Semi-free Bible Plugin for OBS Studio
- Author Firstfruits Studio
- Creation date
Hi, everyone!
First off, a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from us at Firstfruits Studio! Apologies for the very late greetings, but in between church work and general busyness on the upcoming church plugin, it was a bit tricky to find the time for well wishes. Indeed, it has been a very long time since our last public message here, and this post aims to rectify that. :)
The good news is that I have been very hard at work on the upcoming church plugin, and after receiving an email asking about the status of the upcoming plugin (shoutout to Christopher Barboza), I thought I would share some news about it here to keep you all up to date. So let's get down to it!
In this post, I'll cover our Song Theme editor. In the Bible Plugin, while it has always been possible to create and edit custom themes, it required knowledge of a programming language called Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), which made it both very difficult for general users of the plugin to use and limited what could be created. This has led to more than a few emails asking for our help in styling themes. In our new church plugin, though, I made a conscious decision early on that creating and editing themes be as simple as possible and not depend on programming. This means that you will not need to type in a single line of code to customize your themes. Instead, you will get a variety of user-friendly options to customize your theme to how you want it to be.
Song Theme Editor. Content is subject to change.
Above is a screenshot of the song theme editor. Once you open a song theme for editing, you will be greeted with three tabs and a variety of tiles for customizing them. You can click each tile to tweak each setting as you see fit.
Below you can see screenshots of some of the tiles and some of the settings in each. Please keep in mind that, as in all screenshots shown here, the content of each is subject to change, and the final product may look quite different!
In the screenshots above, you may have noticed among them a Transition option. One of the more highly requested features for the Bible Plugin was a way to transition between verse texts (like a crossfade), but it turned out to be very difficult to implement it there because it would necessitate a complete change in the HTML and CSS and thus break all existing themes. Therefore, I am very happy to report that this feature will be supported in the upcoming church plugin.
In the Widgets tab, you can create and customize widgets, which are free-floating blocks that you can position anywhere in your theme. We currently have widgets for text, color, images, and video, and we plan to tweak them and add more in the future.
With all that said, just what can this song theme editor create? Here is an example of the theme that all the settings above were configuring:
A lower-third type theme with an image and color/texture widget, with a variety of transition and animations applied.
Looking good, if I do say so myself!
Now, although the song feature overall works, there is still room for polishing. Furthermore, we also plan to add an improved Bible feature, besides other things that we hope you will be excited to discover in the future. While I know we did aim for a release last year, unexpected development hurdles torpedoed that plan. As a result, we are aiming for a release sometime this year (hopefully).
That said, I hope this post proves that we are still around and still hard at work, although we may not have said much publicly on our social media recently.
If there is any feature in particular that you would love to see in the upcoming church plugin, or if you would just like to share your thoughts, feedback, or ideas, feel free to drop us a reply.
If you have made it all this way, thanks! I hope you will find the end result to be worth the wait.
Once again, have a Happy New Year! God bless!
~ Jon from Firstfruits Studio
Primary (and only) Developer
It's been 2 years since the Bible Plugin was first announced and released on the OBS Forums. Since then, the Bible Plugin has reached 94 countries / territories and is being used by thousands across the world. It's something we would have never thought to be possible. So, thank you all! We sincerely hope that the Bible Plugin will continue to be a blessing for you all. Please look forward to our upcoming plugin release! God bless you!
Hi, everyone!
This is a small, mostly bugfix update, with one main feature: a Dock Font Scale option.
Dock Font Scale
The Dock Font Scale setting adjusts the size of the fonts on the dock. As the description states, this option is purely cosmetic and does not affect what is displayed on the browser.
This feature was added because we received word that the size of the fonts on the dock could be too small for some users to read, requiring them to squint. This feature should hopefully help resolve this issue. Special thanks to user Philippe Demartin for his feedback on this matter!
(Note: The previously named Font Scale option is now called Browser Font Scale. Its behavior remains unchanged.)
Dock Font Scale: 1.0
Dock Font Scale: 1.5
In the picture just above, you may also have noticed that the Bible reference in the toolbar was changed to show an ellipsis if it gets too long. This was implemented because very long references previously took up a lot of vertical space.
However, you can still know the reference you are in by just hovering over it, like this:
As usual, if you have any suggestions, feel free to share them!
Other Minor Fixes / Enhancements
And that sums it up! Have a great week and God bless!
- We fixed a bug with Google Fonts handling. Previously, some Google Fonts in the Theme Editor would fail to load if their names were more than two words long or if their case was different than expected. All Google Fonts should hopefully work now. If not, leave us a bug report! ;)
- On a similar note, the Google Fonts list was updated.
- In the Generator program of the Coffee Version, the setting Overwrite Output Folder is now enabled by default. After some thought, users likely won't have a folder named obs-bible-plugin unless it was already generated by the Generator program. This meant that this option was an unnecessary hassle most of the time, especially when upgrading from one version to another.
~ Jon from Firstfruits Studio
Primary (and only) Developer
Sneak Peek
In other news, I have been working on a new OBS plugin for songs and other church-related features, things that I think is currently lacking on the OBS plugin market. It's currently very early in development, but for those of you who are interested, here are some pre-release screenshots. Please note that this is very much a work in progress, and things may change drastically before release!
Song Viewer
Song Editor
If you have any suggestions about what features you would like to see in this plugin for songs, please feel free to share them. For example, must-have features, shortcomings with current solutions, etc. While I can't promise that I will add them in, I will be sure to consider your feedback!
Update Guide
Important: Please backup your verse list and custom themes before updating!
Free Online Version
You will automatically be updated to the latest version.
Coffee Version
- Download the latest release from Payhip. (You should also receive an email with the download link soon. If you don't, go to the email you received from PayHip after buying the Coffee Version and click your unique download link there. You will see all the latest files.)
- Run the Generator, choose the same Bibles and output folder, and click Generate.
- Open OBS Studio. You should be on the latest version.
Links
Hi, everyone!
This is a small update, the main highlight of which is vastly improved Bible reference searching in the plugin. We have completely overhauled the code here to use a combination of regular expressions, string comparisons, fuzzy searching, and more forgiving logic. Taking a standard English Bible as an example, you can now use search terms like the ones below, and the Bible plugin will now understand you! Special thanks to Johnny Lassiter for his helpful feedback.
Query Parsed Reference 1pt4.2 1 Peter 4:2 icor11 23 26 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 second kings 5 3 - 2 Kings 5:3- genesis Genesis 1 (goes to chapter 1)
We have fixed a bug on the Bible Query screen. When typing a reference, changing a character in the middle of the reference would suddenly cause your cursor to jump to the end. This is now fixed. Special thanks to Johnny Lassiter for reporting this!
The Google Fonts list has been updated with the latest fonts.
We have added some new OBS Studio themes Yami and Light and made small modifications to existing ones in order for the plugin to blend in nicely with OBS Studio v28 (more on this later). Here are some screenshots!
Yami
Light
Compatibility with OBS Studio v28
I am pleased to announce that Bible Plugin for OBS Studio is compatible with the latest version of OBS Studio, v28! If you are updating from v27, there should be nothing to worry about. If you are updating from v26, though, please review the OBS Studio v27.2 Alternative Solution post we published earlier.
That said, you may wish to wait before upgrading. Although I have not seen any problems with the Bible Plugin itself, I have noticed some issues with OBS Studio's handling of browser resizing on Linux in particular. So you may want to wait until OBS is more stable before taking the jump.
That's all for now! Have a great week and God bless!
~ Jon from Firstfruits Studio
Sole Developer
Update Guide
Important: Please backup your verse list and custom themes before updating!
Free Online Version
You will automatically be updated to the latest version.
Coffee Version
- Download the latest release from Payhip. (You should also receive an email with the download link soon. If you don't, go to the email you received from PayHip after buying the Coffee Version and click your unique download link there. You will see all the latest files.)
- Run the Generator, choose the same Bibles and output folder, and click Generate.
- Open OBS Studio. You should be on the latest version.
Links
Hi, everyone!
