We’re always trying to make our Nerd or Die overlays as easy as possible to implement into OBS Studio, but some of the tricks don’t come from the overlays themselves–the real tricks are found in knowing how to move through OBS Studio like a pro.

We’re going to quickly set up a Nerd or Die overlay directly into OBS Studio to show you just how fast you can get your overlays up and running in everyone’s favorite broadcasting software.

QUICK – FAST – EASY!

We’re going to use our Glitch 2 overlay pack as our example. This overlay comes with “Quick Install” links for StreamElements and Streamlabs users, but you won’t find a quick install link for streamers who are just using base OBS Studio, unless you’re using Nerd Or Die stream packages. But that doesn’t mean your overlays can’t be installed quickly.

Dragging and Dropping in OBS Studio

There wasn’t a single link that can be used to automatically import overlays into OBS Studio until we created our Quick Install process (standard with our Stream Packages), but that’s not to say things won’t change down the line. OBS Studio’s new drag and drop feature makes moving overlays into your Scene a very quick process.

Inside your “Graphics Assets” folder of the Glitch 2 overlay download, you’ll find everything you need to drag and drop into your Scene to create a complete overlay. Let’s build a “Starting Soon” Scene.

When dragging and dropping, it’s always best to start with your foundations: the assets that will make up the background of your Scene. The reason for this is that everything you drag into a scene will stack on top of another. There’s a way to re-order these assets, but save yourself some time by building from the bottom-up.

We’re going to start by dragging in a background from the “Scenes” folder. Choose whichever color combination catches your eye. You’ll notice in each of these folders are actual MP4 files that will create a dynamic background–one that actually moves like a video.

Drag in the “Stream_Starting” MP4 file directly into the “Sources” window of OBS Studio where it will automatically populate your Broadcast Window. Remember, with MP4 sources, it’s best to set them to loop by double clicking on the source and checking the box for “Loop.” Always save those options!

Easily drag and drop resources from your folders, into OBS. After dragging and dropping, don’t forget to loop animated resources!

We’ve already done a large haul of the work simply by pulling in the background, but we can also add some other graphic assets that will complete the overlay. For example, adding your social handles and a schedule is a great move for building out a “Starting Soon” Scene. So let’s do that, shall we?

Let’s start simple: Bringing the social icons and schedule graphic into the scene. Now, if you’ve been paying attention, OBS Studio’s new drag and drop feature is still in play. Let’s open up the “Icons” folder found directly in the root of the “Graphic Assets” folder. Inside here, you’ll find an icon for anything you could ever need.

If you’re wanting to advertise your Discord, find the Discord icon and drag it on in. Facebook? Find the icon and drag that sucker in. The new cult you’re starting? We don’t have an icon for that yet but we’re always taking suggestions at [email protected].

Place these icons as you see fit–but we recommend using the open space on the far-right of the “Starting Soon” Scene.

Let’s get the schedule asset in there as well. This can be found back in the folder of whatever color combination you selected in the “Scenes” folder. At the top of that folder, you’ll see an “Assets” folder.

In addition to the schedule asset, you’ll notice several brackets that can be used to frame up your social icons. Add them to your Scene if you’re feeling adventurous. Dragging in our schedule asset will complete our time in the “Graphic Assets” folder.

But icons only get us half way there. We’ll still need to create text sources to pair with these icons, displaying our social handles and schedule times.

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.

Dragging and dropping text sources works just like visual sources! Quick and easy! You can also quickly edit a text file and have it update in OBS instantly.

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.

Quick note: You cannot adjust the Hue of a pure black or pure white asset. The Hue Shift slider will only work with assets that are already using a color besides one of these two.

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.

Scenes at their base are just organized groups. You can use this feature to create a collection of assets that you can then be used in other Scenes. It’s very meta, I know. Let’s use a real example to make things more clear.

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!