Bible Plugin for OBS Studio

Semi-free Bible Plugin for OBS Studio

Hi, everyone!

First off, a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from us at Firstfruits Studio! Apologies for the very late greetings, but in between church work and general busyness on the upcoming church plugin, it was a bit tricky to find the time for well wishes. Indeed, it has been a very long time since our last public message here, and this post aims to rectify that. :)

The good news is that I have been very hard at work on the upcoming church plugin, and after receiving an email asking about the status of the upcoming plugin (shoutout to Christopher Barboza), I thought I would share some news about it here to keep you all up to date. So let's get down to it!

In this post, I'll cover our Song Theme editor. In the Bible Plugin, while it has always been possible to create and edit custom themes, it required knowledge of a programming language called Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), which made it both very difficult for general users of the plugin to use and limited what could be created. This has led to more than a few emails asking for our help in styling themes. In our new church plugin, though, I made a conscious decision early on that creating and editing themes be as simple as possible and not depend on programming. This means that you will not need to type in a single line of code to customize your themes. Instead, you will get a variety of user-friendly options to customize your theme to how you want it to be.

2024-01-09 Song Theme Editor.png

Song Theme Editor. Content is subject to change.

Above is a screenshot of the song theme editor. Once you open a song theme for editing, you will be greeted with three tabs and a variety of tiles for customizing them. You can click each tile to tweak each setting as you see fit.

Below you can see screenshots of some of the tiles and some of the settings in each. Please keep in mind that, as in all screenshots shown here, the content of each is subject to change, and the final product may look quite different!

2024-01-09 Lyrics Options.png


2024-01-09 Lyrics Font.png


2024-01-09 Lyrics Transition.png


2024-01-09 Lyrics Appear Animation.png


In the screenshots above, you may have noticed among them a Transition option. One of the more highly requested features for the Bible Plugin was a way to transition between verse texts (like a crossfade), but it turned out to be very difficult to implement it there because it would necessitate a complete change in the HTML and CSS and thus break all existing themes. Therefore, I am very happy to report that this feature will be supported in the upcoming church plugin.

In the Widgets tab, you can create and customize widgets, which are free-floating blocks that you can position anywhere in your theme. We currently have widgets for text, color, images, and video, and we plan to tweak them and add more in the future.

2024-01-09 Widgets Tab.png


With all that said, just what can this song theme editor create? Here is an example of the theme that all the settings above were configuring:

2024-01-09 Example Song Theme - Bali Celebration Praise.gif

A lower-third type theme with an image and color/texture widget, with a variety of transition and animations applied.


Looking good, if I do say so myself!

Now, although the song feature overall works, there is still room for polishing. Furthermore, we also plan to add an improved Bible feature, besides other things that we hope you will be excited to discover in the future. While I know we did aim for a release last year, unexpected development hurdles torpedoed that plan. As a result, we are aiming for a release sometime this year (hopefully).

That said, I hope this post proves that we are still around and still hard at work, although we may not have said much publicly on our social media recently.

If there is any feature in particular that you would love to see in the upcoming church plugin, or if you would just like to share your thoughts, feedback, or ideas, feel free to drop us a reply.

If you have made it all this way, thanks! I hope you will find the end result to be worth the wait.

Once again, have a Happy New Year! God bless!

~ Jon from Firstfruits Studio
Primary (and only) Developer
It's been 2 years since the Bible Plugin was first announced and released on the OBS Forums. Since then, the Bible Plugin has reached 94 countries / territories and is being used by thousands across the world. It's something we would have never thought to be possible. So, thank you all! We sincerely hope that the Bible Plugin will continue to be a blessing for you all. Please look forward to our upcoming plugin release! God bless you!

2 Years.png


Countries.png


Thank You.png
Hi, everyone!

This is a small, mostly bugfix update, with one main feature: a Dock Font Scale option.

Dock Font Scale

2022-11-07 v1-5-3 Dock Font Scale Setting.png


The Dock Font Scale setting adjusts the size of the fonts on the dock. As the description states, this option is purely cosmetic and does not affect what is displayed on the browser.

This feature was added because we received word that the size of the fonts on the dock could be too small for some users to read, requiring them to squint. This feature should hopefully help resolve this issue. Special thanks to user Philippe Demartin for his feedback on this matter!

