ManyCam Overview
If you work online with side hustles from home, have conferences online, play games online, teach online, or just use your webcam for fun, this guide about the webcam software ManyCam is for you.
It has so many awesome features that make using your webcam go from mundane to super exciting and fun. ManyCam is webcam software and a video switcher that allows you to enhance your video chats and create amazing live streams on multiple platforms at the same time.
Also, you can easily add 3-D masks, graphics, draw/text, use a green screen, picture in picture and much more.
Can I Use ManyCam With Mac?
Yes, ManyCam is supported on both Mac and Windows.
However, if you are planning to use it to teach online with PalFish, this isn't possible due to teaching being performed on your mobile phone.
But, there are different subscriptions options for ManyCam. Which subscription option is best for you?
ManyCam Free vs Standard vs Studio (Free vs Paid)
ManyCam Free Version
With the free version of ManyCam you'll get two “video sources”. When starting out with teach from home jobs like Cambly Kids, you can start with the free version.
It is a good place to start to give it a test run and see how it integrates with your purposes. But, just keep in mind, that it is going to provide limited functionality and you are not going to get very far with it, because you will just have two video sources.
Given the daily online type of work you do, teaching students, you may like to have lots of video sources!
Multiple video sources, with ManyCam, keeps you from manually rebuilding materials used every time you teach a class. With multiple video sources you can pull them down, add them for the lesson, and put them away until you need them again.
ManyCam Standard Version
After the free option, you can choose ManyCam Standard (see price by clicking the button below). ManyCam does run discounted offers, so keep a look out for those.
With ManyCam Standard you'll get four video sources. It is certainly a step up from the free version, but may ultimately prove to be limited for what you want to achieve.
However, this is a good entry point for any webcam user.
For example, in your four video source slots, you can have your webcam view, a screensaver for online classes, and your self-made ManyCam Games . But, as time goes by, you may want to add additional teaching materials (ESL games etc), so you may have to upgrade. The transitions between video sources is smooth and easy during classes, so the more slots – the better!
ManyCam Studio Version
ManyCam Studio offers 12 video sources, and you can activate it on two different devices. It also has 4k capabilities and virtual background features.
So as mentioned previously, the real difference in benefits between Standard vs Studio is the increased sources – allowing you to have more things set up for seamless transition. You can view the price by clicking the button below:
ManyCam Premium Version
This is basically the same as the Studio version, however, it comes with premium support. So if you find yourself having a lot of technical issues and require support to use ManyCam, this is a good option to go for.
Which Version is Best?
ManyCam Studio is a good option for teachers as it has the broadest array of options.
ManyCam Studio should be more than enough for the professional user. With ManyCam Studio over standard or free, you have the resources you need without having to make difficult choices because of limited video sources.
But, if your needs are more minimal, you can be very happy with ManyCam Standard.
If you simply aren’t sure, then try out the free version and have fun experimenting!
How To Use ManyCam for Online Teaching
Here is a beginner's guide to ManyCam for to get you started using the virtual webcam software.
If you're not too sure how to use the webcam software, then this guide will walk you through each of the tabs and features of ManyCam.
Video
Add your webcam
Right click on your empty slot and select your camera.
Resolution
Keep this at 720p.
Frames per second
Don't worry about this too much, just leave it as it is.
Zoom
Here you can control a sliding button to zoom in and out on your camera.
Flip and rotate
You can select this button to flip your camera sideways and upside down.
I use the upside down button a lot as a way to keep engagement. Check out how I do this in my reward system – 5 ways to high 5.
Picture in picture mode
Here you can create multiple cameras within your camera. This is useful if you wish to play a video to your student whilst still being present on the screen.
Check out the article below to see a list of great guessing game videos:
Colour
Here you can change the brightness of your camera, as well as its colour.
This is great if you are in a dark room, or if you are not feeling your best – you can give yourself a tan and look right as rain!
Audio
Audio input
Here select your headset microphone.
