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2 Stream Beginnings

Essentials Package
Labs OBS

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Stream Beginnings
Live streaming has become a massive market, for everything
from E-Sports gaming, to creative streams that include art, music,
crafts, and programming. We can all remember the first time we saw
a streamer get a donation live on stream and thought, “Did they just
get money.…for playing a video game?” Sounds great, right?

Every streamer had to begin somewhere, and today, you took

the first steps in beginning your streaming career. Right now, you
have the information and instructions to guide you through every
step of crafting your very own live stream. Your stream begins
today.

What’s In This Guide?

In this guide, we will show you how to:

➢ Obtain your own Twitch channel account

➢ Install Streamlabs OBS
➢ Link Streamlabs OBS and Twitch
➢ Set up three scenes in Streamlabs OBS
➢ Home scene
➢ Game scene
➢ Brb scene
➢ Set up a webcam
Throughout the guide, we will:
➢ Define common industry lingo
➢ Use tools to test stream quality
➢ Learn the basic functionality of Streamlabs OBS
➢ Apply beginner settings in Twitch
➢ Test that your stream is working

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Table of Contents
What’s In This Guide? .................................................................................... 1

Streaming Platform........................................................................................ 3

Twitch Account Setup .................................................................................. 4

Streaming Software ....................................................................................... 6

Install Streamlabs OBS................................................................................... 6

Setting up SLOBS with Twitch ....................................................................... 9

Twitch Stream Key ......................................................................................... 9

Input Stream Key To SLOBS ........................................................................ 10

SLOBS Scene Creation ................................................................................ 11

Add Scenes .................................................................................................. 11

Change Scene Position .............................................................................. 12

Create Home Scene ................................................................................... 12

Add an Image Source ................................................................................ 13

Adjusting Background Image ................................................................... 15

Add Text Source .......................................................................................... 16

Managing Multiple Sources ....................................................................... 18

Create Game Scene .................................................................................. 19

Add a Webcam .......................................................................................... 21

Hiding Sources.............................................................................................. 21

Create Brb Scene ........................................................................................ 22

Set Up Twitch Channel ............................................................................... 23

Add Offline Image ...................................................................................... 24

Add Profile Picture and Banner ................................................................ 24

Starting Your Stream ................................................................................... 26

Final Thoughts ............................................................................................... 27

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Streaming Platform
Whatever you choose to stream, your audience needs some
way to find your stream. The place your audience can find your
stream is called a streaming platform. Think of the streaming
platform as a museum, and your stream as an empty picture frame
on the wall next to other pictures for people to browse. There are
many platforms out there. The most common are Twitch, YouTube,
and Mixer. For a long time, Twitch has been the go-to platform for
game streaming, and is an industry frontrunner in average
viewership. In this museum metaphor, we would want the most
chances or foot traffic in our museum to draw people to view our
painting. This guide will be using Twitch as our chosen platform.

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Twitch Account Setup

The first step in starting your streaming channel is to set up
your Twitch account. If you already have an account, skip to
Streaming Software.

1. Go to Twitch and click on the Sign Up in the top right-hand

corner of the page (Green Circle).

2. A box will pop up for you to fill in or you may choose to

connect with Facebook.

Username: Make this your channel name. You can change your name
if you want to change it later (about 60 days). Twitch will tell you
whether the username is already taken or available for you to use.

Password: This will be for logging into your Twitch account. This
needs to be at least 8 characters long. Consider making your
password strong as shown on the strength meter.

Birthday: Twitch terms state this service is for users over the age of
13. If you are over 13, but under 18, you will need a parent’s
permission to start using Twitch. This information can be found
here Twitch Terms of Service.

Email: There is an email verification so make sure you use an email

you have access to.

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Human Verification: There may be a verification process such as

selecting pictures that match a description.

If you have any problems with this section, make sure the boxes
next to where you type in your information are filled in green with a
checkmark. This is their way of showing that section is okay. If the
box is red, you will need to fix that section.

