#twitch streaming

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2. Download OBS Studio from obsproject.com and set it up. a. Choose your Operating System

b. When you click, your browser will open a new tab and start the download. Click the downloads button to the right of the address bar, then double click the OBS file to install it. Follow the prompts on-screen, it will be very straightforward.

c. Once OBS is installed, launch it. You will be presented with this screen:

Since your goal is to stream, just make sure the first option is selected and hit Next. d. You will then see the following; just choose the options selected by default and hit Next.

e. It will now prompt you to connect your Twitch account - this is completely safe and you should simply log in using the link provided.

3. Finally, you have access to the entirety of OBS. Don't panic! I will tell you what everything does and how to configure it to stream your art (or games).

Scenes - If OBS is the house, these are the rooms you keep your furniture inside. Sources - These are your furniture - your inputs and outputs. Microphones, monitors, programs, etc. Audio Mixer - Your audio inputs (like microphones) will appear here. I will go into more depth with this later in the guide. Scene Transitions - This is unnecessary for our purposes - but what it does is let you choose custom transitions when you swap between Scenes. Controls - This is your remote control - where you click to start and end your stream. You can record at the same time as you stream, to make a local (on your computer) copy of your stream as a video file. This can eat up storage space fast, so only do this if you have a lot and you actually want the videos. Virtual Camera and Studio Mode are too advanced for this guide, and Settings is self explanatory.

a. In your Scenes menu, you will have your first Scene already made. If you want to rename it, you can right click and choose rename. I'll call mine Art Streaming.

b. You won't have anything in your Sources menu yet, so click on the plus in the bottom left of the Sources menu (not the Scenes menu). If you have two monitors or your drawing tablet has a screen, I'd recommend choosing Display Capture. If you only have one monitor, start up your art program and choose Window Capture.

c. You will have the option to name this Source - I'd recommend a descriptive name that will remind you what it's capturing.

d. If you're capturing a Monitor, make sure the correct monitor is chosen (see left image below). The preview will show you what is on that screen, which helps in choosing the right one. Click OK when you've selected your Monitor. If you're capturing just a Window, make sure your art program (or game) is open, then choose it from the Window dropdown (see right image below). The preview will show you what that Window is, so even if the names are confusing, you will be able to choose the right one. Click OK when you've selected your Window.

e. Now you'll see your Visual Input in your Sources menu. If you chose to only capture your art program (or game) and it isn't fullscreen (make sure it's the size you want it to be while streaming before you make any changes), you can move it around in the main preview by clicking and dragging. You can resize it by grabbing one of the little squares on the sides and corners and dragging. If you make a mistake, use Ctrl+Z to undo it.

f. Before we get into the Audio Mixer, there's one more thing to do. Go to Settings, then click Audio. Ignore the General section; go down to Global Audio Devices and make sure your normal Speakers/Headphones are selected for Desktop Audio, and your best Microphone is selected for Mic/Auxiliary Audio. Don't worry about any of the numbered options, those are advanced settings. Just leave them disabled. Click Apply and OK when you're finished.

g. Your Audio Mixer will now look like this:

4. Time to fix your Audio setup. Default settings are fine for Discord and other chat software because they have automatically enabled filtering. In OBS we need to set this up ourselves. I recommend following this guide, it's what I used to set up my own Audio. If you don't have time or energy for another guide right now, just move the initial gain slider (the one you can see in the Audio Mixer under each input) of your Mic until your normal speaking voice makes the moving bars turn yellow, but not red. I do strongly recommend following the linked guide when you're able to, though. It makes your audio as close to professional as possible.

5. a. Do a test recording. Hit "Start Recording" in your Controls menu and speak at a normal volume, play some music or sounds on your computer, scribble in your art program. Then hit "Stop Recording". The video file will be saved in a specific location. To find it, go to Settings again, and hit "Output". Ignore the Streaming section, and look at the first option under recording. This is where your recordings will be. Open this in your File Manager program to see your recording.

b. If you're happy with your recording, great! If you sound too loud or quiet, or your music/sounds are too loud/quiet, adjust the initial gain of your Mic or Desktop Audio and do another test, and repeat until you're happy. You can delete the recordings when you're done testing.

6. When you want your stream to start for real, make sure your art program (or game) and music are started and ready to go, then hit "Start Streaming". You're live! No one will be watching first thing, but if you're part of the group I made this guide for (hi Block Partiers!), the party will come to you when your slot begins.

7. Hosting your stream is easy enough; keep your Twitch chat open on your second monitor or your phone and respond to as many messages as you reasonably can. If nothing is going on, let your monologuing begin! Talk about anything you want, or let the music speak for you and relax. Everyone has their own style of streaming, you'll find yours. Optionally, you can use Twitch's Stream Manager to keep track of your chat and do moderation actions like kicking bots. Go to https://dashboard.twitch.tv/u/YOURUSERNAME/stream-manager to access this. It gives you a little intro the first time you open it, so I won't cover that here. :]

8. When your stream ends, you can raid another streamer by typing into your stream chat "/raid username", then wait until your raid is sent and hit "Stop Streaming". And you're done!