Question / Help Paste (duplicate) and paste (reference)

[Calfred]

Hi everyone. I'm new to OBS and I can see that sources can be copied and paste but what is the difference between paste duplicate and paste reference? Could you show me examples of use? Thanks

 

[koala]

If you paste by reference, the new source "reuses" the information from the original source, so if you change something in the original source, it is reflected in each reference. Also any filters you apply to one are inherited by all references.
If you need the same source in multiple scenes, or multiple times in the same scene, this is the way to go, because this is using almost no additional resources.

If you want to use some source as template and change the settings for the copy but not for the original, you need to paste as duplicate. In this case the original video source is accessed twice. This also doubles the demand of system resources.
This will not work with every kind of source: for example, a video capture device can be opened only once. If you duplicate a webcam source for access to the same webcam, one source will remain black, because the other source is accessing the webcam. The same with game capture or monitor capture: it works sometimes, but often duplicates of the same monitor capture or game capture will exhibit a black screen and only one of these will randomly contain an actual image. It's required to create multiple versions of these kind of sources as reference only.

If you need the same source (reference) but different filters or crops (only possible with duplicates), you can do this:
- for cropping, don't use the crop filter but instead press and hold the ALT key and drag the source borders with the mouse. This is specific for each reference and not inherited by the other references
- for different filters, put the reference of the source into a group and apply the desired filters to the group instead of the source. This way the filter is not directly attached to the reference, thus not visible in the other references of the same source.

You identify references by the name: each reference to the same source has the same name, and each duplicate of a source has a different name.

 

[Calfred]

A very complete and useful answer. Thank you very much!

 

[B3AVSeattle]

Such a great, concise and (very) helpful reply. Thank you!

If you paste by reference, the new source "reuses" the information from the original source, so if you change something in the original source, it is reflected in each reference. Also any filters you apply to one are inherited by all references.
If you need the same source in multiple scenes, or multiple times in the same scene, this is the way to go, because this is using almost no additional resources.

If you want to use some source as template and change the settings for the copy but not for the original, you need to paste as duplicate. In this case the original video source is accessed twice. This also doubles the demand of system resources.
This will not work with every kind of source: for example, a video capture device can be opened only once. If you duplicate a webcam source for access to the same webcam, one source will remain black, because the other source is accessing the webcam. The same with game capture or monitor capture: it works sometimes, but often duplicates of the same monitor capture or game capture will exhibit a black screen and only one of these will randomly contain an actual image. It's required to create multiple versions of these kind of sources as reference only.

If you need the same source (reference) but different filters or crops (only possible with duplicates), you can do this:
- for cropping, don't use the crop filter but instead press and hold the ALT key and drag the source borders with the mouse. This is specific for each reference and not inherited by the other references
- for different filters, put the reference of the source into a group and apply the desired filters to the group instead of the source. This way the filter is not directly attached to the reference, thus not visible in the other references of the same source.

You identify references by the name: each reference to the same source has the same name, and each duplicate of a source has a different name.

 

[dex110]

Thanks for the answer koala. I'm new to OBS (v25.0.8) so I don't know if this is a bug or not:

I have a Sources Folder/Group of text fields. When I copy the folder and Paste (Reference) nothing happens. I saw on an old thread that might be a bug/oversight and it should be greyed out. So at the end of the day I can only Paste (Duplicate).

The pain/issue is that when I individually copy and Paste (Reference) each text field, it does not "Paste In Place" the same way duplicate does.

Is there anyway to Paste (Duplicate) a group and then "unlink" it. OR Is there a good way to copy and Paste (Reference) "In Place" so that it preserves the placement and alignment of the original?

 

[Héraès]

Why can't we simply copy a source and modify it independently ? It's obvious that when creating an overlay, we'll have to duplicate stuffs but don't want them to be twins of the same original source. We want it to be independent.

I add myself to the list of people who would like a feature to simply COPY a source in order to :
1. Avoid the complex process of recreating a shape (for instance) and giving it the right size + other attributes.
2. Avoid losing accuracy in that process, and maximize the harmonization of the scene (having assets that are similar but not perfectly the same can diminish the beauty of the overlay).
3. Be able to modify the copied source independently, as a completly new source in the sources list.

Actually, when copying it's in fact a twin of the original source and modifying one changes the other.
The absurd thing is we even have two names for that actual feature, as if developers tried to implement the normal copy but failed to it : "paste (reference)" and "paste (dupplicate)". The two does basically the same thing. -_-