3. In order to complete the setup, you will need to agree to the

terms and conditions.
4. Twitch may prompt you to set up your profile with games or
activities you enjoy watching. Even though this username you
created is to stream your own content, you can use this login to
watch your favorite Twitch channels or stream your own
channel all under one username! Choose a few games or
activities you enjoy watching and select done. (note: you must
choose at least three for the done button to be active)

End of Twitch Account Setup: Now that you have your account set
up, head over to your email and verify your email address. A new
window or tab will open within Twitch that says your email has
been verified. Congratulations! You now have a verified Twitch
account!

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Streaming Software
We established earlier that Twitch is the place for people to go
to watch your stream, but how does your stream get to Twitch?
Returning to the metaphor of the museum, if you wanted to hang
your picture in the museum, you would need to bring your painting
there first. Streaming software is how your stream reaches your
streaming platform. The beautiful part about streaming software is
that this program will not only send your stream to Twitch, but will
also act as your blank canvas waiting to be brought to life with your
imagination. We will be using a completely free streaming software
called Streamlabs OBS.

Install Streamlabs OBS

Streamlabs OBS, also known as SLOBS, is a program built for live
streaming. It’s an easy to use program that makes live broadcasting
easier than ever by including a quick setup, Streamlabs’ widgets, and
Streamlabs members web page built into the program. In this
section, we will show you how to set up Streamlabs OBS to be ready
for streaming on Twitch. At time of writing, this is only available for
windows PC.

1. Click this link and download Streamlabs OBS.

2. Read the License Agreement
and click I agree.
3. You may browse or type in a
different install location or
just click Install.

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4. When the installation is finished, check the box for Run

Streamlabs OBS and click
Finish.
5. When Streamlabs OBS starts
up, connect using your
Twitch login.
6. After you sign in to your
Twitch account, you will then
need to authorize Streamlabs.
7. This screen is for users who have any scene collections prior to
this installation. Click Continue.

8. This import section allows users that previously used OBS

Studio to choose a profile to import. Click Start Fresh.

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9. The add widgets section prompts you to select from the shown
Streamlabs widgets. Widgets are extra features you may want
to use in your stream. We
recommend only adding
the Essentials options.
You add them by clicking
on each one, which will
open a new window
showing you the widget, and then click Add Widget in that new
window (Red Square). You can verify the widget has been
selected by the green border around the widget. Click Add
Widgets to continue. Detailed information about these widgets
and how to add more later can be found in our Pro Package
Streamlabs Guide.

10. Streamlabs OBS offers an optimization option to set up your

SLOBS settings. We recommend
running this optimize feature by
clicking the start button. This is a
beta and you may need to make
adjustments after this
optimization process. You may
also skip this by choosing setup later.
End of SLOBS Installation: Great! Let’s get your SLOBS ready for
streaming.

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Setting up SLOBS with Twitch

A stream key is a code that tells the streaming software where
to send the stream. SLOBS should already have your stream key
because you authorized the connection between them earlier. What
if you need to find and copy it manually? Here’s how to find the
location of your Twitch channel stream key.

Twitch Stream Key

1. Log in to Twitch and click on your username in the top right
corner of the page. This will open a drop-down menu. Select
Dashboard (Green Circle).

2. Once in the Dashboard view, navigate to the bottom of the left

side panel and in the settings column click on channel (Green
Circle).

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3. Click on Copy (Blue Circle).

4. Alternatively, you can click the show button revealing your

stream key. This will prompt a warning to not share your
stream key with anyone.

Input Stream Key To SLOBS

1. Open SLOBS and click on the settings tab in the top right
(Green Box).

2. In the menu on the left, click on the Stream menu (Green

Circle).

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3. First, if not already there, select Twitch from service drop

down menu (Blue Circle).
4. Paste the stream key you copied from Twitch in the section
that says stream key (Red Circle).
5. Click Done.
End of Setting up SLOBS with Twitch: The Server section should be
filled out if you ran the optimizer, otherwise auto is fine. Now your
SLOBS knows where to send your stream if you hit the start
streaming button. But hold on, we don’t have much to show yet!

