Expected learning time: 15 min

Build the skeleton of the tutorial

We'll divide the tutorial into three main sections:

• Introduction (launch, welcome and objectives)

• Body (core of the tutorial where you'll share the key information)

• Conclusion (recap and next lesson teaser)

Create three empty scenes, one for each of the three above sections, that will act as divider scenes to keep the project organized. To make everything visually clear, I suggest you add some dots before the name of the scene, so that they will stand out from the other scene names. Something like this:

.................................Introduction

.................................Body

.................................Conclusion

Below each of the divider scenes we'll add the scenes including the content that we'll use for the production of the video lesson.

Now create one additional divide scene and call it:

...................................Scenes for nesting

We'll be working with nested scenes across the project.

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Exercise

Create the above four divider scenes

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What are nested scenes? Find it out in the next lesson

Expected learning time: 30 min

Working with nested scenes

An existing scene can be used as a source. This practice is very useful and important and is called "working with nested scenes".

To understand what this is let's create two scenes:

1. one with your face camera and

2. one with an image including the same camera, but with a circular mask effect (you'll learn how to do this properly in the next lesson).

If you apply a mask filter (effect) to the camera in scene 2, you'll realize that the filter will automatically apply also to the camera in scene 1. So, how can we have one scene including the native camera source and another one displaying the same camera with a circular mask effect? The solution is to use scenes as sources (nested scenes).

Delete the camera sources from scene 1 and 2 and create 2 news scenes that you'll place in the "Scenes for nesting" section:

A. Create a scene, call it Native camera and add the camera source to it

B. Create another scene, call it Masked camera and add again the same camera source to it.

Now, instead of applying the mask filter to the source itself, you can apply it to the "Masked camera" scene. By applying the filter to the scene, this will leave the camera source filter-free.

The next steps is to use scenes as sources. Go to scene 1 you've previously created and here, instead of adding the camera source, add a "Scene" source and select scene A above. Go to scene 2 and add again a "Scene" source, this time selecting scene B above.

Now scenes 1 and 2 will show the full camera and the masked camera respectively.

The fact that we are using a scene as a source inside another scene (we are nesting a scene into another one) explains the concept of nested scenes.

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Exercise 1

Create a new scene collection that you will use to practice. You can call it "Practice" for example

Exercise 2

Go to your "Practice" scene collection

1. Create two empty scenes 1 and 2 (name them as you wish)

2. Create two additional scenes A and B and name them: Native camera and Effect camera

3. Add your camera source to both scenes A and B

4. Select scene A and apply a scroll filter (right click on the scene-->filters-->scroll). Apply a vertical speed

5. Select scene B and apply another scroll filter (right click on the scene-->filters-->scroll). Apply a horizontal speed

6. Add scene A as a source in scene 1

7. Add scene B as a source in scene 2

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In the next lesson you'll learn how to create a masked camera effect

Expected learning time: 30 min

Create a masked camera effect

First, let's create the mask. You can do it with the software you prefer and in this lesson I'll show you how to do it in PowerPoint.

Create a 1920x1080p black rectangle and place a white circle on top of it (or any white shape you like).

Export the rectangle and circle as one PNG picture.

In OBS right click on the source (or scene) you want to apply the filter to-->filters-->mask/blend. In the settings choose Alpha mask (color channel) and then browse and select the mask image you've created before.

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Exercise

Go to your "Practice" scene collection

1. Create 3 mask shapes of your choice

2. Create three scenes with your face camera and apply the three masks above to the three scenes respectively

3. Add a stroke to the mask by creating stroke images in PowerPoint (or the same software you've used to create the masks)

4. Add the strokes to the scenes. Resize them and reposition them. Try to fit and center them to screen by using the Transform options

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Let's quickly pause for a knowledge checkpoint. In the next lesson you'll learn how to add media, text and graphics

Expected learning time: 30 min

Create a laucnh video

In this lesson we'll create a short launch video for your tutorial. We'll do that by using the free version of Canva.

