HOW TO USE OBS VIRTUAL CAMERA FOR TEACHING ONLINE

How to Enhance Your Online Teaching with OBS Virtual Cam

Teaching online can be challenging, especially when it comes to presenting multimedia in front of your class. With teleconferencing programs like Google Meet, Zoom, and MS Teams becoming more popular, it's important to have the right tools to make your presentations seamless and professional. OBS Virtual Cam is a free software that allows you to replace your webcam in an online meeting, making it easier to share data at lightning speeds. In this article, we will discuss how to set up and use OBS to compose presentations, how to turn OBS into a webcam for online meetings, and advanced settings to make controlling your presentations doable.

1. Download and Setup OBS

The first step is to download OBS from obsproject.com and install it on your computer. Once you've installed OBS, you'll need to download and run the OBS Virtual Camera extension from the OBS forum. This will allow you to use OBS as a virtual camera in your online meetings.

2. Set up Your Presentation and Webcam in OBS

In OBS, you can set up a single scene for teaching using multiple media sources. This allows you to share one of your screens, show the daily lesson plan to your students, show yourself onscreen, and switch to an alternate camera angle all in one scene. To set up your sample teaching scene, follow these steps:

1. Launch OBS and click the "Scenes" button in the bottom left corner of the screen.
2. Click the "+" button to add a new scene and name it "Virtual Cam."
3. Add media sources by clicking the "+" button under the Sources menu.
   • Add your webcam by selecting Video Capture Device and selecting your device. You can move or resize your webcam display and name it something to help you identify it quickly.
   • Add Text/GDI+ to create a quick display of topics to be covered in the meeting.
   • Add one of your monitors as a source by clicking Displays and selecting the display source. This is a great solution if you use two monitors.
4. Layer your sources by clicking the eyes icon to make that source visible or invisible. Put your lesson plans as your top layer to keep the text visible as you switch between other visible layers.
5. Run OBS Virtual Cam in Your Online Meetings

To use OBS as a camera for Zoom or Google Meet, you need to do two things:

1. From OBS, go to Tools at the top of the screen and select VirtualCam, then select Start from the menu that comes up.
2. When joining a meeting in Zoom, Google Meet, or other software, select your VirtualCam as the camera you use for the meeting. You'll still need to select your webcam or microphone as your audio source.
3. Use Advanced Settings and Setup Shortcut Keys

OBS also offers advanced settings to help you control your presentations. You can adjust the resolution, frame rate, and other settings to optimize your presentations. You can also set up shortcut keys to quickly switch between scenes or media sources.

Using OBS Virtual Cam to enhance your online teaching may seem intimidating at first, but it's worth the effort to create professional-looking presentations. By following these steps, you can set up and use OBS to create seamless and engaging online lessons for your students.