How to have different outputs?

[Jeho Chávez]

Hello.

I'm completely new to OBS.
So basically I'll be running some in person meetings that will also be streamed by zoom. We have a web camera to stream the meeting. For the in person meetings, we have a screen to show some images and videos when needed, so what I want to do is this: stream both the camera and images/videos to zoom, but in the in person screen, only the images/videos should be visible, not the camera.

Is there any way to do this? I really appreciate your help.

Thanks.

 

[AaronD]

I have a rig for exactly that purpose. It runs on Ubuntu Studio Linux (much better than Windows for this!), and uses two instances of OBS simultaneously on the same machine:

• The Master instance is set up as if it were live-streaming, except that it only feeds the remote meeting and the Slave instance. The Advanced Scene Switcher plugin automates the entire rig from here, based on a naming convention for the Master's scenes:
  • Audio:
    • Room mics on or off
    • Pre-recorded playback sound on or off
  • Video:
    • Show people, or show pre-recorded content
• The Slave instance has a full-screen projector on the local display, and only has two scenes with one source each, which are selected automatically by its copy of Adv. SS as it receives messages from the Master copy:
  • Window-Capture the meeting
  • Passthrough from Master
• Audio is handled by a DAW, which also receives messages from the Master copy of Adv. SS, so that each instance of OBS *only* handles what it *absolutely needs to*, to work at all:
  • DAW = Digital Audio Workstation. It's a complete sound studio, all in one app. That's all it does, and it does it REALLY WELL!!! It'll do absolutely anything and everything you can think of to do with audio, and lots more!
  • The room mics go directly to the DAW, not OBS, and all of the cleanup and other processing is done in the DAW, not OBS! The final mic mix goes directly from the DAW to the meeting, not OBS! (See a pattern here? Don't use OBS for audio!)
  • Sounds that come from the Master OBS instance (video soundtracks) go directly out of OBS's audio Monitor to the DAW. Then the DAW handles them and sends them where they need to go.
  • The local speakers and operator's headphones (which I hardly ever use, now that it's dialed-in) are both fed directly from the DAW, not OBS, as separate outputs with their own mixes.
  • The Slave instance of OBS is fed from yet another output of the DAW with its own mix, as the final, finished soundtrack to record. It doesn't go anywhere else from there.
  • So the DAW is set up like a professional mixing console, with as many inputs as there are mics, plus OBS Master's soundtrack, plus the meeting return, and a separately-controllable output for each destination: meeting send, room speakers, OBS Slave for recording, and headphones to check on things. OBS can't even *dream* of doing that, but the DAW does it effortlessly.

I can give you more detail if you need, but that's the idea. Generally:

• Don't use OBS for audio! Use something else for that, and only allow OBS to see what it actually needs. Final soundtrack in, and get everything else out as quickly and completely as possible. Use the DAW, or an external console, for everything! You'll be much happier that way, partly because even the tricks to run audio across apps like that, are far less Rube-Goldberg than what you have to do to make OBS do the required processing and routing! I started this rig on Windows and Voicemeeter, and while that did work, it was a royal mess, even compared to the above!
• Different content requires a different instance of OBS. There are plugins and options that allow you to ship off something different from the main output, like an individual source or scene, even if it's not showing, but it's a lot more understandable if you have a whole 'nother instance of the program for each product.