Follow the link in the resources to access Canva and create your 3-5 second video. If you want to add sound effects, you'll find many useful free ones on Mixkit (link in the resources)

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Exercise

Create your launch video in Canva. Use your brand colors and logo, a picture and the title of the lesson. Add animations and sound effects to make it epic! Export the file as mp4 video.

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In the next lesson will create the Kick-off scene of the tutorial and learn about media properties

Expected learning time: 15 min

We'll now create the first scene of the tutorial and call it Kick-off. Position it in the Introduction section and add to it the launch video you'd created in the previous lesson.

You can do that by adding a Media source or just by dragging and dropping the file to the sources panel.

Now that the launch video is in OBS, right click on the source and select properties. The following properties are available for video media:

• Loop: the video will continue playing in loop

• Restart playback when source becomes available: the video starts playing every time you switch to the scene

• Show nothing when playback ends: when the video ends a black screen will appear. If not selected, you'll see the last frame of the video.

• Speed: you can increase or decrease the playback speed

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Exercise

Create a Kick-off scene and add your launch video to it. Play with the properties to obtained your desired result

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In the next lesson will create a scene including your face camera and a lower third to welcome the audience

Expected learning time: 25 min

After the launch video has played, let's now create the scenes that will help you welcoming your audience.

Create a new scene a call it "My introduction". Add the Native camera scene and a text source where you'll write your name.

Add and format text

• Go to the sources panel -->"+"-->Text

• Give the text source a name

• Insert the text in the black rectangle field

• Choose font type, size and format

• Choose font color (solid or gradient) and opacity

• Add background color

Warning: when you add a background color nothing will appear on screen. That's because the background color opacity is set to 0% by default. Use the slider to increase the background color opacity

• You can also add a text outline

Tip: you can hide/show a source by toggling the eye icon close to the source

Tip: you can add a space right before and right after the text to make the background color box look nicer

Scroll filter

The scroll filter adds a scrolling effect. It can be applied to text, images, video, camera, and any visual source. The scroll can be horizontal, vertical, or a combination of the two directions. You can also choose the scroll speed, limit width, height and loop.

A very common application of the scroll filter is for creating live-news style ticker.

Tip: if you apply a loop scroll filter to text, make sure to add some space after the last word

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Exercise

Create your lower third

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In the next lesson you'll learn how to animate sources

Expected learning time: 40 min

Move Transition

The Move Transition plugin adds features to OBS that help adding movement to your presentation.

The first step is to download and install the Move Transition plugin (link in the resources).

After installation of a plugin, you may have to restart your OBS. In the Scene Transitions drop down list you will now find the "Add: Move" option.

Let's consider going from Scene A to Scene B. In a Move Transition there are three types of items

• Matched items: elements that are present in Scene A AND Scene B. By default, two items will be identified as matching if they have the same name (for example "my masked camera" present in Scene A at the bottom right and "my masked camera" present in Scene B at the top right. However, we can tell OBS to consider two items as "matching" also if their name is slightly different. The Move Transition will make the item present in Scene A smoothly moving/morphing to the position and size of the matched item in Scene B.

• Appearing items: elements that are NOT present in Scene A that are appearing in Scene B

• Disappearing items: elements that are present in Scene A that are disappearing in Scene B

For each of the item type there are a few options:

• Easing: select whether the ease function is applied when items start and/or end the move transition

• Ease function: the type of easing (e.g. bouncing, accelerating, etc.)

• Zoom (only for appearing and disappearing items): if selected this option will add a zoom effect to the item at the start or end of the transition respectively

• Position: where items appear from or disappear to

• Transition: we can apply a transition to the move transition. In other words we can decide if we want an appearing item to fade in, or a disappearing item to slide out, or whatever other transition type

• Curve: by default movement happens on a straight light. By adding a curve value we are adding a curvature to the movement from the starting to the ending point.

• Duration: as for the other transition types we can define the Move Transition duration. To best appreciate the effect of the various settings I recommend you in create the duration value to at least 750 to 1000ms.

Warning! Matched, appearing or disappearing items are specific to two scenes: the starting scene and the ending scene. A disappearing item in the Scene A to Scene B sequence, is an appearing item in the Scene B to Scene A sequence and may be a matched item in the Scene A to Scene C sequence for example.

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Exercise
Install the Move Transition plugin (link in the resources)
Use two scenes ( A and B) that have matched items, appearing items, and disappearing items
Create and experiment a Move Transition between Scene A and Scene B with the following settings:

• Duration: 1000ms

• Matched items: Easing in and out, cubic ease function, no transition, 0 curve

• Appearing items: Easing in and out, bounce ease function, zoom: yes, position top left, fade transition, curve +1.5

• Disappearing items: Easing in and out, elastic ease function, zoom: no, position bottom right, swipe transition, curve -1.5

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In the next lesson you'll learn how to customize scene transitions, applying different transitions to different scenes.

Expected learning time: 30 min

This lesson answers to two questions:

• is it possible to create multiple transitions of the same type, but with different settings? E.g. two different Move Transitions?

• Is it possible to apply different transitions to different scenes in the project?

Adding transitions

Multiple transitions of the same type can be added. Just open the dropdown list in the Scene Transitions panel and click on "Add:.....", selecting the desired transition type. Name your new transition in a way that it's clear to you the difference from the existing transitions of the same type.

Transition Override

When you select a transition from the Scene Transitions dropdown list, then this transition will apply by default to all scenes in your project. However, you may want to have different transition types depending on the Scene. For example you could Fade from an intro video to your camera scene, but then want a Move Transition to apply to two scenes where you want your masked camera to move from bottom right to top right of the screen.

The first simple option to do this is with the Transition Override option.

• Create all transitions you want to use in your project

• In the Scene Transitions panel choose the transition that you want to be the default one in the project

• Select the specific scenes where you want to apply a different transition, right click and select Override Transition. This will allow you to override the default transition and use another one instead.

Transition Table plugin

A better way to use multiple transitions for more complex projects is to use the Transition Table plugin that you can download from the link in the lesson resources.
Once installed, go to Tools --> Transition Table. You can now define transitions for each specific scene:

• From: the starting scene

• To: the ending scene

• Transition: choose the transition

• Duration: choose the duration

Remember to always click on "Set" to have OBS record the transition.

Tip: you can define a transition type to go from one specific scene to ANY scene, or from ANY scene to a specific one.

Tip: if there is conflict between two scene assignments, e.g. ANY to Scene B and Scene A to Scene B, then the more specific assignment will get priority (Scene A to Scene B in this case) over the more generic one.

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Exercise

• Use the Transition Table plugin to assign different transitions to different scenes

• Create two scene transition assignments: ANY to a Scene B and then Scene A to Scene B. Which of the two transitions is playing from Scene A to Scene B?

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Let's quickly pause for a knowledge checkpoint. In the next session we'll create the main section of the tutorial

Expected learning time: 2 min

The body of the tutorial is the core of your work. Here's where you'll be sharing the content with your audience. We'll build this section in a way that gives you flexibility during production, so that you can bring in source on demand as you need them, without having to look at the screen all the time.

In the next lesson I'll give you several examples of scenes that may be useful for the recording of your content. Choose the ones that make more sense to you!

In the next lesson you'll learn how to use a slideshow presentation in your tutorial

Expected learning time: 15 min

Slideshow

Here you'll learn how to properly share a SlideShow in your tutorial. I'm using PowerPoint and this is the software I'm showing you here.

Let's first create a new scene, call it SlideShow and position it in the Body section. Let's now add a "Window Capture" source. This type of source allows you to share one singe application. Choose the PowerPoint application from the list (the same type of source can be used to add any other application source).

You'll notice that if you launch your slide show, the presentation mode will not show in OBS, which will keep showing the slides in editing mode. To solve this issue go to PowerPoint, go to Slide Show, then Set Up Slide Show and then select Browsed by an Individual. When you now launch the slide show, it will play in the same PowerPoint window and it will display in OBS. To remove the upper and lower bars, just adapt the size of the source in OBS.

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Exercise

• Open a presentation

• If you are on PowerPoint select Browsed by and Individual

• Create the Slideshow scene in OBS

• Add the slideshow with a Window Capture source

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In the next lesson you'll learn how to use sources on-demand with the Downstream Keyer plugin

Expected learning time: 30 min

Use elements on demand

When you click "record" and start producing your tutorial, you don't want to look at your screen and spend time finding scenes, sources and clicking on them. It would be very distracting and you would lose contact with your students.

We'll now learn how to easily bring in and out of your production selected elements that you may want to use on demand. For example, say you are presenting a slideshow but you need to pause and want to establish eye contact with the students. You may want to bring in your masked camera or even your full face camera. Instead of looking at your screen and clicking on the masked camera or native camera scene, we will now install a plugin that will allow us to do it in an easier way.

Downstream Keyer plugin

Download and install the Downstream Keyer plugin (link in the resources).

In the Docks tab you'll now see Downstream Keyer. Click on it and the dock will open.

Let's now create a new divider scene and call it

...........................DSK scenes

Now create a new scene and add in it one scene/source that you want to have available on demand. For example, if you want to have your masked camera available on demand create:

Masked Camera DSK, then nest the Masked Camera scene to it, reposition and resize the masked camera as needed. With the Masked camera DSK scene selected, now go to the DSK dock and click on "+". The Masked camera is now available on demand.

To have a DSK element appearing just click on it in the DSK dock. To have it disappear click on the pause icon.

You see that the masked camera will appear without needing to change scene, and whatever scene you are on.

The DSK plugin basically creates layers that superimpose to any active scene.

You can further customize how elements appear and disappears by applying show and hide transitions to the DSK elements in the DSK dock.

Instead of using your mouse to show or hide a DSK element, it's best practice to assign a hotkey.

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Exercise

• Choose 2-3 sources you want to have available on demand

• Create dedicated scenes and nest the sources (add DSK to the name of the scene so it's clear what they are used forr

• Create one dock for each element

• Add the scenes to the corresponding DSK dock

• Assign show and hide transitions to the elements

• Define a hotkey for each element

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In the next lesson you'll learn how to record your screen

Expected learning time: 10 min

Very often you'll want to record your screen. To do that create a new scene and call it "Screen share".

Add a Display Capture source and select the display you want to share.

Display Capture

This source type allows you to capture the content on one screen. If you have multiple monitors you'll have to choose the appropriate one from the display list. If you want to share only a portion of the screen, then you can crop the source. All other standard source "transform" options are also available.

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Exercise

• Create a Display Capture source where you show the content of a website. Crop the source to hide the browser navigation menu and the computer bottom task bar

• Create a Window Capture source with the browser application showing the same website as above

• Minimize the browser application and notice the difference. What happens to the two sources in OBS? What do you see in the Display Capture and in the Window Capture sources?

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In the next lesson you will learn how to add a second or third camera shot

Expected learning time: 15 min

Second camera shot

If you're recording a product tutorial or want to show a flipchart on the wall, you may want to add a second or a third camera shot. You can add any additional camera in the same way you've added your main one.

Create a new scene and call it whatever you need (e.g. overhead shot, second camera shot). Add a Video Capture device source for it. If you are going to use this camera only in this scene, then you can add the native camera source to it. If you instead plan to use it in other scenes and apply effects to the camera, then you may want to create a dedicated scene for nesting.

If needed you can turn the camera by 180° in the Transform options.

Use your phone camera

If you don't have a second high quality camera, you can use your Smartphone camera as its quality is usually very good. I personally use a software called Camo to do that. It guarantees great quality and gives the option to use is wirelessly (link in the resources).

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Exercise

• Add a second camera

• Try to use your webcam and your phone and see the difference

• Resize, reposition and crop as needed

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In the next lesson you will learn how to do graphic facilitation with an online whiteboard

Expected learning time: 20 min

Graphic facilitation with an online whiteboard

There are many whiteboards that you can use (Miro, Mural, Zoom, Microsoft to name a few).

To share the content on a whiteboard just open the online whiteboard, create a Whiteboard scene, and add a Window Capture source.

