Test stream notes/instructions

Start by downloading and installing OBS, open broadcast software. There are 2 versions, classic and studio. I prefer classic, but development has been moved to studio, so studio is a bit more up to date and has regular developments/updates. Download 1, or both, up to you.

First off, when you open obs, you'll see a control panel on the bottom, and a blank window in the top/center. You should note that on the bottom left of the control panel are 2 boxes, labeled scenes and sources. This is where the customization of the stream comes from.

To start off, go ahead and right click the scenes box and add a new scene. A scene is like a canvas, it holds the elements and their positions on screen and let's you switch from one scene to the next without having to re lay out all the info every time. Make a scene and call it test or something. Now, with Test scene selected, right click the sources box and you should see a list of sources like Window capture, Monitor capture, Text, Image, or Video capture device. For the sake of testing, pick monitor capture. A little window might pop up with setting options, but you shouldn't need to mess with it. After adding the monitor capture to your scene, there should be a Preview stream (or something similar) on the bottom right side of the control panel. NOTE: Preview stream does NOT broadcast anything, it just shows you what a broadcast would look like in real time with no lag and perfect connection. If all went well, you should see your screen show up in the top middle box of the obs window.

Now, to capture your webcam, right click sources and look for an option Video Capture Device or maybe even Webcam. If webcam is option, pick that, otherwise try vid cap. In the pop up settings window, there should be a drop down bar for all the devices that fit the source type. Look through the list and find your built in webcam (I'm assuming it's the laptops built in webcam). Once you find it, it should be in the list of sources.

Next comes the editing. By the preview stream button, there should be another button called Edit Scene. Click it. Now, if you select a source in the source box, you should see a red box surround the source material in the preview window. The sources are arranged in layers, with the top of the list being the top layer. Adding the webcam second should automatically put it at the top of the list, but if it isnt, right click the webcam source, go to Order, and Move to Top. At this point, the webcam video should be visible on the screen. If you are in editing mode, you should be able to click the webcam, move it/drag it or grab the corners and resize it. Go ahead and size it down to about the size I use in my stream, and move it to a corner.

That should cover the bases of the test stream. We'll go over bitrate, stream keys, and other stuff later tonight