What is click-to-zoom?
click-to-zoom is an OBS Lua script that lets you smoothly zoom in on a display capture source, centering the zoom on your mouse position. It is ideal for tutorials, code walkthroughs, or any scenario where you want to highlight a part of your screen in real time. Zooming is triggered by a hotkey ("click to zoom"), and the script can optionally follow your mouse as you move.
- Platform support: Windows, Linux, and Mac
- Smooth animation: Zoom in/out with customizable speed
- Hotkey-driven: Assign hotkeys to toggle zoom and mouse following
- Auto-follow: Optionally track the mouse while zoomed in
- Multi-monitor aware: Can auto-select the correct display source under your mouse
- Advanced options: Manual source position, scaling, and more
- Debug logging: For troubleshooting and advanced users
Installation
- Download or copy zoom-to-mouse.lua from this repository.
- Launch OBS Studio.
- Add a Display Capture source to your scene (if you don't have one already).
- Go to Tools → Scripts in OBS.
- Click the + button and add zoom-to-mouse.lua.
- (Optional) For best results, set your Display Capture source's transform:
- Positional Alignment: Top Left
- Bounding Box type: Scale to inner bounds
- Alignment in Bounding Box: Top Left
- Crop: All zeros
- (Optional) If you want to crop, add a Crop/Pad filter (set to Relative: False).
Note: If your Display Capture source uses a different transform/crop, the script may attempt to auto-correct it for zoom compatibility, which could affect your layout.
Usage
Hotkeys
- Go to File → Settings → Hotkeys in OBS.
- Assign hotkeys for:
- Toggle zoom to mouse (main zoom in/out action)
- Toggle follow mouse during zoom (optional: toggle auto-follow)
Script Settings
Open the
Scripts window and select click-to-zoom.lua to configure:
- Zoom Source: Which display capture to zoom
- Zoom Factor: How much to zoom in
- Zoom Speed: Animation speed for zoom in/out
- Auto follow mouse: Track the mouse automatically while zoomed in
- Follow outside bounds: Continue tracking even if the mouse leaves the source
- Follow Speed: How quickly the zoomed area follows the mouse
- Follow Border: How close to the edge the mouse must get before following
- Lock Sensitivity: How still the mouse must be before "locking" the view
- Auto Lock on reverse direction: Stop following if you move the mouse back toward the center
- Show all sources: Allow any OBS source (not just display capture) as the zoom target (requires manual position setup)
- Set manual source position: Manually specify the source's position, size, and scale if auto-detection is wrong or using a non-display source
- Debug logging: Enable extra output for troubleshooting
- Auto-select source by mouse position: Automatically pick the display source under your mouse before zooming/following
How it works
- Press your assigned hotkey to zoom in on the current mouse position.
- If auto-follow is enabled, the view will track your mouse as you move.
- When you move the mouse to the edge of the zoomed area, the view will follow; when you stop, it "locks" until you move to the edge again.
- Press the hotkey again to zoom out.
Advanced Features
- Multi-monitor support: Can auto-select the correct display capture based on mouse position.
- Manual overrides: For non-standard sources or complex setups, you can manually specify source geometry and scaling.
- Debug logging: Enable to get detailed logs in the OBS script log for troubleshooting.
Known Limitations
- Automatic zoom/follow only works with Display Capture sources by default. For other sources, you must manually set position/size.
- On Linux, you may need to install extra packages for display capture compatibility.
- On Mac, manual monitor height may be needed for correct Y coordinate handling.
- Dual machine/remote mouse tracking is described in the original project but not implemented in this fork.
Credits
Development
- Edit zoom-to-mouse.lua as needed
- Click Reload Scripts in the OBS Scripts window to apply changes