It has been six months since the Coffee Edition of Bible Plugin for OBS Studio was released! To mark this occasion, we would like to take this opportunity to learn your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions: what you like about the plugin and what you would like to see in the future. On our part, we would love to see how you have been using the plugin in your churches and livestreams, and we may even feature your video and country on our website! Click the link below to participate!
https://forms.gle/QseawwvFzUHMHK6T8
The survey will run for a week. By taking part in this survey, you will also have a chance to win a free theme pack of your choice (either the Easter 2022 Theme Pack or the General #1 Theme Pack). If you win, we will get in touch with you at the email address you have provided.
Thanks for reading this, and we look forward to read your responses!
Note: This survey is only for users of the Coffee Edition.
This is a bugfix update that fixes Custom Themes being deleted. If you are using Custom Themes, we urge you to update as soon as possible.
We have also changed the font used in It Is Finished (part of the Easter 2022 Theme Pack) from Dongle to Fredoka, because we have received reports that accented characters do not display correctly. If you miss the old font, don't worry. It's very easy to change it back. Just leave me a message if you're interested.
Hi, everyone!
This is a big update that greatly improves the theme experience. When I first made the Bible Plugin, theming was, I admit, an afterthought. This update adds a bunch of improvements to bring the theme list and theme editor up to standard.
This update also adds theme packs. Theme packs are entirely optional but add additional beautiful themes for you to use. More details to follow later in this post.
Ukraine-Inspired Theme
While working on this update, we at Firstfruits Studio are greatly saddened and grieved by the events occurring in Ukraine. As we mentioned on our social media post, this update includes a new Ukraine-inspired theme, derived from our Echoes series of themes. It is freely available for everyone to use on both the free and coffee versions of the plugin.
For further information on this theme and the circumstances behind its creation, please refer to our previously posted social media announcement. As for the theme itself, it will appear in your theme list after updating.
Changelog
The theme list has received many UI/UX improvements:
- A new Create New Theme button on the toolbar does as its name suggests. You no longer need to copy an existing theme in order to create a new one!
- Themes are now split into categories (free, coffee, theme packs, custom).
- A new Search bar makes it easy to search your theme list by theme name.
- After returning from the Theme Editor, you don't need to scroll back to the theme you just edited. Your scroll position is preserved.
The theme editor has also received a bunch of improvements related to Google Fonts:
For font suggestions from Google Fonts, please note that the suggestions may not be entirely up to date, because the list of fonts are compiled with each update. You can see when the internal fonts list was last synced with Google Fonts by scrolling to the bottom of Settings, next to the version number:
- The Google Fonts you have selected are now shown as a list of "tags".
- Click on a Google Font to remove it.
- Type in a font and get Google Font suggestions! This is done entirely offline.
If the list is not up to date and there is a Google Font you are sure exists, you can still use it by typing it in and hitting Enter.
For the Coffee Version only, there is a new License Key / Gift Code field in Settings. (This doesn't appear on the free online version to avoid any confusion.) Here is where you can redeem the theme packs, mentioned below.
Theme Packs
Easter 2022 Theme Pack
Link and complete setup instructions:
https://payhip.com/b/ICtp8
General Theme Pack #1
Link and complete setup instructions:
https://payhip.com/b/WniJQ
Quick Theme Pack Setup Guide
Update Guide
Important: Please backup your verse list and custom themes before updating!
Free Online Version
You will automatically be updated to the latest version.
Coffee Version
- Download the latest release from Payhip. (You should also receive an email with the download link soon. If you don't, go to the email you received from PayHip after buying the Coffee Version and click your unique download link there. You will see all the latest files.)
- Run the Generator, choose the same Bibles and output folder, and click Generate.
- Open OBS Studio. You should be on the latest version.
Links
Conclusion
We have received requests from several people about a number of exciting features we could add to the Bible Plugin. Some of the more prominent ones include using OpenLP as a remote control for the Bible Plugin and displaying multiple verses on a single slide, among others. We are also looking into adding auto-update functionality to the Generator program to make it easier for Coffee Edition users to upgrade to the latest versions. If you have any ideas you would like to add to the list, feel free to let me know! Of course, I can't guarantee anything, but I would love to hear your ideas!
That's all for now! Take care and God bless!
~ Jon from Firstfruits Studio
Primary (and still only) Developer