(Note: The previously named Font Scale option is now called Browser Font Scale. Its behavior remains unchanged.)

Dock Font Scale: 1.0
2022-11-07 v1-5-3 Dock Font Scale 1.png


Dock Font Scale: 1.5
2022-11-07 v1-5-3 Dock Font Scale 1-5.png


In the picture just above, you may also have noticed that the Bible reference in the toolbar was changed to show an ellipsis if it gets too long. This was implemented because very long references previously took up a lot of vertical space.

However, you can still know the reference you are in by just hovering over it, like this:

2022-11-07 v1-5-3 Reference Hover.gif


As usual, if you have any suggestions, feel free to share them!

Other Minor Fixes / Enhancements
  • We fixed a bug with Google Fonts handling. Previously, some Google Fonts in the Theme Editor would fail to load if their names were more than two words long or if their case was different than expected. All Google Fonts should hopefully work now. If not, leave us a bug report! ;)
  • On a similar note, the Google Fonts list was updated.
  • In the Generator program of the Coffee Version, the setting Overwrite Output Folder is now enabled by default. After some thought, users likely won't have a folder named obs-bible-plugin unless it was already generated by the Generator program. This meant that this option was an unnecessary hassle most of the time, especially when upgrading from one version to another.
And that sums it up! Have a great week and God bless!

~ Jon from Firstfruits Studio
Primary (and only) Developer

Sneak Peek

In other news, I have been working on a new OBS plugin for songs and other church-related features, things that I think is currently lacking on the OBS plugin market. It's currently very early in development, but for those of you who are interested, here are some pre-release screenshots. Please note that this is very much a work in progress, and things may change drastically before release!

Song Viewer
2022-11-07 Church Plugin Sneak Peek 1.png


Song Editor
2022-11-07 Church Plugin Sneak Peek 2.png


If you have any suggestions about what features you would like to see in this plugin for songs, please feel free to share them. For example, must-have features, shortcomings with current solutions, etc. While I can't promise that I will add them in, I will be sure to consider your feedback!



Update Guide

Important: Please backup your verse list and custom themes before updating!


Free Online Version
You will automatically be updated to the latest version.

Coffee Version
  1. Download the latest release from Payhip. (You should also receive an email with the download link soon. If you don't, go to the email you received from PayHip after buying the Coffee Version and click your unique download link there. You will see all the latest files.)
  2. Run the Generator, choose the same Bibles and output folder, and click Generate.
  3. Open OBS Studio. You should be on the latest version.


Links

Hi, everyone!

This is a small update, the main highlight of which is vastly improved Bible reference searching in the plugin. We have completely overhauled the code here to use a combination of regular expressions, string comparisons, fuzzy searching, and more forgiving logic. Taking a standard English Bible as an example, you can now use search terms like the ones below, and the Bible plugin will now understand you! Special thanks to Johnny Lassiter for his helpful feedback.

QueryParsed Reference
1pt4.21 Peter 4:2
icor11 23 261 Corinthians 11:23-26
second kings 5 3 -2 Kings 5:3-
genesisGenesis 1 (goes to chapter 1)

We have fixed a bug on the Bible Query screen. When typing a reference, changing a character in the middle of the reference would suddenly cause your cursor to jump to the end. This is now fixed. Special thanks to Johnny Lassiter for reporting this!

The Google Fonts list has been updated with the latest fonts.

We have added some new OBS Studio themes Yami and Light and made small modifications to existing ones in order for the plugin to blend in nicely with OBS Studio v28 (more on this later). Here are some screenshots!

Yami
2022-09-05 Bible Plugin v1-5-2 Yami.png


Light
2022-09-05 Bible Plugin v1-5-2 Light.png


Compatibility with OBS Studio v28

I am pleased to announce that Bible Plugin for OBS Studio is compatible with the latest version of OBS Studio, v28! If you are updating from v27, there should be nothing to worry about. If you are updating from v26, though, please review the OBS Studio v27.2 Alternative Solution post we published earlier.

That said, you may wish to wait before upgrading. Although I have not seen any problems with the Bible Plugin itself, I have noticed some issues with OBS Studio's handling of browser resizing on Linux in particular. So you may want to wait until OBS is more stable before taking the jump.

That's all for now! Have a great week and God bless!

~ Jon from Firstfruits Studio
Sole Developer



Update Guide

Important: Please backup your verse list and custom themes before updating!


