New to OBS, need help understanding how to use it

pschmehl

pschmehl

New Member
I'm very new to OBS. i have created videos by creating separate scenes for each thing that I want to display. I see people on Youtube who can make browsers appear and disappear, switch between a full view of the creator to a small window in the corner, even an oval or round one, display graphics on the screen and then have them go away and make others appear.

I hope I've described this well enough I've been doing a ton of searching and reading, but I can't figure out how to do this.

This is a good example of what I'm trying to figure out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZSe1hLbKB0

If you watch just the opening few seconds of this video, the creator begins with a full-screen browser window, switches to a graphic he created, and then appears with the same video on the left, and him on the right with his headphones and mike. Can that be done using OBS? I suspect it can and I just don't understand how.

I also can't seem to figure out how to get a browser source to fit to screen.

If you want to see what I've done to this point, you can view this video: https://youtu.be/AShWCz5VFuY

In this video, I begin by discussing what I want to talk about using a scene with Audio Input Capture and Video Capture Device. I then have to switch to a new scene where I'm also using the same sources plus the Slide Show Source which I advance manually.

What I would prefer to do is simply begin the video and then have the graphics appear on the screen at the desired time and disappear from the screen once I've completed the discussion of them.

Am I trying to work at cross purposes to the way that OBS is designed?
 
L

Lawrence_SoCal

Active Member
pschmehl said:
I'm very new to OBS. i have created videos by creating separate scenes for each thing that I want to display. I see people on Youtube who can make browsers appear and disappear, switch between a full view of the creator to a small window in the corner, even an oval or round one, display graphics on the screen and then have them go away and make others appear.
Click to expand...
Yup, all normal stuff. Though there is the native to OBS Stuff transitions, and then there are 3rd party plugins that can be fancier. For my comments, I'll stick to native OBS Studio capabilities
pschmehl said:
If you watch just the opening few seconds of this video, the creator begins with a full-screen browser window, switches to a graphic he created, and then appears with the same video on the left, and him on the right with his headphones and mike. Can that be done using OBS?
Click to expand...
definitely
pschmehl said:
I also can't seem to figure out how to get a browser source to fit to screen.
Click to expand...
The OBS Studio learning curve is rather steep at the beginning. My .sig has a link to EposVox OBS class for basics. non-gamer oriented info that may be helpful for you - https://streamgeeks.us/

Once you add a source (could be browser source, or a Window Application capture), the thing you are looking for is likely the Right-Click > Transform option to resize, crop, etc a source... there are GUI/mouse ways of doing the same.. The help guide here describes the methods to position, size, etc your source(s)

pschmehl said:
What I would prefer to do is simply begin the video and then have the graphics appear on the screen at the desired time and disappear from the screen once I've completed the discussion of them.
Am I trying to work at cross purposes to the way that OBS is designed?
Click to expand...
No, OBS Studio will do as you've described. Though, I use https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/advanced-scene-switcher.48264/ to help automate my scene changes at specific time intervals. with the newer Macro options in this plugin, there is an amazing range of possibilities, but also requires more mental effort... so in this plugin, I'd start simple by un-selecting the checkbox to 'Hide options covered by Macros' to show the other (older) Tabs which may be simpler to start with, especially the Sequence tab
These older tabs are likely to go away at some point, but might be easiest to start with.
 
pschmehl

pschmehl

New Member
Thanks, @Lawrence_SoCal . I will check out your tutorial. I have an IT (20 years in Computer Security) background, so I'm used to doing lots of reading and experimenting to figure things out. I found out how to set a source as the foreground and how to fit to the screen last night after posting this question set.
 
XLCOLDJ

XLCOLDJ

Member
Try using show/hide instead of switching scenes when you just need to bring up a certain image or other source for a short time but you don't need to reposition the other elements. You can still use transitions for temporary elements by setting show and hide transitions on them (right-click menu on the item).

The Move Source plugin (used as a filter applied to your source) will let you position and move things on the fly by using the show/hide filter function. You would probably want to make a hotkey for it if you're not using a control surface.
 
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