Beginners Guide - Draw On Your Webcam with Video Pencil and CueCam Presenter
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Have you ever seen somebody do this on Zoom? Drawing directly into their web cam? No screen shares, no disruptions, just direct communication.
What about this? Bringing out a board to draw on. Again, no screen sharing needed!
Let me show you how easy it is to set this up thanks to Video Pencil and CueCam Presenter.
What do I need?
A Mac
- Ideally macOS 26.0 Tahoe or newer
- Ideally Apple Silicon (M1 or newer)
- Built-in or external webcam
An iPad
- Relatively recent (I use a 10th Gen)
- running iOS 17+
A USB Cable
- Keeps your iPad charged
- Better connection to Mac
How much does it cost?
You can try all of this for free but you’ll see a floating Video Pencil logo over your video.
You have two options to make this work:
- Get CueCam for $4.99/month (large education discounts available)
- Buy the $39 “Core Essentials” In-App Purchase in Video Pencil (lifetime price)
Download these apps
On your iPad
- Video Pencil
- squares.tv/videopencil
Get Video Pencil first, open it on your iPad.
It looks like this:
On your Mac
- CueCam Presenter
- cuecam.app/download
CueCam does a lot of things that you don’t need to worry about for now.
The important part is that it will guide you through the set-up process so you can proceed with the next step.
Allow your webcam:
When you get to Video Pencil, it should be ready to go. You can try drawing straight away! But we’re not quite finished.
You can skip the Shoot step.
Microphone access isn’t technically needed unless you’re recording, but now is the easiest time to grant it, so you may as well.
This might be the most important step. Please take careful note of what it is telling you to do.
You need to click the SECOND button to get to System Settings and enable the camera extension.
Turn this switch on:
You’ll have to put in your password.
Next CueCam wants to give you a virtual mic. Again, this is more for recording and other more advanced uses, but there’s no harm in adding it.
With that, CueCam is ready to go. If you draw something on your iPad, you’ll see it in your webcam!
Selecting CueCam in Zoom
Make sure CueCam is your selected camera before you join a call.
Selecting CueCam in Teams
Make sure CueCam is your selected camera before you join a call.
Selecting CueCam in other apps
Any application that lets you use a webcam will let you select CueCam as your camera. That includes FaceTime, QuickTime Player, Google Meet, anything running in Chrome or Safari, WebEx or anywhere else.
How to open a “Blank Board” to draw on
Click the Share Bar in CueCam’s Live Camera window and select Blank Board.
Save this to Slot 1 by right-clicking the Share Bar again.
Now you can click Blank Board any time you need one.
Don’t like the colour? Hover over the window to change it.
Resize the blank board by using dragging the vertical line on its edge.
So that’s everything you need to get started!
Next time, you just need to follow the Video Call Checklist.
Video Call Checklist
- Is CueCam running?
- Is Video Pencil running on your iPad?
- Are they seeing each other (can you draw on your webcam?)
- Is CueCam selected as your camera in your meeting software?
Troubleshooting
Here are some things you can try if something doesn’t work.
Video Pencil doesn’t show Mac webcam and drawings don’t appear on Mac
Force Quit Video Pencil
Swipe up from the bottom or double-tap the home button.
You should see the apps in a grid.
Now swipe up again to force quit Video Pencil.
Open Video Pencil again and see if it connects this time.
If that doesn’t work:
Quit CueCam
Right-click CueCam’s icon in the dock and click Quit (or use the CueCam Presenter menu -> Quit, or use the keyboard shortcut Cmd+Q).
Relaunch CueCam and see if that fixes it.
CueCam camera is frozen in Zoom or Teams
Is CueCam running?
Make sure CueCam’s dock icon has a white dot under it.
If CueCam is running, try quitting and relaunching.
Only the drawing is visible in Zoom or Teams, not my camera
Have you turned off your camera in CueCam?
Make sure you have selected a camera in CueCam and that it is turned on, using the camera icon in the bottom left of the “Live Camera” window.
Removing CueCam
You can fully remove CueCam from your Mac with a couple of steps.
- Run CueCam and go to the Output menu, Virtual Mic, and click “Uninstall Virtual Mic…” - this will remove the virtual mic
- Drag CueCam’s app icon to trash. This should pop up a message saying that the Camera Extension has been removed. If you don’t want to uninstall CueCam completely, there’s also the option to using the Output Menu → Virtual Camera → Uninstall Camera Extension
Get Started