Profiles......

[Producer John]

Just to clarify: At this time there is no Guide for saving scenes/profiles/etc? After reading this thread, I get the concept. However, I saved a scene collection, and cannot seem to locate it. Went to the Guide and could not find any documentation on saving. Fortunately I have very few elements to reconstruct.

 

[Coverboy007]

I have to begin this post with a massive note of gratitude to all the folks who've built this amazing programme and who support it on this forum. That said, I too, as a new user, fell prey to the confusion of the meaning of "Profile". I initially wanted to create a separate profile for my fitness teachers who are streaming classes from home using a single webcam vs those who are streaming classes from our special studio that has a multi-camera setup.

My error...I first created a "Studio" profile and created a few scene collections in the profile, each of which had different Intro's but the same multi camera switching sequences. I then duplicated that profile and renamed it "Home", and then within each collection there, deleted some superfluous cameras as the "home" users would only be using a single one. Lo and behold, I found those changes to the Scene Collections had also applied to the "Studio" Profile, so all my multi camera switching was deleted (no biggie as I'm just testing now).

Reading this thread explains what happened and what the solution is for me. As we'll be broadcasting only via a single platform (Vimeo OTT), I realise now that all we need is one profile that can be used by both the "Studio" based instructors as well as the "Home" based ones. In that one profile, each collection will be named "HOME - Lesson x" or "STUDIO - Lesson X". The instructor upon commencing will simply go into that profile and select the Scene Collection that applies to his or her class.

I realise this post is longer than needed, but hopefully it makes sense?

 

[Jynn]

I got caught with this bug as well. I created a profile called "Training" so I could train a student on OBS Project. I deleted all my scenes and sources in the Training profile so we could start afresh (and so it wouldn't be confusing). But profile doesn't mean what I thought it meant. I have no clue what it really means but I lost all my settings. Looking for an export .json file to reimport now. Sheesh.

 

[ProfilesVictim]

Another victim to this stupid Profiles label. In every other piece of software a profile is a complete environment for another user or separate stuff. This is totally unintuitive. Why not put a warning the first time someone adds a new profile. Just lost months of tweaking my scenes to perfection. I can't believe this issue has been around since 2015 and still nothing has been done about it. A profile is commonly known to be an isolated environment, if using that name our scenes should be isolated. If not, don't use the word profiles.

 

[Baron Oz]

It shouldn't be too difficult to add two new menu items - "Save All" and "Load All" that just call the same code that is currently used to save and recall Scenes and Profiles separately. They can stay as two separate files, but from a user perspective, a single way to execute them would be great. Keep the individual save and recall menu items, they are useful, just need to be supplemented.

 

[LilZou]

I started a wiki entry: https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio/wiki/Profiles-and-Scene-Collections
My english is not good enough to really write an article but I started it so someone else could fill in the details. Please feel free to edit it.

I think it would be good to change the name of "profile" or maybe at least add a pop up message if you click on "New profile", that the scenes and sources are not effected by this and can be saved via "Scene Collection".
But as long as it is as it is, it would make sense to have it documented.

 

[LilZou]

What part about it specifically is confusing? It sounds like you understand it just fine. There's nothing special about it, scene collections is all your scenes/sources, the things that make up the preview. Profiles is the output settings, so your resolution, encoder options, etc.

We've had several requests for ways to link the two, and are working on ways of accomplishing this, but as it is a core design of the program it's not as simple as it would seem.

The thing is, that if you start using OBS and maybe want to try things on your PC and later on yout Laptop or if you want to share your settings, scenes and sources, you would intuitivly export you profile and share it. The word "profile" suggests everythin you just made in OBS (setteings and scenes).

I can remember well, when I started, I didn't even use scenes....just sources to try the very basics. Therefore I did not click on "Scene Collections". If I would have clicked it, I think I would have understood the concept since it is - as you said in another post - kind of self-explanatory .

If you are completely new, you have to take in so many new things, that it is just a bit confusing. Renaming the menu item "profiles" to

Settings Profiles, Settings Groups, or even Stream Profiles would be more self-explanatory than Profile.

 

[hunt1803]

I am an old dog trying to learn a new trick with this software. And I am a slow learner, but now have a very basic understanding of scenes and sources. Profiles escaped me until I slogged through this thread.
We have a weather station and plan eventually to broadcast a live-view weathercam to Ambient weather and Wunderground. Unfortunately our internet is only 1.5mb up, so a no go until we get Starlink available which should be more reliable keeping a live feed.
In the meanwhile, I have used OBS to record a timelapse-style video and upload a day later to youtube. I have two little cheap webcams that I use for capture. They each have their strong and weak abilities in handling lighting, so I switch out depending. I found Studio is great for that, and that I really like the timelapse recordings of the clouds zooming across the big sky here.
However, the timelapse fractional FPS is a Profile setting.
Are Profiles swappable in Studio, too? I would like to have the capability of having standard FPS settings on a Profile that I could pull in for recording real time, replacing the fractional FPS recording - for instance during a crazy lightning storm to better catch the bolts striking the mountains - then be able to transition back to the timelapse setting for the balance of the recording. Is that possible and I'm just too thick to figure it out?

 

[GnomeAssociate]

Anyone having issues with exporting their OBS stream profiles on MacOS?

I'm trying to export my stream profile but upon clicking the export menu item I get a select files only window like you do when importing. There are no options to edit the name, set a location or even a save button like there is in the Scenes Collection export process. Just curious if anyone else is having this same issue? It was working several iterations back but not now and I'm wondering if anyone has reported it and if there is a bug fix in the works if so.

 

[Kamil KW]

That division into Profiles and scenes is stupid and annoying. I just want one click change from one Scene Collection and profile to another. Two clicks is unacceptable for many reasons. It's confusing. It's only ok for those who use OBS every day. If I use it once a month, I need to re-learn and recheck everything many times. Just make it one frigging profile for everything. It could be called a workspace or Jimmy Hendrix, I don't care. Just make it happen.

 

[Videobuff]

As you say yourself, the use of profiles and scenes is most useful to the majority of those who use OBS every day or who use it a lot. So the current design makes sense to a large amount of frequent users. It doesn’t make sense to design anything to best suit those who use it very rarely as you suggest. It’s a minor inconvenience at most, that said I’m sure it can and will be improved to cater for wider audiences over time as it’s a continually evolving project. Just have patience and try to understand that you aren’t the centre of the universe that OBS caters for and be a little bit more humble and thankful for being given such a great program for free. And of course you always have the choice to go use something else if you so wish. The OBS community are always happy to receive constructive proactive input and feedback so best to take that approach as it generally results in more positive outcomes.

 

[Bombadil15]

There is no "primary" between Profiles and Scene Collections, so it would select whatever Profile and whatever Scene Collection you had active when you closed OBS, it loads both. They are not linked in any way.

Being able to link them together would be AMAZING. I would love to switch profiles and have an associated Scene Collection automatically switch. So I don't have to switch both Profile and Scene Collection every time I want to change up.

Anyways, thank you so much for creating such a great piece of software. It truly is remarkable. I even got my tech-fearing wife to start using it for her recordings and Zoom classes.