How to Setup Vertical Overlays in OBS Studio

In this article, I'll be explaining to you how to set up custom vertical overlays for your TikTok streams, YouTube Shorts, or wherever else you want to stream vertically.

Setting up vertical overlays is a lot different than setting up horizontal ones because you're so limited in the space that you can utilize. However, you still want your vertical streams to look professional. 

Be sure to check out The Streamer Academy where I help you start and grow your stream. There are tons of free resources for you to utilize to help build up your stream.

Getting Your Vertical Plug-in

The first thing you're going to want to do is have a vertical space to be able to stream vertically. If you don't already have this, you can utilize the Aitum Vertical Plug-in for OBS Studio. 

You'll simply select 'Download Vertical'. Once we add this to OBS Studio, it will allow us to add overlays and graphics and stream vertically to other platforms. 

Adding Your Vertical Plug-in to OBS Studio

With the plug-in installed, head over to OBS Studio. You should see the 'