For some time, transitioning between scenes was not a strong suit of OBS Studio.
But in recent updates they have added a wide array of transition options, and now the ability
to import your own custom video transitions!
This is an extremely powerful feature, though could use some improvements.
Let’s take a look.
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I’m EposVox, here to make tech easier and more fun, and welcome back to my OBS Studio
tutorial course.
I have many, many more videos on the software in the playlist linked in the description.
Check that before asking questions, and check the introduction video to learn how this course
works, if you get confused.
To use transitions, you need to select one in the “Scene Transitions” menu module
and click the dropdown.
Here, you can choose a transition type to be active.
Below this, you can change the duration of the transition period, in miliseconds.
The default was 300ms for me, which is one-third of a second.
In-between these two boxes are buttons to add a new transition - something we’ll be
using a lot - remove a transition from the list, and a settings cog to change transition
settings.
As of version 20.0.1 and the production of this course, you can only set up a single
transition to be used at a time.
This means that whichever is showing in the dropdown menu when it’s not expanded is
the transition that will happen when you switch scenes.
The same transition carries over if you go into dual-view “Studio Mode”, as well.
I would like to see the ability to add per-scene transitions so that you can use specific transitions
depending on what you’re switching to.
Quick cut transitions between multiple camera angles, but lengthier, stinger style transitions
when going to BRB screens or between a game view and a desktop view.
The only way this can currently be done is via the “Advanced Scene Switcher” plugin
that I use for auto scene switching, and this isn’t even for normal switching; just auto-switching.
A video on this plugin is in the course playlist.
If you only see “Cut” or the original combo of “Cut”, “Swipe” and “Slide,”
fear not - simply click the big Plus and you have the option to add custom transitions
from a few new options.
“Fade to Color” does as it sounds.
Opening up its properties lets you choose a color - though keep in mind if you choose
a custom color from the hue board, you will have to hit “Add to custom colors” and
choose it from that list before applying.
Otherwise, choose one of the color choices or click “Pick screen color” to get an
eyedropper to pick any color visible on your screen.
This one automatically adds to custom colors and selects it.
Hit OK.
You can also choose at which point during the transition that the full color should
be 100% present and opaque.
Typically you want to leave this at 50%.
Hit OK again and now you can fade to your chosen color as a transition.
You can add multiple Fade to Color transitions to switch between via the drop-down menu.
Adding a “Luma Wipe” transition let’s you pick from a preset list of transition
modes typically used as the built-in presets for video editors.
This gives you a wide selection of wipes - linear wipes, clock wipes, zig-zags, barndoors, and
all sorts of them.
It pops up this big, empty window for some reason.
Resize it and move it so you can switch between scenes and preview the transitions.
The “Softness” number effects how hard or soft the edges of the shapes are.
Play with this to your liking.
You can also invert the shapes of the transitions to do the reverse.
Click “OK” when you are done.
Lastly, we have The Stinger.
A Stinger transition is basically a video clip or animation that fills the screen briefly
while scenes transition, and then pulls off of the screen.
This is key for high-quality production value for broadcasts, and can even be seen in some
cartoons.
You can make these yourself using most higher-level video editors by rendering them as a MOV or
uncompressed AVI with the Alpha transparency layer included.
You can also find plenty of basic free ones online with a few easy Google searches - or
get higher quality royalty free ones from a marketplace like VideoBlocks.
If you’re interested, I have an affiliate link for VideoBlocks in the video description
below.
I’ll include a couple basic ones linked in the video description.
I cannot share all the ones I use, since some of them are from VideoBlocks or directly from
creators, and so on - but I can share a couple.
This used to require a plugin for the program, but they’ve recently integrated it into
the full software - a very powerful feature.
You add a Stinger transition much like any other transition - click the Plus under the
“Scene Transitions” UI module and click “Stinger.”
Give it a name based on what transition you’re using.
Now browse and find your video file.
Again - it needs to be a video with alpha transparency built-in, you can’t chroma
key it or anything like that.
And audio currently isn’t supported with these transitions, either.
Ideally, this window would show you a preview and such to help out, but it doesn’t.
You have to move the window out of the way and test scene switching to see your preview
in the main OBS window.
You also need to pop in a number - in either miliseconds or frames - that the transition
actually happens at.
This needs to be whenever your graphic fully fills the screen so that viewers don’t see
the actual scene change happen.
You can get the exact milisecond or frame time from your video editor, or just play
the clip back, find the exact point, and do the math to convert seconds to miliseconds
and you’re good to go.
With that stinger transition enabled, it will now show up when you switch scenes.
It’s pretty sweet.
And that’s it!
OBS Studio provides quite the plethora of options for transitions during your live streams
or recording, it just takes a little navigation to get them set up for you.
And hopefully before too long, they’ll add in the capabilities to assign transitions
to specific scenes.
I hope this episode of my OBS Studio tutorial course has been helpful for you.
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Until next time, I’m EposVox, Happy Streaming!
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