Creating Text Files

Normally, you can add a Text Source just like any other source in OBS, but a quicker alternative to creating Text sources is to instead use a text (.txt) file.

Why is this quicker?

• A text file can work as your real-time white board for OBS Studio. Meaning you can erase and update within a text editor and have the changes appear directly in OBS seamlessly.
• This is as easy as creating a text file and dragging it into OBS Studio. 
• You can still have all your customization options available to you (font size, family, and color), just as if it were a Text source, but you no longer have the hassle of opening up each source to make updates.

The utility of using a text file in OBS doesn’t stop there. Let’s quickly create a new scene so we can check out another useful aspect of text files.

Duplicating Text Properties

While a text file can give us real-time updates when we make changes to the text, the properties like font and size can still be a tedious process, UNLESS you’re the clever sort of streamer whose learned the benefit of duplicating these text files.

Let’s quickly set up a new text file to show our Top Donators. If you’re a Streamlabs user, you’ll have a folder where these stream labels are kept. Better yet, they too are kept as text files that automatically update when changed! Locate this folder–but if you’re not a Streamlabs user, creating a new text file will work all the same.

Drag this file into OBS Studio to create the Text Source, and then right click on the new Source and choose “Properties” to begin making edits to the text. If you’re wanting to keep the Glitch 2 look going, I suggest using the Frostbit font at a height of 20.

Traditionally, you would continue to drag in text file after text file as you populate your Top Donator list, but that would require then also setting them to the new font and the new height, repeating these steps over and over again.

Instead, take your first Text file Source and right click it, selecting “Copy.”

Then, within your Sources window, right click again and select “Paste (Duplicate).” Doing this will create a direct duplicate of your previous text file, with all the same customizations still attached.

But it won’t do you any good to have 2 text files displaying the same information, will it? No, it won’t. So hop into the “Properties” of your duplicate and change the source of the text file to the other donator you’d like to display.

Some of you might not see this as a time saver, since either option brings you into the “Properties” but each method–dragging each Source/duplicating one Source–has its benefits. Your own preferences may decide which method you’d like to rely on.

Creating and Copying Visual Filters

Much like duplicating the properties of a text file, visual filters can be customized once to a single asset, then shared through many assets to create a cohesive color-rich aesthetic for your stream.

I’m going to use a Glitch 2 background for my initial filter creation:

1. Right clicking on the background as a Source will allow me to access “Filters” which is just right above the “Properties” option we were using for fonts.
2. Use the ‘+’ icon in the bottom-left of the Filter window and create a new “Color Correction” filter. This will open up a ton of new sliders for you to adjust the base color of your asset.

If you’re using a Glitch 2 asset, “Hue Shift” will be a very useful slider because you can change the color of the asset to any color on the spectrum by dragging your cursor along that slider. This is the quickest way to match the colors of Glitch 2 to your streaming brand.

Hue Shift is only one of many options available in a Color Correction filter. Play around with the other options if you’d like–many of them are familiar options to any streamer who has played with a visual toolset before. Let’s cover just a couple of these other tools.

• “Saturation” expands and reduces the vividy of your color. Imagine going from a colorless grey on the far left, and a bright neon version of your color on the far right. This is useful for honing in on the exact shade of the color you’re looking for.
• “Opacity” is another useful tool in the slider group–this option will allow you to change the transparency of your asset if you so choose.

If you do find yourself dealing with a pure white or black asset, you can use the “Color Picker” option found at the bottom of the Color Correction window to customize these base colors to any color you could imagine. It’s a great alternative to the Hue Shift slider.

To copy a filter you’ve created on any Source, right click the Source and use the “Copy Filters” option found within the drop down.

Pasting them into a new Source is just as easy. Right click, and right below the previous option, you’ll see “Paste Filters.” Done and done.

A lot of the tricks we’ve covered above save you time in your initial creation, but what about taking things a step further: Using Scenes to cut your customization workload by fractions of the time.

Grouping With Scenes

As your Sources window gets more jam-packed with every added Source, it’s useful to employ a very hidden trick that bends the utility of an OBS Scene.

A Scene in OBS Studio is traditionally used to create displays built from various assets that are ready to go at a single click. This is a great way to effectively switch between a “Stream Starting” Scene and a “Gameplay” Scene within seconds–and without having to move things around.

Let’s create a brand new Scene and add a Webcam asset from the Glitch 2 overlay pack, as well as a Donator Box below it. After we add the three text assets to the Donator Box, we now have 5 Sources existing within this Scene. 5 is a lot to manage, but that number can grow and grow to the point of insanity!

With just these 5 Sources, let’s rename this Scene “–Webcam and Supporters” and those two dashes aren’t a mistake.

I’m using these dashes to denote that I’m never going to ever switch to this Scene on stream. It’s a hint to myself that I should never click on this Scene when I’m transitioning between Scenes.

Essentially what I’ve done is I’ve brought these FIVE Sources and I’ve packaged them into ONE Source. If I return to my original Scene, I can now add another Source and in the drop-down, you’ll see I can in fact add a Scene as a Source.

Any changes I make to “Properties” or if I add “Filters” to this Source, it will change ALL 5 of those assets at once! That’s called streamlining right there.

Using this method is incredibly useful if you have a grouping of assets that appear in multiple scenes. Social icons, Supporter Bar, and Webcam Frames are great examples of assets a streamer may use in multiple Scenes. Instead of having to create each of these assets for each of their Scenes, they’re now packaged in a way that can be added only once per Scene.

We hope these tips have been useful in speeding up the cumbersome setup of your OBS Studio broadcast. The fun of streaming is actually streaming, but these initial steps need to be taken so that you’re looking your best when you go live. For more tips and tutorials, keep your eyes on NerdorDie.com!