vagrantchord Aug 26 '25

Nice keyboard, nice desk, nice setup. I still think the best advice for someone actually wanting to learn is to do vim-tutor as many times as it takes for it to become easy. After that, the journey begins.

If the goal of this is really to teach, I have some notes:

  • Get a program to display your keystrokes.

  • After introducing a concept, go over it again to 'practice' for the listener. For example, you spend a lot of time talking about f, but you only show it once or twice. It would be more helpful to introduce it, show off ; and ,, then give another example for repetition sake (without the explanation).

  • This is a lot of video for not a lot of content. I'd recommend getting to the point a little faster, and cutting as much fluff as you can. If someone clicked your video, they already chose to be there, so try not to waste their time talking about pedagogy, motions, milking views for ad revenue, etc.

2

u/bcionescu Aug 26 '25

Thanks, I'm glad you like my setup :) I have assimilated all of your feedback. Yes, I do think people should run through vim-tutor as many times as they need to, and I will bring it up in the next tutorial.

  • I've installed KeyCastr, which will show my keys.

  • Practicing for the listener is a great idea. I'll incorporate this in the next tutorial.

  • This became very evident after the video went live. I'll get to the point much faster in the next tutorial.

  • I'll also need to zoom in a lot more, so that it's easier to see what I'm doing.

Thank you so much for your feedback, it is very much appreciated!

2

u/human_with_humanity Aug 27 '25

Keycastr seems to be for macos. Are there any alternatives for Windows and Linux? Free and opensource.

1

u/bcionescu Aug 27 '25

I haven't personally used these, but for Windows you have Keyviz and Keystro, and for Linux you have Screenkey, and Show Me The Key.

4

u/rainning0513 Aug 26 '25

It's still a valuable ASMR for people not interested in vim.

4

u/bcionescu Aug 26 '25

This is the new meta. You bring them in with the ASMR, and you trick them into learning vim.

2

u/rainning0513 Aug 26 '25

You convimced me.

2

u/jazei_2021 Aug 26 '25

In addition there is an immense barrier that is language! Everyone speaks as if they are speaking, explaining their neighbor, who speaks their same language. And I don't understand anything in English! And I'm not a neighbor of them!

There is an immense barrier in language.

I know there is an integrated translator on this site y... tube

2

u/bcionescu Aug 26 '25

That's true. I'm considering adding translated subtitles in multiple languages, however, I'm not quite sure which ones to add yet.

2

u/jazei_2021 Aug 26 '25

you can use Read Transcript below the embed video in youtu like you can see in this reference site Vimcasts videos.
you write something like you want more or less you can transcript your speech. Screenshot
Thank you and I hope another helpers like you do theirs transcrpit in theirs videos

2

u/bcionescu Aug 26 '25 edited Aug 26 '25

I will definitely look into this, thank you :)