SLOBS Scene Creation

As we previously mentioned, SLOBS is the program that sends
your stream to your Twitch channel. As we move into scene
creation, think of OBS as an empty theater set that’s ready to be
filled with props and actors for a show. How do we start building
your stream with SLOBS? Just like a theater set, we need to create
multiple scenes for the different parts of the show.
Here, we will go over the most common scenes which include
a home scene, which acts as your welcome scene to your viewers, a
brb scene for the times you will be away from the screen like going
to get a drink or using the bathroom, and a game scene that will be
your channels primary scene where your game or creative session
will be shown.

Add Scenes
1. Click on the + sign above the scene section near the bottom left
of SLOBS (Green Circle).

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2. A new window appears prompting you to name your scene.

For this guide, name this scene Fortnite 1. You may rename
scenes in the future. Click Done, and now you’ll see Fortnite 1
in the Scenes section of SLOBS.
3. Repeat this process two more times. Naming the two scenes
BRB and Home.

Change Scene Position

At this point, we want Home scene first, then Fortnite 1, BRB,
and lastly, the scene named Scene. You may be asking, “what if I
don’t have Home first on mine?” Great question. How you change the
scenes position is simple. You click on the scene, drag it to the
position you wish, and drop it. For this guide, order the scenes
Home, Fortnite 1, BRB, and Scene.

Create Home Scene

Great! Now that we have the scenes set up, we can add what
you want to show in the scenes. This is the time to use some of those
creative juices and think about your scenes. Let’s start with your
home scene. You want it to be something that looks good and
promotes your channel name. The first thing we want to do is add a
background. You can find free pictures here or use the one we have
provided for you.

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Add an Image Source

1. In SLOBS, select Home in the Scenes list. You can tell which
scene you’re on by the scene that’s highlighted.
2. The box next to the Scene box is called the Sources box. Click
on the + sign above the Sources box (Green Circle).

3. This menu looks like a lot of stuff, right? That’s good because it
shows us that SLOBS has many features that can be added to
your production of the channel. For this, we want to select the
Image option and click Add Source, which is found on the
bottom right of the window (Blue Circle).
4. This window is for naming the image. Erase the default Image
placeholder text and name it Back-Home, then click Add New
Source.

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5. Click browse and select the Back-Home picture file from the
image folder that we included in this package.
6. The image loads into this window as a preview. We
recommend choosing the Unload Image option to help lighten
the load on the program. Click Done.

7. Now your SLOBS might look like this.

The image is out of alignment to your SLOBS screen. Don’t

worry, you didn’t do anything wrong. Because images vary in size
and resolution, you’ll find that you must adjust most images. They’ll
either be too small or too stretched. Either way, let’s get your
background image to fit the screen.

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Adjusting Background Image

1. Right click on Back-Home in the Sources box.
2. Move your mouse to transform and select fit to screen.

3. Now you have a screen that most likely looks like this.

4. You’ll find that with most images, the fit to screen transform
will re-size your image to fill the entire screen. Here, we chose
this image that didn’t transform perfectly to show you that
there are other options. We want the image to cover the entire
area, so now we are going to stretch the image to finish
covering the black areas.

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5. Go back into the Sources box and right click Back-Home

-> transform -> stretch to screen. Again, this was only to help
you explore other options of SLOBS.

After we stretched the image, the space is now completely filled in.

Perfect, now we have an image that covers the entire area.

Next, we need to add some identification to our Home scene.

Add Text Source

1. Be sure Home in the Scenes box is selected.
2. Click the + sign above the sources box and select Text (GDI+).

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3. A box will open that’s similar to the one we saw when we set
up an image. Name this source Channel ID and click Add New
Source.

4. This is where we create our text.

5. In the text box, type in your Twitch username (Green Circle).
6. Above the text box, you’ll see spots for font options, and under
the text box, you will see other options for changing colors.
Feel free to choose a font and color for your name (Blue
Circles).

7. When you’re finished, click Done.

8. As long as the channel ID is selected in your Sources box, you’ll
have a green box around your text. You can resize and drag this
box to your liking.

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Once you have your text where you like, you will have two
different sources in your home screen: Channel ID and Back-Home.
Next, we will show you how to manage multiple sources.

Managing Multiple Sources

When you have multiple sources, they layer differently. For
example, if your Back-Home source is in front of your text, you won’t
be able to see the text. In this section, we will show you how that
works.

1. With the text source we named Channel ID selected, drag it and

drop it below Back-Home.

