Streaming both is and isn’t easy. Personally, I love being able to jump on a broadcast and say whatever I needed to say.

That’s why I got on Clubhouse. Clubhouse lets you get a live audience without worrying about what you look like.

But Clubhouse is a cult, and I needed to port that same feel elsewhere on the Internet. Podcasts weren’t doing it, because discoverability is atrocious.

But video streaming is ubiquitous online, and I already have 10k strong followers between YouTube and Twitch. So, I got started with motion-tracking animation across platforms using Vtube Studio and Streamlabs.

My team created this adorable cat for animation.

Of course, even building out animation, I still had to employ a few streaming basics that even apply to live video.

Streaming is just like broadcasting, and you can get a control center in your home studio with a few basic pieces.

Check out the starter guide above to get the general information on how to get started. This is a continuation post from there.

We’re going to be talking about making scenes in Streamlabs using Stream Deck. First – what is Streamlabs?

The Basics of Streamlabs OBS

Streamlabs is an expansive platform that uses OBS Broadcaster to enable multi streaming across platforms.

Using Streamlabs, I can simulcast video across YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, and LinkedIn. It also integrates with Discord, although it’s not so simple to broadcast on Reddit’s r/pan broadcasting network.

Logitech bought Streamlabs in 2019 for about $90 million and has been expanding the company since.

There’s a built merch store, catalog of animated overlays and fonts, and even built in brand partnerships. It’s a vertically integrated suite that I love using, even though there are some better options.

It’s basically the one-stop-shop to piece together your stream and distribute it.

Of course, the interface can get to be a bit much, especially when you’re live. That’s why I also pair Streamlabs with a Stream Deck.

I use both on PC, but they’re both available on iOS too. I’m not sure if there’s an Android nor Mac version.

Understanding Stream Deck

The Elgato Stream Deck from Corsair is an all-in-one automation device that held broadcasting and more.

Using this device, it’s easy to switch scenes, play sound effects or music, change your voice, and so much more.

Because it’s over $100, I was hesitant to buy it at first. Even when I did buy it, it sat in the box for a solid month before I finally plunged in to program five pages worth of buttons.

Now I can easily change scenes, which is what got me to the point of having an intro and outdo, along with two camera angles for my setup.

It also lets me start and stop my theme music, change characters (coming soon), and pop windows on and off.

Here’s what my scenes look like.

Steaming Scene 1

In scene 1, I’m copying what every late night show looks like. From The Tonight Show to The Daily Show, they all have the same basic setup.

The background was designed using a virtual home design app for free. Meanwhile, the microphone is a separate object. I put it in front of the cat’s face to give the illusion of depth. I’ll likely refine it later to come out of the desk once I get the angles measured.

River is about the size they show on TV, and everything else is fit to scale with her. I only had the top half built in the model, because I’ll be using the cat primarily to vlog.

My avatar is slightly off center to provide space for the window and to show off the room in the background.

Using this scene, I can provide news, give tutorials, and more.

I got rid of all the excessive junk on my borders to leave a relatively clean interface. Only my channel branding is visible, and the Picture in Picture can show any game or window I want.

This is my main scene, but I also designed camera 2 so I can give more visual variety.

Streaming Scene 2

My second scene puts the window from camera 1 as the background. Then I have my cat moved down to bottom corner.

River is much smaller, because this mimics a typical Twitch stream setup.

I got the VR goggles on River, and I can even stream games and VR chat from the Oculus Quest 2 from Facebook. This is easily done using the official Oculus Casting site.

Here’s what it looks like put together.

The biggest problem I have is glueing the VR headset to the cat. I’ll figure that out soon enough.

However, by switching between the two camera angles, I give my viewers a variety of visuals to look at besides just my face (or rather River’s).

These tiny touches go an long way in making a live stream feel more produced, polished, and professional.