Audio output
Here select your headset.
Draw
This is a way to draw or type on your camera using a Microsoft Paint and Word equivalent interface.
I don't use this very much as you will have a pen and typing tool on your online teaching platform anyway.
Time
Don't worry about this; you won't use it.
Chroma Key
This can be used for having a digital teaching background, but it would require a green screen.
With green screens, it is hard to get the lighting right, so I don't bother with this.
And also I think a digital background would be too overwhelming for the student…you're better off with a simple poster background.
Lower Third
Don't worry about this. I know I've said this a lot…but because ManyCam isn't designed to be an exclusive online teaching software, a lot of the features aren't always going to be relevant or useful.
Effects
Here is where the money is made! These are effects that you can make appear on your camera, such as cartoon images and face masks.
Get more effects
You can download effects from the ManyCam website.
Objects
These are cartoon images such as fruit. I use these for creating a lot of games such as the one below:
Emoticons
Also known as ‘Emojis', these are fun expressions of different emotions. I use these to keep engagement, as you can see in the article – dealing with awkward pauses.
Face masks
Use these to transform your face into something fun and interesting, such as a cat!
You can see how I use the cat mask in my article about ukulele improvisation whilst teaching:
Face accessories
These are things such as glasses and moustaches, which are always a lot o fun.
Click the image below to check how to use these with my ManyCam Tips & Tricks:
Borders
So if it's the student's birthday, you can put things up like birthday flags and decorations – that's a little example for you.
Overlays
These are basically screensavers…but I just use the one I made that I mentioned earlier.
Backgrounds
Here you can set your background as a tropical paradise or a library etc. These are essentially real-life scenic pictures that you will fill your camera with you amongst it.
Check out how I use these to play the ‘Where Am I Game?'
Filters
With the filters, you can make yourself black and white or look like a cartoon etc.
Just a cool thing to turn on to suddenly shock your student and thus keep them engaged.
Distortions (Windows only)
Unfortunately distortions are only available on the Windows version of ManyCam.
They operate like a sort of magic mirror, where you can make yourself look bigger, smaller or just kind of strange.
Check out how I use these in the ManyCam Basketball game.
Speech bubbles
These are what they say on the tin…a collection of speech bubbles that you can make appear with ‘hello' and other phrases on them.
Lower Thirds
Don't worry about this.
Groups
Don't worry about this for the beginner's guide.
Gallery
This is where you recorded videos or snapshots through the ManyCam camera go.
Favourites
Don't worry about this one as well.
Using the ‘Slots'
I call them slots, but there is probably a more official term. These are the cameras that you can transition between. So for instance, I'll have one with my camera, one with a game and one with a…
…Screensaver
This is what I use to cover my camera for when a student doesn't turn up and I don't just want to sit in front of an empty classroom in front of a camera for half an hour looking like a gorm.
For more information on my screensaver, check the article below avoiding lateness in online teaching.
Transition and cut
This is the button you press to move between your camera slots. ‘Transition' slowly glides to the next camera, and ‘cut' quickly jolts to it.
Recording and snapshots
You can press the record button on ManyCam or take a picture if you want to capture the beauty of you trying out all of the different digital hats.
Setting up Games
To set up games, I select a blank white screen after right clicking my camera slot.
Then I simply add the appropriate effects to it.
Click the link below to see a more detailed example of how I have set up the ‘Super Mario' Game:
Media Files
You can right-click your camera slot and select ‘Media Files' to play already downloaded videos to your student.
YouTube URL
Here is my preferred option of simply finding YouTube videos and copy and pasting the URL into ManyCam.
Just right-click and select YouTube URL and paste away.
Here is an example of how I make a class activity out of an animated Mr Bean clip from YouTube:
Area Under Cursor
This is essentially sharing your screen to your student. It will display whatever your cursor will hover over.
So you can use stock Images instead of flashcards.