Free Online Version
You will automatically be updated to the latest version.

Coffee Version
  1. Download the latest release from Payhip. (You should also receive an email with the download link soon. If you don't, go to the email you received from PayHip after buying the Coffee Version and click your unique download link there. You will see all the latest files.)
  2. Run the Generator, choose the same Bibles and output folder, and click Generate.
  3. Open OBS Studio. You should be on the latest version.


Links

Please note that the Coffee Edition of the Bible Plugin will increase in price from $7 to $11.99.

It is with a heavy heart that we do this. Unfortunately, soaring inflation and growing economic challenges mean that we can no longer remain at the same price. Furthermore, the Bible Plugin has seen rapid growth from a simple side project for my own needs to an essential software used by thousands of people and churches in more than 80 countries around the world. The price increase will help me continue to support the Bible Plugin as well as allow me to work on new and improved plugins.

This price increase will only affect new purchases of the Coffee Edition. Existing purchases, as well as the free online version, will be unaffected. This change will take effect on August 14, 2022, Central Indonesian Time (about three days from this post).

Thank you for your support and understanding. God bless!

~ Jon from Firstfruits Studio
Hi, everyone!

The survey for the Coffee Edition of Bible Plugin for OBS Studio is now complete! We read every single submitted survey, and we would like to personally thank everyone who participated for sharing your valuable feedback. Some of it was eye-opening, and all of it was informative. We will take your feedback to heart, and hopefully you can all look forward to new and improved things in the future!

Now on to the theme pack winners!

- Hentley G., O'Brien Church of God (Canada)
- Larry C., Tabernáculo Bíblico Bautista (Uruguay)
- Michael, Faith in the Word (United States)

If you won, please keep an eye on your email inbox as we will be contacting you soon! If you didn't win, we may also contact you to answer questions you may have asked. And thanks again to everyone who participated!
Hi, everyone!

It has been six months since the Coffee Edition of Bible Plugin for OBS Studio was released! To mark this occasion, we would like to take this opportunity to learn your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions: what you like about the plugin and what you would like to see in the future. On our part, we would love to see how you have been using the plugin in your churches and livestreams, and we may even feature your video and country on our website! Click the link below to participate!

https://forms.gle/QseawwvFzUHMHK6T8

The survey will run for a week. By taking part in this survey, you will also have a chance to win a free theme pack of your choice (either the Easter 2022 Theme Pack or the General #1 Theme Pack). If you win, we will get in touch with you at the email address you have provided.

Thanks for reading this, and we look forward to read your responses!
1f642.png


Note: This survey is only for users of the Coffee Edition.
Hi, everyone!

In this post, I want to announce an upcoming price increase for the Coffee Version of Bible Plugin for OBS Studio.

As you know, so far we have only asked for a one-time payment of $5 for the Coffee Version. As we have stated before, we chose this price point so that the Word of God can be spread quickly and easily without the burden of a high price. And so we have resolutely held on to that price point in spite of the Covid-19 pandemic, ever since the Bible Plugin's release about five months ago even until now.

However, economic uncertainties due to recent world events, compounded by Covid-19, have shown us that it is, sadly, no longer possible for us to stick to our existing price point. Therefore, we have decided to increase the price of the Coffee Version from $5 to $7. This change will come into effect sometime on 17 March 2022, Central Indonesian Time (UTC+8) (about three days after this post is published).

Please note that existing Coffee Version users will not be affected by this change. Also, the free online version will continue to remain available. For now, we will still continue to support and maintain the Bible Plugin to the best of our ability.

We ask for your understanding, and we thank everyone who has financially supported us thus far, whether it be by a donation on Ko-Fi, a theme pack purchase, or generously paying above the asking price of the Coffee Version. God bless you all!

With love,
Jon from Firstfruits Studio
Primary (and only) Developer
This is a bugfix update that fixes Custom Themes being deleted. If you are using Custom Themes, we urge you to update as soon as possible.

We have also changed the font used in It Is Finished (part of the Easter 2022 Theme Pack) from Dongle to Fredoka, because we have received reports that accented characters do not display correctly. If you miss the old font, don't worry. It's very easy to change it back. Just leave me a message if you're interested.

It Is Finished.png
Hi, everyone!

