Draw area to be recorded directly on the screen with mouse/arrow keys.

Very often, you want to use OBS to just record part of the screen. Figuring out and configuring the exact location, and especially the exact size, is a chore.

Why not do it the way screenshot tools like Faststone Capture do it?
  • User invokes function to select screen area.
  • OBS takes screenshot, opens fullscreen frontmost window and shows the screenshot. The user isn't the wiser. It's a smooth experience as I know from massive FS Capture use.
  • The mouse is now a color-inverting fullscreen crosshair. You can move it with the mouse and, very important, also with the arrow keys. Bonus points if, like in FS Capture, you can see a magnification of the current mouse crosshair location in some mouse-remote place.
  • Go to a corner of the desired area. Click and hold. (Since it's just a screenshot, the user is free to do so.) Go to the diagonally opposite corner. Release.
Done. OBS just changed the location of the screen area to be recorded, the "Video" settings ("Base (Canvas) Resolution", "Output (Scaled) Resolution"), and possibly set the "Transform" scale to 1.

Either there should be an undo-dialog for this that's showing now, or, probably better, instead of changing the settings right away, a dialog with checkboxes should appear after selection, showing the various parameters that would be changed now, their current value, and the resulting new value. Which box is checked should be remembered from last time. Since this function doesn't just simplify things for longtime users but also allows beginners to more easily approach working with OBS, the dialog should contain a hint text or two, e.g. that it's usually correct to activate all checkboxes.

Again: This function serves to select the area of the screen that is to be recorded. Its location, and its exact size. This should be way more easy and streamlined than it is now, and if implemented in the way described here, it will be just that.
 

cadudesun

New Member
This should be way more easy and streamlined than it is now, and if implemented in the way described here, it will be just that.

Hi,

I'm just getting started with OBS studio and was looking for the functionality for recording a screen region in a flexible way, and through this thread I just realized this is still a missing feature in OBS.

=> Considering the latest v24.0 RC1, what would be the most effective way to perform a screen region capture?

Thank you very much!
 
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