Clear
Clear the slot to start fresh and new
ManyCam Tips & Tricks for Online Teachers
Why use ManyCam? Here is an example scenario:
There you are, trying to teach the best online English class you can, when suddenly the student starts to yawn.
Don't worry, it's nothing to do with you or your awesome teaching. It's just very difficult to keep a student engaged in this modern technological age. Even if they are learning something they are passionate about on a platform like Allschool, such as music, gaming or art. Students will still have a tendency for a wandering mind.
There is no easier way to keep your online English student engaged than by using these ManyCam Tips and Tricks! Note these tricks are aimed for younger students and may not be applicable for older or adult students on platforms like Amazing Talker.
Put Virtual Glasses On Your Face
This is just something out of the ordinary to wake them up and break the cycle of boredom.
You can even slip in a bit of a vocabulary exercise whilst you do it:
‘What are these? Glasses!'
Use a Distortion Effect
Similar to the glasses, it just breaks up the class and gets your online ESL student's eyes to open up a bit more!
It can also be pretty entertaining for yourself to see yourself on camera looking absolutely ridiculous…sometimes teachers need a little pick-me-up as well as the students!
Flip Yourself Upside Down
This one is great as you can turn it into a little game.
Once you have flipped yourself upside down by clicking on the ‘Flip horizontally' button in the ‘Video' tab, you can then ask the online student to help you get back the right way up.
Simply instruct them to say ‘1-2-3-Back to normal!' and then press the button again to flip yourself back.
So how can you build upon these simple tips and tricks using ManyCam? That's where games come in…
ManyCam Games
Here are numerous amounts of ManyCam games using the webcam software that will keep your online students engaged! A lot of the games are aimed at younger students that you will not encounter on platforms like Cambly.
However, with a little bit of tweaking you may find some to be useful for your adult language students on the Preply platform, but probably not for you online business coaching students on Excedo.
So you can view the video and click the images below to read about how to play and create each game for your online classroom.
DigiNo's ManyCam Games
Connect Four Game
A 4 in a row Connect Four game using Animals (or anything of interest – colors, numbers, food, places) for the rows and columns.
This is easily created yourself or found with a simple Google search for premade grids.
How To Play
The students must start from the bottom row and build their way up to connect 4 in a row vertically, horizontally or diagonally. It is a classic children’s game most would of played already but introduces object recognition and English pronunciation techniques.
Goalkeeper Game
This game is called ‘Goalkeeper' and is inspired from soccer video games such as FIFA.
There is a power bar with a ‘stop-go' sign for the children to stop the ball in the correct power zone.
Next they must choose a side using left or right. Finally, you can color coordinate the corners and the student must pick a corner the teacher is not guarding with their hand.
Superhero or Unicorn Jump!
Use either superheroes jumping on rooftops or a unicorn trying to rescue her friend.
The students answers questions to get to get the character to jump closer to the goal.
Search for Detective Pikachu
Here is a simple “search for Pikachu game” in various locations. You simply hide the Pikachu character behind the scenery and ask the students to guess where he is hidden. You can change the character depending on the student's interests.
ManyCam Starter ‘Pokemon' Game
How to Play the Pokemon ManyCam ESL Game
- You begin by asking your student to select one of the three Pokeballs which contains Squirtle, Bulbasaur and Charmander.
- This then becomes their Pokemon.
- A wild Pikachu then appears after you click on Pikachu from your effects panel.
- Then select the three hearts to appear Pikachu's health.
- Proceed to ask your student three English related questions (this can be general vocabulary knowledge, or an exercise of pronunciation by asking a question such as ‘How are you?' and gauging the pronunciation of their response.
- A satisfactory answer causes their Pokemon to attack Pikachu causing it to lose one heart.
- When Pikachu is down to no hearts, you can then throw a Pokeball to try and catch it (use one of the Pokeballs that initially covered the three starter Pokemon).
- One Pikachu is captured, then reward a star for extra dramatic effect.
