Capturing Video with Open Broadcast Software

Aim:

In this workshop the trainer shows the trainees the OBS studio. It is a free and open source video recording and live streaming software. The aim of the exercise is to present how to use OBS studio in a practical way. Participants learn by doing.

Objectives: 

Objectives of this activity is to give trainers the opportunity:

  • To get acknowledged with IT devices that are necessary for online lessons
  • To be able to handle IT devices
  • To gain basic knowledge about IT devices
  • To have the ability to work together online and to solve problems
  • To apply an interdisciplinary approach of knowledge
  • To develop ability of transferring skills from one context to another
  • Familiarized with OBS studio and its tools
  • Improved digital skills

Duration: 120 min

Number of participants: 10 – 20

Materials: 

Computer, Internet connection, speakers, microphone, OBS Studio application.

Description:

Exercise flow:

The youth worker asks participants to select an artistic topic and develop it within 120 minutes into a 10-minute presentation that they will record using the OBS Studio program.

  • This presentation should include a small sample of all the points. It should have information such as introduction to the subject, practice, assessment etc.
  • Once each participant has completed the preparation of his / her presentation (up to 120 min), he / she begins the recording of the presentation in OBS Studio.
  • To record the presentation, the participant selects “Display capture” and then, after making the necessary adjustments, selects “Start recording”.
  • At the end, and depending on the time available, the participants present their recorded presentation to other participants and comment on other’s recorded presentation.

When we launch the application for the first time our home screen is black. We have to choose the source from which the image we want will appear. In our case we want to capture the screen of our computer. So, go to the source selection and then press the “+” button (1) and select “Video Capture Device” (2).

We enter the name we want for our file and check the box that says “make source visible”, then click OK. To select the sound source, choose “mixer”, select the settings tool (3) and then “properties” (4). Then select the source we want. We follow the same procedure for selecting the microphone that we will use.

Then we choose exactly what we want to do. So we can do “Live Streaming” or “Recording” to record what our desktop is showing or use the “Studio Mode” option (5) to do “Live Streaming” to have the ability to change the Live Streaming settings immediately as we transmit. This is why we prefer this way for Live Streaming.

From the settings option (6), we can choose to change the language and whether or not to have live recording in live streaming. It depends on our computing power. If this is big, we select it, if not leave it blank. On the “Stream” tab we can select the service that will host our live streaming, such as YouTube, Facebook etc.

Expected outcomes:

At the end of the activity participants will be able to:

  • Create a presentation for online use
  • Record a presentation for online use
  • Select the image source
  • Select the sound source
  • Select the microphone source
  • Select the host for live streaming
  • Select other settings

Sources

How to Use OBS Studio (Beginners Guide) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTk99mHDX_I

OBS page  https://obsproject.com/wiki/OBS-Studio-Quickstart