YouTube Shorts with OBS

I’m looking at options while developing my eBook. I’m great at talking around a topic and not being able to be definitive about what I’m trying to describe.

I thought a good idea was to write the code down so people can download the script and also to do quick videos to demonstrate those scripts. Adding a link in the eBook.

This only makes sense if I’m selling the eBook as an eBook and not a paperback book as it’s a pain to try and follow links in a paperback.

YouTube Shorts

I came across the YouTube Shorts which need to be:

• Maximum “60 second” duration
• In portrait format, so can watch on a mobile phone

I’m wondering if this is a good format to use to demonstrate quick examples of Revit Code.

A quick and dirty short video may be the way to link shorts to my Site & other videos and a further stream of information.

YouTube shorts seem designed for someone filming with a Mobile phone, so really doing a walkaround/talking head example.

They end up going into another place on your channel, so you can easily see if they are having any effect.

OBS Setup

So what about screenshots and screen views? For that to work you need to setup OBS to do this, and I need to take a copy of my existing setup so it doesn’t stuff up what I have already.

The OBS setup looks to be able to have several profiles, and that is what I want to record in this post, the OBS setup.

1. Setup profile for video/audio configuration

This was the bit that worried me, I didn’t want to stuff up the settings I already had for my current videos. so you can make a completely new setup under a different PROFILE.

So I renamed my existing profile and created a new one for Shorts.

In the profile you can then go to settings and do your configuration, by turning the 1920×1080 and turning it around to 1080 x 1920 so its in portrait mode.

As the Landscape Screen for desktop only takes up so much space, about 1/3 in the middle., I decided to have an image in the top 3rd, thinking about demonstrating how a bit of code worked. And the talking head in the bottom 1/3.

2. Setup Scene for that profile

I then ran a couple of videos to see if I needed to screen/block anything form the main screen and then uploaded a test to YouTube. The format was wrong , it was an mkv instead of an mp4 so I needed to sort that out too. So that needed to be done in the settings for the profile.

I had to add green screen filter so that I could conceal the background & also add the Blur Ball mike as well.

All of the scenes work in whichever profile you are in, they just look odd, so I need to clearly name the ones specific for shorts, just to make sure I use the right scene setup, although its pretty obvious which belongs to which.

3. Uploading the video

This was pretty standard, I created a new playlist, I played it , after uploading it, on the Desktop and it only shows a portrait size in the middle of the screen, black either side and I sent the link to my mobile and it seems to work fine on there too.

Current Issues

Now I have correct format, mp4:

1. Have too much echo in the audio so that will need adjusting
2. I don’t think I have proportions right, maybe a SMALL Talking head with full display behind then maybe 1/2 larger display (not sure if I can show 2 displays on the same screen) so you can see what is happening
3. Timing, having a counter or stopwatch to show how long you have left. I looked in a few shops for a clock but the only one that seemed to do what I needed was a 1 minute timer that cost $12 in Brisco’s which I thought was a bit expensive. I need to go to a few $2 shops to see if there is something useful, otherwise I’ll have to time myself with Helbents timer or my phone on timer.

Process

I started doing shorts and setup another scene that shows a larger view of the screen and my head reduced to a small one in left hand corner. May be hidden by text but not important.

I had an issue with the timer and the Stream Deck has a countdown timer and a plugin that has one too, so you see the seconds count down.

The isue I was finding was using Ctrl +Alt+1 to start OBS then having to remember to press the timer while trying to talk to the camera. In the end Irealised I had an OBS setup on Stream with hotkey buttons for start & Stop so alogned the start button next to the timer and pressed both at the same time. Works really well, and as its to the side of the screen its easy to watch the countdown. So if it is going to runover the 1 minute time then I’d break it into 2 videos and redo the first with less content and add the rest to the 2nd video.

Uploading to YouTube was pretty easy, you could upload them all at once, and as they all are not-listed I didn’t bother putting in a description (youtube promote buy tags & description) and the titles were just e1-c2-1 etc, so ebook 1, chapter 2, vid number.

I had to bulk rename the video files so used PowerToys bulk renamer to do that, which was quick and convenient.

I then tested links in the eBook in Word and they seemed to work fine. They open the video’s quite easily.

So I now have a process for production. So far i’ve uploaded chapter 2 & 3. I need to do setup and chapter 4 then I can proceed with doing the videos and then doing the writing.

I also saved all the code to separate files and zipped them up, uploaded them to the website and using Download Monitor created a link to them.

So a strategy moving forward for the other chapters. It is good to have visual explainer as well.

End Comment

The Stream Deck really makes timing a 1 minute video useful and easy to use. There is a setting in OBS where you can make all videos stop after a period of time, I thought I’d set it but it didn’t seem to work. The Stream deck works well so I’ll stick with that for present.

I need to get the process down pat and do a couple of open shorts to advertise PowerKey4Revit too. Apparently Tags, title and description are important.