2. You’ll notice your Channel ID text appears to have vanished!

It’s actually behind the Back-Home image. Drag and drop
Channel ID back to the top to put your text back in front of your
background.

End of Create Home Scene: We covered multiple sources that will

allow you to be creative with your Home scene. As you add sources,
remember you will almost always want your background source on
the bottom of the list so that all of your other sources show in front
of it. Home is the scene you start your stream with while you set up
your game or activity. This gives your followers time to be notified
you are starting your stream. Next, we will set up your game scene.

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Create Game Scene

Fortnite Battle Royale is a free to play game that we will use to
set up a scene to stream to Twitch. If you wish to follow along, this
step will require you to already have Fortnite installed. If you do not
have Fortnite, you can go here to get it. You may also use a game you
already have installed, however, while most games work with this
method, games do vary in their interaction with SLOBS. In short, this
will work with most games, but you may need to use other capture
methods for some games. Other capture methods are window
capture and display capture. If you have a single screen, it may help
to go into Fortnite’s settings and change the video to windowed
fullscreen. To do this, go into the Fortnite game settings (click on the
cog) and select video. Change window mode to windowed
fullscreen.
1. Open Fortnite Battle Royale like you are about to search for a
match.
2. In SLOBS, make sure Fortnite 1 scene is selected.
3. Click on the plus sign above the Sources box, select game
capture, and add source.
4. Replace the default text with Fortnite BR and click Done.
5. This box is the settings for this specific game capture. You’ll
notice on top it says, Properties for Fortnite BR. Open the drop-
down menu for the Mode section and change Capture Any Full
Screen Application to Capture Specific Window (Green Circle).

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6. A new menu option is now available labeled window. Click on

that drop-down menu and select the Fortnite BR game (Blue
Circle). It may take a few seconds until you see the image (If no
image shows up after a minute, consult the OBS Troubleshoot
Guide).
7. Once you see the game, click Done. You may have an issue with
the image like we did with the Back-Home source.
8. If the game image is stretched too far to see everything on the
main SLOBS screen, try the fit to screen transform method we
went over while adding the Back-Home image.
End of Create Game Scene: Now that we have our game in place, all
that’s left in this scene is your webcam. You could add images or text
to this scene if you like, but that’s completely up to you and your
vision for the channel.

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Add a Webcam
1. In SLOBS, make sure the scene you wish to add the webcam to
is selected. For this guide, select Fortnite 1.
2. Click on the + sign above the Sources box.
3. Choose video capture device and click Add Source.
4. Erase the place holder with the name “webcam”, click Done.
5. If not immediately, a few moments after you click Done, your
live feed from your webcam should show up. Click Done.
6. A window showing your camera’s image appears on your
SLOBS main screen. A green box appears around your image.
Use this to make your image smaller or larger. You can also
drag and drop it anywhere on your scene.

Hiding Sources
Once you have your webcam in position, there’s something we
think you would like. Let’s say you want to stream without your
webcam on, but you don’t want to keep adding a webcam source
and then removing it to hide your webcam. You see that little eye
next to the webcam? If you click on that eye, it will hide the camera.
Click it again, the eye opens, and the camera will be part of the scene
again. Notice here I have Fortnite and my webcam sources, but you
can only see Fortnite because the eye next to the webcam has a line
through it (Green Circle).

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Create Brb Scene

This one is short and sweet because this is exactly how we set
up the Home scene with a few name differences. We are going to add
an image as a background and then add text that says, Be Right Back.
1. In SLOBS, make sure the BRB scene is selected (the scene
selected will be highlighted).
2. Above the Sources box, click on the +. Select Image and Add
Source.
3. Name this image Back-Brb.
4. Browse for an image file on your computer that you like, or you
may use the one we provided.
5. If you want the image to fit the whole screen, remember what
you’ve learned about transforming images. This image doesn’t
have to fit the whole screen though.
6. Now add a text(GDI+) source by clicking on the + above the
Sources box.
7. Select text(GDI+) and Add Source.
8. Name this text source brb or BRB-Text.
9. Add your text, Be Right Back. Give your text some color and
font if you like. Click Done.
End of Create Brb Scene: Would you look at that! You now have a
complete set of scenes for your stream. You can start and end
stream with the Home scene. You can stream your game with your
webcam, and if you need to step away for a minute, you have a BRB
scene. The only thing we have left to do is set up your Twitch
channel settings and test the stream. Let’s get to it.