And that is the game.
This Pokemon ESL game isn't just fun…but educational too!
This game was created as an alternative way of practicing a student's pronunciation (which seems to be a frequent area that needs work).
Constant reading exercises won't naturally engage some of the students. Some students seemed to be unable to read two sentences in a row of a story without getting distracted.
However, when Pikachu is on the screen, the cute little electric mouse always seems to have a magnetic grasp of the attention of children.
This game rewards correct pronunciation with the prospect of capturing their very own Pikachu. Gotta catch em all! The marketing of Pokemon is certainly effective on kids…so why not use its powers for positive ESL progression?
So get practicing on your best Bulbasaur and Pikachu impressions, and get ready to say…
…Pokemon ManyCam game…I choose you!
ManyCam ‘Star Bomb!' Game
The Rules of ‘Star Bomb!'
There are 13 numbered cards in a circle. Under these cards are bombs, a star, hearts, Hello Kitty and Spiderman.
The process of the game is for the student to select a number to reveal what is underneath.
The aim of the game is for the student to find the star before finding all 3 bombs.
Simple as that!
ManyCam ‘Super Mario' Game
The Rules of the ManyCam ‘Super Mario' Game
It follows a question based format where you can test your student's English knowledge. You can start with easy questions such as ‘How do you spell apple?'
If they get this right, then Mario moves up one block in the step.
Once they reach the ‘Question Mark' block, then it is the student's turn to ask you a question.
If they get a question wrong at any point. You can move Bowser to knock Mario back a block…or to the beginning (depends how evil you are!)
The idea is to get Mario all the way to the star, and subsequently reward your student with a hard-earned star.
You can then put up the image of Bowser crying afterwards, just to stick it to him and make the student's victory even sweeter!
Examples of Questions for the ManyCam ‘Super Mario' Game
You can make the most of the pre-existing objects in ManyCam. So for example, you can select a ‘basketball' object and ask them ‘What sport is this from?'
For when you want to make the questions harder, simply ask for more detail, for instance, I will select the three coloured pencils object and ask them ‘What are these? What colour are they? And how many?'
As a final question, you can ask for a list of answers, for instance, select a school bag object and ask, ‘What are 5 items you would take to school?'
So have a browse through the objects in ManyCam and you'll soon be thinking of questions you can base around them!
Top tip: You don't have to put on the Mario voice as he jumps from block to block…but you know you want to!
ManyCam ‘Simon Says' Game
This version of the game where you instruct student's to copy your movements after saying ‘Simon Says' is perfect for keeping online students engaged mid-class…or can be used as a warm-up or warm-down game as well!
How Does ‘ManyCam Simon Says' Work?
So it begins as the game would normally be played – ‘Simon says run, Simon says touch your nose'…
…but you can then spice it up a bit by using ManyCam effects, such as growing a moustache or even face masks like a cat.
‘Simon says grow a moustache!'
‘Simon says be a cat!' etc
The end result of this, is simply to get the student to laugh, or to get them to wake up a little bit more for class.
Asking them to grow a moustache is all just part of the fun (don't actually expect them to grow a real moustache instantly…give them about ten years for that).
How To Get More Fun Out of ‘ManyCam Simon Says'
You can then tell them to shave their moustache. This can then be a funny little game of shaving your ManyCam moustache off, but then making it constantly reappear after you have done it…always gets a laugh or two!
And now your student is full of life and energy once again, ready to work their way through the courseware.
What's New in ManyCam 7.0?
ManyCam has long been a firm favorite amongst online teachers and it is something that I would highly recommend to all new teachers that are just starting out. The software is super useful and can help teachers to make their lessons more interactive and engaging for young learners.
ManyCam has been around for about 10 years now, but recently, the company updated the software and made it even more streamlined and useful for teaching online. In this article, we'll take a look at all the new features of ManyCam 7.0 and how to utilize them to make your online lessons better.