If you want to use a transparent whiteboard effect with elements appearing on top of your camera you can assign a background color to the whiteboard (e.g. green) and apply a chroma key filter.

For elevating your graphic facilitation, check out my Wacom drawing tablet (link in the resources)

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Exercise

• Choose a whiteboard

• Set a green background color

• Add a Window Capture source in OBS and add the whiteboard application

• Apply a Chroma Key filter and play with the settings to obtain a transparent whiteboard effect

• Resize and reposition the source

• Practice bringing graphic elements in and out

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In the next lesson you will learn how to zoom in and out of your screen

Expected learning time: 20 min

Zoom in and out

The easiest way to LIVE zoom in and out your screen, if you are on Windows, is to use the free ZoomIt application (link in resources).

Download it and install it. Set up the desired hotkey for its activation.

You'll notice that when you zoom in the mouse cursor appears twice. If this bothers you there is a quick fix for it. Just add a new Display Capture source in the Screen Share scene and untick the "capture cursor" option. Now assign a hotkey (the same hotkey to activate the zoom in effect) to show/hide this source. Set the initial status of this source as "hidden".

If you are on Mac or if you want full flexibility on the zoom in settings, check my YouTube tutorial on the OBS Zoom in and follow cursor script (link in the resources).

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Exercise

• Download and install ZoomIt

• Create a new Display Capture source and untick the "capture cursor" option

• Set up a hotkey as described above

• Practice zooming in and out the screen

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In the next lesson you will learn how to annotate on screen

Expected learning time: 5 min

On screen annotation

There are many tools that you can use for screen annotation. ZoomIt offers various useful tools already.

There is another tool that I often use, that is EpicPen (affiliate link in the resources). In particular I love the arrow tool.

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Exercise
Practice on screen annotation with your favorite tool

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Let's quickly pause for a knowledge checkpoint. In the next section we'll focus on the conclusion of the tutorial

Expected learning time: 10 min

Conclusion

It's now time to recap, tell the audience what they'll learn in the next lesson (if appropriate) and thank your students for watching.

By now you should be able to use your creativity and add a scene that suits your needs. For example a full camera scene with a scrolling text, objectives recap and a thank you message.

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Exercise
Create your conclusion scene

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In the next section we'll set up the audio

Expected learning time: 30 min

Audio set-up

There are audio sources that you want to have available throughout your project, e.g. your microphone or the desktop audio, and some other sources that are specific to a scene (e.g. a sound effect or audio playing from a video).

Global audio sources

Adding your microphone via Audio Input Capture source will add the audio to only one specific scene. If you want the microphone to appear also in another scene, you would have to copy/paste the source. But what if you want your microphone to appear automatically in all scenes? To obtain this you have to select it as global audio source.

Go to File --> Settings --> Audio --> Global Audio Sources and here choose your microphone in the firs mic/auxiliary audio drop down list.

If you had applied audio filters to the Audio Input Capture source, you'll have to apply the same filter again to the global audio source. Despite the sources point at the same microphone device, they are two different sources.

Another source that you may want to have as global audio source is your Desktop audio. That's the case if you have multiple scenes where your desktop audio is needed (e.g. you are sharing a YouTube video). To add Desktop audio as a Global Audio source, go again to File --> Settings --> Audio --> Global Audio Sources. Here select "Default" in the Desktop audio field, to use your default desktop computer audio.

Warning: I'm on PC, but Mac users may not be able to add their Desktop audio. There is a workaround that should solve the issue and you can check it on the OBS forum here.

Warning: if you add the Desktop audio as a Global Audio Source, then all audio playing through the Desktop will be heard by the audience on the videocall. This includes any email or chat alert, so make sure you close all unnecessary applications or silence notifications

Scene specific audio sources

Besides adding your microphone and desktop audio as global audio sources, you will likely be adding other audio media to your presentation. If you add a video with audio, then you only need to add the video media source, as the associated audio will automatically appear in the Audio Mixer. You can also add an audio-only source, like a song or a sound effect.