This is a big update that greatly improves the theme experience. When I first made the Bible Plugin, theming was, I admit, an afterthought. This update adds a bunch of improvements to bring the theme list and theme editor up to standard.

This update also adds theme packs. Theme packs are entirely optional but add additional beautiful themes for you to use. More details to follow later in this post.

Ukraine-Inspired Theme

While working on this update, we at Firstfruits Studio are greatly saddened and grieved by the events occurring in Ukraine. As we mentioned on our social media post, this update includes a new Ukraine-inspired theme, derived from our Echoes series of themes. It is freely available for everyone to use on both the free and coffee versions of the plugin.

For Ukraine.png


For further information on this theme and the circumstances behind its creation, please refer to our previously posted social media announcement. As for the theme itself, it will appear in your theme list after updating.

Changelog

2022-03-04 New Themes List.png


The theme list has received many UI/UX improvements:
  • A new Create New Theme button on the toolbar does as its name suggests. You no longer need to copy an existing theme in order to create a new one!
  • Themes are now split into categories (free, coffee, theme packs, custom).
  • A new Search bar makes it easy to search your theme list by theme name.
  • After returning from the Theme Editor, you don't need to scroll back to the theme you just edited. Your scroll position is preserved.

2022-03-04 New Theme Editor.png


The theme editor has also received a bunch of improvements related to Google Fonts:
  • The Google Fonts you have selected are now shown as a list of "tags".
  • Click on a Google Font to remove it.
  • Type in a font and get Google Font suggestions! This is done entirely offline.
For font suggestions from Google Fonts, please note that the suggestions may not be entirely up to date, because the list of fonts are compiled with each update. You can see when the internal fonts list was last synced with Google Fonts by scrolling to the bottom of Settings, next to the version number:

2022-03-04 Google Fonts Update Time.png


If the list is not up to date and there is a Google Font you are sure exists, you can still use it by typing it in and hitting Enter.


02 License Key.png


For the Coffee Version only, there is a new License Key / Gift Code field in Settings. (This doesn't appear on the free online version to avoid any confusion.) Here is where you can redeem the theme packs, mentioned below.

Theme Packs

Hi, everyone!

I am very glad to announce the release of our brand new theme packs! Theme packs are paid addons to Bible Plugin for OBS Studio (Coffee Edition) that allows you to display Bible verses in a new way. Using a combination of original and edited public domain vector images, carefully crafted CSS, and conscientiously selected fonts from the Google Fonts library, we have spent no small amount of time making and polishing these themes for all of you to enjoy.

I would like to stress that theme packs are entirely optional. Anyone can make these themes using the tools we have already provided. As you might know, though, the Coffee Edition of Bible Plugin for OBS Studio is sold at the lowest price possible to cover some of the development and maintenance costs. The purchase of each theme pack helps support Firstfruits Studio and its mission of making the Word of God easily available and accessible to everyone.

Thank you all for your support! May God bless you abundantly.

~ Jon from Firstfruits Studio
Primary Developer



Easter 2022 Theme Pack
Easter 2022.png


Link and complete setup instructions:
https://payhip.com/b/ICtp8

General Theme Pack #1
General 1.png


Link and complete setup instructions:

https://payhip.com/b/WniJQ

Quick Theme Pack Setup Guide
Instructions.png



Update Guide

Important: Please backup your verse list and custom themes before updating!


Free Online Version
You will automatically be updated to the latest version.

Coffee Version
  1. Download the latest release from Payhip. (You should also receive an email with the download link soon. If you don't, go to the email you received from PayHip after buying the Coffee Version and click your unique download link there. You will see all the latest files.)
  2. Run the Generator, choose the same Bibles and output folder, and click Generate.
  3. Open OBS Studio. You should be on the latest version.

Links



Conclusion

We have received requests from several people about a number of exciting features we could add to the Bible Plugin. Some of the more prominent ones include using OpenLP as a remote control for the Bible Plugin and displaying multiple verses on a single slide, among others. We are also looking into adding auto-update functionality to the Generator program to make it easier for Coffee Edition users to upgrade to the latest versions. If you have any ideas you would like to add to the list, feel free to let me know! Of course, I can't guarantee anything, but I would love to hear your ideas!

That's all for now! Take care and God bless!

~ Jon from Firstfruits Studio
Primary (and still only) Developer
  • Like
Reactions: RichieTee
Top