What's New On ManyCam 7.0? – New Features for Online Teaching
In the new update, ManyCam added a bunch of great features to their software. Some of the features are more useful to online teachers than others. In this section, we’ll take a look at some of the most useful ManyCam 7.0 features for online teachers, starting with…
More Effects Than Ever
One of the best features of ManyCam is the effects gallery. This gallery allows teachers to download and use thousands of awesome effects for free. These effects include backgrounds, objects, masks, and all sorts of other animations that can make your lessons more fun and engaging.
In the recent update, ManyCam expanded its effects gallery to include over 15,000 effects, giving teachers more options when it comes to decorating their virtual classroom and inventing interactive games.
Animated GIFS
Along with the tons of extra effects that are now on offer, ManyCam has also added a new animated GIFs category. The category includes a range of funny and amusing GIFs that can be used to keep the kids interested or reward good behavior and engagement.
With the new update GIFs and effects are now easier to use than ever, and they can be dragged around the screen and resized much easier than before.
Updated User-Interface
Arguably one of the worst things about ManyCam is that it can be quite hard to use the interface when you are in the middle of a class. Before the update, some functions didn’t always work properly and it was hard to adjust certain settings, without completely disrupting the flow of your lesson.
However, as part of the 7.0 update, ManyCam overhauled the user interface to make it more intuitive and much easier to use.
From the main screen, users can access and adjust a range of video settings easily, such as resolution, zoom, and color.
This makes it much easier to customize your classroom and make the most of ManyCam’s many features to enhance your lessons.
In addition to this, they also made it easier to manage your audio devices, so you can easily avoid those “teacher, I can’t hear you” moments.
Drag and Drop Function
It’s now easier than ever for teachers to customize their classrooms and make changes during lessons thanks to the ManyCam 7.0 Drag and drop function. Now, adding files, borders, effects and presets to your video feed during lessons is super simple, all you have to do is drag and drop.
Chroma Key Function
Teaching whilst traveling and don’t have time to be making a bunch of teacher background by hand? No problem! ManyCam has updated the chroma key function which makes adding and removing backgrounds from your shot super easy.
Before the update, this function was a little hard to use, as it sometimes caused computers to become slow and sluggish. However, with the new update, the chroma key function uses less of your computer’s CPU, which means it shouldn’t slow things down too much.
Overall Performance Improvements
Although ManyCam was previously a useful piece of software, there’s no denying that it often left a little to be desired in terms of performance and speed.
Although the features were all there, the program would often freeze or take a long time to respond.
As an online teacher, this aspect of ManyCam was really frustrating, but thankfully, the company heard our cries and did something about it.
Since the update, ManyCam has improved the overall performance of the program so teachers can now enjoy efficient and high-quality live videos without it sending your computer into a meltdown.
ManyCam 7.0 – Other Updates to Look Out For
Aside from the new features that will be a great help to online teachers, ManyCam has also made some other updates that you might want to know about. Below is a list of the other changes you can expect when using ManyCam 7.0.
New Logo
Along with the feature updates, ManyCam has also updated its appearance. They’ve updated their logo to a new smoother design to represent the companies constant movement towards excellence. Pretty corny, but the new logo is kind of cool!
Website Updates
Not only has ManyCam updated its software, but it’s also updated its website to make life easier for users. They’ve updated everything from the homepage to the download page in the hope of making information easier to find and understand.
With this, they have also made their pricing page clearer to read, so it’s now much easier for teachers to understand what each subscription package includes.
New ManyCam Forum
Looking for tips and ideas about how to use ManyCam to its fullest potential? Check out the ManyCam forum.
ManyCam Download
ManyCam
Use the webcam software to bring your classes to life with digital effects.
Click below to head to the ManyCam website and view your download options.
Final Thoughts on ManyCam…
The webcam software certainly has its uses in online teaching. However, it won't always be relevant to use depending on your platform. So if you haven't already found an online teaching platform, you can find a list of them by clicking below:
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