If the media source is active, then the audio will be appearing in the Audio Mixer. If the media source is not active (you are in a different scene or in the same scene but the eye icon is turned off) then the audio meter will disappear from the Audio Mixer and the audio won't be active.

You can also capture the audio from specific applications and you can do it by adding and Application Audio Capture source.

If you want to hear the audio media also in your headphones, then you have to go to the advanced audio properties and select Monitor or Monitor and Output. However, we'll learn in the following lessons a better way to send selected audio to the output and/or the headphones.

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Exercise

1. Add your microphone and desktop audio in the global audio sources

2. Add Application Audio Capture sources for application sound you want to appear in your recording

3. Mute and hide any audio you don't want to record (e.g. from a camera mic you're not using)

4. Listen to your voice by monitoring your microphone. If needed apply a noise suppression filter

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In the next section we'll define the audio tracks and the file recording format

Expected learning time: 20 min

Audio set-up

You may record your audio all in one track or separate audio sources in multiple tracks. You you plan to edit your video in post-production, I recommend you record your microphone separate from other audio sources, so you have more flexibility if you need to trim the recording.

Go to Advanced Audio Properties and select the track where each audio source should be recorded. Check all audio sources in all scenes and repeat the process.

Recording settings

Now go to Settings-->Output and make sure you select "Advanced". Here select the number of tracks that you want OBS to record. If you have assigned audio sources to tracks 1 and 2, then here select tracks 1 and 2 to be recorded.

The next thing to do is to tell OBS where the recordings should be saved and what format should be used. By default OBS records in .mkv format. My recommendation is to keep .mkv as a default format for safety reasons (you'll be able to retrieve content in case of crash), but also select the "automatically remux to .mp4" option. To do so go to Settings-->Advanced-->Recording and select "automatically remux to mp4".

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Exercise

1. Go to Advanced Audio Properties and select the tracks you want to record the audio sources on.

2. In OBS output settings, select the tracks that need to be recorded

3. In OBS advanced settings, select the automatically remux to mp4 option

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Let's quickly pause for a knowledge checkpoint. In the next section we'll focus on making the production flow easier

Expected learning time: 20 min

Hotkeys

Using hotkeys is fundamental to make your production process easy. It allows you to streamline the most common actions so that during production you can focus on content, rather than on looking for "stuff" on your screen.

Hotkeys can be accessed through Settings-->Hotkeys

You can define a hotkey for most of the actions like switching to a scene, showing/hiding a source, start or stop recording, show or hide a DSK element.

Elgato Stream Deck

If you want to take the production to the next level, then you should check the Elgato Stream Deck. It's a control pad with led keys that can be customized. A hotkey, or a series of hotkeys can be assigned to each Stream Deck key. You can then assign a custom icon to that key, so you want have to remember which button does what.

Have a look at my Stream Deck tutorial video and check out the product yourself (links in the resources).

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Exercise
Set up hotkeys for your DSK elements and for all other actions you want to have easy access to

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Let's quickly pause for a knowledge checkpoint. In the next section we'll test the recording and adjust the settings, if needed

Expected learning time: 30 min

Test recording

Your project is ready. The last thing to do is to test it to make sure everything works as expected. Click on start recording and give it a try! You may use this also to practice your video lesson. Remember, at the beginning you may need a couple of tries before you're satisfied. The more you practice the more confident you'll be on camera using the whole set-up.

Not satisfied with the quality?

It can be that your recording settings need to be adjusted. This may be the case if your video is not smooth, if you're losing frames here and there and in general if the quality of the recording is bad. One of the main reasons could be that the current settings demand too many resources from your PC. If that's the case you may want to tweak the settings in Settings-->Output (avanced)-->Recording. Here you can change the encoder and the encoder settings and reduce the quality of the recording. You can further lower the fps value from 60 to 30 in Settings-->Video.

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Exercise
Test your recording and practice, practice, practice!

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Congratulations for completing the course!

For any comment or question please post it in the course community.

If you now want to take your remote presentation skills to the next level and further deepen your OBS knowledge, check out my OBS Masterclass.

Thank you and good luck with your projects!

Enrico