Question / Help Image in Sources only in Preview?

[TachMN]

Some background first...

My church has an A/V setup with a Roland VR-50HD at its heart.
The video (1920x1080 29.97P) output is sent over USB3 to a PC to capture the output.
I initially used Roland's Video Capture for VR software running on the PC to capture the video into MP4 files.
But the PC (Quad Core i5) was overwhelmed when later editing the video with Shotcut. (We are not streaming)
So we replaced it with a Dell using a Ryzen 1700X, quadrupling the CPU power. The editing is no longer an issue.

But...

Discovered Roland does not support non-Intel systems with the software. The USB card (Inateck KT4006) Roland Support suggested did not make a difference. I won't go into the details. But I am not happy.

So I am trying to find an alternative to Roland's software. Currently experimenting with OBS Studio and switched the encoder to use the Radeon RX-580 after installing the support.

After I burn DVDs of the edited videos I spot check them on a flat screen TV in the fellowship hall. And discovered it has quite a bit of overscan. So I have a low-tech method of sewing threads taped on the monitor that I use when capturing to keep important stuff out of the overscan area.

Now to the question:

I am new to OBS Studio (unlike Roland it doesn't have any USB issues), but I figured out how to add to Sources a transparent PNG of a rectangle (lines) to indicate the overscan boundary. And unlike the "threads," it will be accurate no matter the size of the Preview window.

Obviously I don't want that on the recording.

I have been extensively consulting the Oracle of Google and going through the OBS website, but have not found a way to have this rectangle Sources image only appear in Preview.

Is there a way to have a Source only appear in Preview?

Thanks!

 

[TachMN]

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

So here is a screen shot of what I am trying to do...

I have to keep important info inside the red "box." But I don't want the red box in the actual recording.

 

[TrinityDiy]

Just wondering, any luck?
I was looking into it to 'hide' scene information. Like what scene is live. My church uses two cams and we display the passages on screen. It is easy to get lost in a scene. 25 groups of 6 text boxes.

 

[Narcogen]

Make two scenes.

Add your cam source to one scene.

Copy the cam as a reference to the 2nd scene.

In the second scene, add your overlay.

In the Scene list, right-click Scene 1 and then choose "Windowed projector (scene)"

Just to be clear-- this is a reply to the OP, I only just saw this thread because of the last reply.

 

[TrinityDiy]

Make two scenes.

Add your cam source to one scene.

Copy the cam as a reference to the 2nd scene.

In the second scene, add your overlay.

In the Scene list, right-click Scene 1 and then choose "Windowed projector (scene)"

Just to be clear-- this is a reply to the OP, I only just saw this thread because of the last reply.

This works better. Thank you.

 

[TachMN]

I lost track of this after not getting a response after several months. I recently saw there was a response. I didn't get a notification, maybe missed a setting somewhere.

I expanded on the steps as I had to research some of them, being a bit of a noob still...

(And as my brain cache is shrinking so I can refresh in the future if needed)

Make two scenes.

I already had the original scene. So just needed to add the second scene.

In Scenes window:

Right click then click Add (named it "Overscan Margins Scene")

Add your cam source to one scene.

The video and audio sources were already in the original (1st) Scene

Copy the cam as a reference to the 2nd scene.

In the original (1st) Scene, right click on the video source in the Sources window

Click on Copy

Click the 2nd scene (Overscan Margins Scene) in the Scenes window

Right click in the (empty) Sources window

Click on Paste (Reference)

The video source will be added to Sources and its video will appear in the preview

In the second scene, add your overlay.

Again in the Sources window of Overscan Margins Scene, click the +

Click Image

Click Create new

Pick an appropiate name (named it "Overscan Margins")

Click OK

In Properties for "Overscan Margins" that appears, browse to the image

Click OK

The image will appear in the preview of Overscan Margins Scene but not in the preview of the original (1st) Scene.

In the Scene list, right-click Scene 1 and then choose "Windowed projector (scene)"

Actually I right-clicked the 2nd scene, Overscan Margins Scene, because have to record the 1st scene to avoid the overscan margins in the recording.

Then I took the Windowed Projector (Scene) with the overscan margins window and resized it to "fit" over the preview of the 1st scene. (I run OBS Studio full screen)

I can still see the Audio Mixer (to monitor audio levels) and the Controls.

If I click anywhere on the main window, I will have to click again on the Windowed Projector (Screen) in the Taskbar to get it back. Not a big deal.

This will accomplish what I wanted. Thanks Narcogen!!!

(I tried this on a system at home. I may update later with screen shots after the next time I record at Church.)

(Maybe now I can at last take the threads off the monitor...)

 

[FerretBomb]

@TachMN Just as a tip, you can set the Projector as Always On Top so you can click on elements in the main window without bringing it over the top of the Projector. You won't be able to click anything behind the projector of course, but that's easy enough to just hit the Minimize button on the projector if you need access briefly, then restore the minimized projector... it should pop back into place.

 

[TachMN]

Being a noob, had to consult the Oracle of Google to find where that is:

Click Settings bottom right corner of main window

Click General (gear icon) top left of Settings window

Scroll down to the Projectors section

There check the box for Make projectors always on top

Having done that, I didn't notice a difference. What is supposed to happen? (See the first part of the first sentence) I still needed to resize and move the separate Windowed Projector (Scene) window over the preview of the 1st scene. I need to select the 1st scene, have it active, etc., so I don't get the overscan image in the recording. But the preview for that scene does not have the overscan image that I need which is in the second Scene.

 

[TachMN]

I was at Church Sunday recording/editing next Sunday's sermon and authoring/burning DVDs of the 4/19 service for our shut-ins and other members sheltering in place.

Afterwards I put into action the suggestion of Narcogen.

First the original Scene:

And the new Overscan scene with the referenced video source and the Overscan Margins transparent image:

And now the Windowed Projector (Scene) window covering the preview:

(When I did the screen capture, I did not yet click back on Service Scene, having just did the Windowed Projector (Scene) operation.)

Now I can record knowing exactly where the overscan is without the margins appearing in the recording.

The threads have finally come off the monitor!!!

Thanks again Narcogen!