How do you REALLY do a smoke overlay?

[777bbbbq]

I ask "How do you REALLY do a smoke overlay" -- with an emphasis on "REALLY" -- because the online information on this topic is very confusing to me.  Everybody tells you to go to YouTube to get free smoke overlays, as if that's the easiest thing in the world, and yet I see no way to download these videos on YouTube except by using a ten-step process with a program called VLC, a procedure which appears to be in violation of the YouTube service agreement that everyone technically agrees to when using YouTube.  There are a few other herky-jerky methods, but they also seem to violate YouTube rules.

Then I go to the home pages full of smoke overlay videos, and again they're all hosted on YouTube, and again with no obvious way to download them except with sneaky work-arounds.

Altho' I'm a newbie, I think I've learned enough now to effectively use a smoke overlay once I have one, but can someone please tell me how to legally use some of these supposedly "free" overlays without violating YouTube policies?  I'm sure I can buy a smoke overlay for about $100 from Adobe Stock or Shutterstock and be able to sleep well at night, but if there truly are "free" smoke overlays out there, no strings attached, I'd like to be able to take advantage of them in a generally acceptable way.

Any ideas on how to do this would be appreciated!

[Ann Bens · Accepted solution]

Couple of free ones not very hard to find.

https://www.videvo.net/stock-video-footage/smoke/

https://www.videezy.com/free-video/smoke

[777bbbbq]

Thanks, Ann.  Looks simple enough.  This will help me a lot. Guess I was fixated on using YouTube videos only.