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Set Up Twitch Channel

Twitch catagorizes what you’re streaming on your channel by
game title or activity. In this case, your stream should go to the
Fortnite directory. If you were setting up a painting stream, it would
be in the Creative directory. While we’re here, we will show you
where to set up your profile picture, banner, and an offline image.
1. Go to Twitch and log in to your account.
2. Click on your name in the top right and
select dashboard.
3. Under stream information, Twitch
provides you with some space for
details. Your title is what’s displayed
under your video. For now, put Test as
your title (Green Circle).

4. In the Game/Category, begin typing Fortnite, and by the time

you get to “fo”, the game should pop up as the top option. Click
on Fortnite (Blue Circle).
5. Select a language (Red Circle).
6. Click on update information to save your information (Yellow
Circle).

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Add Offline Image

You can add an image that viewers will see while you’re offline.
This image could have your social media information or maybe your
schedule on it.

1. Make sure you’re still logged into Twitch.

2. If you’re still in the dashboard, locate the
settings column and click on channel.
(Green Circle).
3. Locate the Video Player banner and click on
update. Then upload to select your image file
(Blue Circle). (Recommended
Size:1920x1080)

Add Profile Picture and Banner

A clever idea for your profile picture would be to use an image
that can be seen clearly and easy to recognize, such as a logo.

1. Make sure you’re still logged into Twitch.

2. Click on your name and choose settings from the drop-down
menu (Blue Circle).

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3. Under the profile tab (Green Circle), the first option says
profile picture. Click update (Blue Circle). (Recommended size
800x800)
4. Click on Upload a photo to find your photo you wish to put as
your profile picture.
5. The page banner is seen behind your profile picture when a
Twitch friend hovers over your name. This is also seen on
donation pages (Red Circle). (Recommended Size:1920x480)

End of Set Up Twitch Channel: Awesome! Go back to your Twitch

dashboard and look for the Video Preview box. This is where we will
see your stream. Let’s start streaming!

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Starting Your Stream

1. Go to SLOBS and select the Home scene.
2. On the bottom right side, click on Go Live. This button will also
be used to stop your stream. SLOBS will automatically move
you to the Live tab of the interface (Green Circle).

3. Go back to your dashboard on Twitch and you should see your

home screen live in the Video Preview box. There may be a
commercial and there will be a delay. This is natural. Generally,
there is about a 7-10 second delay.

4. Go back to your SLOBS and click on the Fortnite 1 scene. Wait a

few seconds and then you should see your game and webcam
in the video preview.
5. You can also try the BRB scene. Now you’ve gotten the hang of
switching scenes while you’re streaming.
End of Starting Your Stream: Once you’re done testing your
stream, go back to SLOBS and click on stop streaming to end your
stream. This too is delayed, so you will see your stream on Twitch
for a few seconds.

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Final Thoughts
Congratulations! You now have the tools and knowledge to
stream just about any game on Twitch using a PC! It’s a good idea to
take some time to get used to streaming and interacting with chat.
Pay attention to what your chat is saying and take advice from your
fellow streamers to develop your own brand and theme. One of the
best ways to be successful and grow is to be involved in other
communities and make friends, so remember to be respectful to
fellow streamers by doing your best not to self-promote in their
streams.
Streaming on Twitch is what we used to help get you started,
however, streaming on other platforms is okay too. If you want to
try streaming on another platform, or you get to a point where you
wish to add more detail to your channel such as setting up the
widgets, donation button, emotes, alerts, bots, and advanced SLOBS
usage consider purchasing our Pro Package of guides. You can also
find professionals who have proven experience with streamers and
content creators for all sorts of content creation, at
www.streambeginnings.com.
Live streaming and content creation is one of the most
enjoyable hobbies or careers we have ever had an opportunity to
pursue. From everyone here at Stream Beginnings, we look forward
to helping you in your pursuit of success and wish you all the best
on living your stream dream.

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