Now that we know how the UI in OBS Studio works, it’s time to take a dive into Profiles
and Scene Collections and discuss how you might utilize these to really get the most
out of the software.
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I’m EposVox, here to make tech easier and more fun, and welcome back to my OBS Studio
tutorial course.
I have many, many more videos on the software in the playlist linked in the description.
Check that before asking questions, and check the introduction video to learn how this course
works, if you get confused.
We’re focusing on 2 specific parts of the OBS Studio software today, two important groupings
that work together to vastly expand what you can do with the streaming software.
In a nutshell, “Profiles” are different settings presets that you create.
These affect your streaming and recording settings – bit rates, resolutions, etc.
“Scene Collections” are saved groupings of your scenes and sources – including audio
devices.
Let’s start with Profiles.
Profiles are the simpler grouping.
By creating and naming Profiles, you can manage many different groups of streaming and recording
settings for different use cases.
This is super handy if you do a lot of different forms of streaming and recording.
I have a ton of profiles, as I use OBS for just about everything these days.
For example, I have different profiles for streaming to Twitch, streaming to ReStream
for going to Twitch and YouTube at the same time, direct recording to disk in the highest
possible quality from consoles, recording for my tutorials, webcam recording settings,
and so on.
By clicking the “Profile” menu you have the ability to make a new profile, duplicate
an existing profile, rename profiles, remove profiles, and import and export them.
Making a new profile starts with a completely blank slate and empty settings.
If you want to make slight variations of existing profiles – such as to make separate, similar
profiles for streaming to Twitch and YouTube and so on – then you can make the profile
once, Duplicate the profile and give it a new name, then make the required tweaks for
the different platforms.
Exporting your profiles to a folder is a good idea for keeping them backed up.
If you need to reinstall your operating system, or if you somehow corrupt your OBS Studio
installation, or if you want to replicate your settings on another PC – using the
Import/Export tool is super handy and can save you a lot of frustration.
I keep my most important profiles backed up to just a “OBS Profiles” folder in my
Documents folder.
Just remember to make new exports whenever you make major changes to the profiles!
My Twitch profile has a base resolution of 1080p, streams to 720p at 5.7 megabits per
second, and records at 1080p at 30 megabits per second.
My “Editing Tutorials” profile, however, is set up to record a full 4k 60FPS desktop
capture in lossless quality using the Nvidia encoder.
And my “Webcam profile” takes my Logitech BRIO webcam at 1080p 60FPS and records it
to disk.
I have many more, but these are some of the various use cases that different Profiles
are critical for.
Profiles affect just about everything in the “Settings”, but they do not affect your
audio devices – your microphone inputs, desktop speaker outputs and so on.
That can be easy to confuse, so usually you’ll want a specific Scene Collection for each
Profile.
Next is Scene Collections.
The “Scene Collections” menu has the same options as the Profile menu for duplicating,
exporting, making new Collections, and so on.
Where the Profiles affect your settings, Scene Collections affect your scenes, sources, and
audio devices.
Usually, you want specific Scene Collections to go with your various Profiles.
I usually name them the same thing to keep it simple.
i.e. my “Twitch” Scene Collection matches up with my “Twitch” and “ReStream”
Profiles.
It’s also worth noting that your video resolution is still controlled by the Profile, so a Scene
Collection of 1080p sources made to run at full 1080p will not look right with a 720p
Profile.
That being said, different Scene Collections for controlling video devices differently
can be super helpful for managing complex setups with multiple monitors, input devices,
and so on.
And as with Profiles, you can Export your Scene Collections for backup.
This is more useful for Backup than transferring to other PCs like with Profiles since video
devices will show up quite differently across different PCs.
Just worth considering.
All of my scene collections match up to my Profiles.
My Twitch Scene Collection contains the graphics, overlays, capture card inputs, and audio mixing
for my Twitch live Streams.
My “Tutorial Recording” Scene Collection contains the Desktop Capture modes for my
3 monitors along with a scene switcher config for recording tutorials.
My “Webcam” Scene Collection contains full-size scenes for my Webcams.
Pretty straightforward.
And that’s it!
Different customizable profiles and Scene Collections are part of what makes OBS Studio
a very complex and capable streaming and recording software.
I now use it for virtually all of my recording and streaming needs.
Again, if you’re confused about anything, check my full OBS Studio education course,
linked in the video description, for more in-depth videos.
I hope this episode of my OBS Studio tutorial course has been helpful for you.
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If you like game streaming, come follow me on Twitch and drop a message in chat.
Until next time, I’m EposVox, Happy Streaming!
Thanks for watching this episode of my OBS Studio tutorial course.
More videos like this and a full master class are linked in the playlist in the video description.
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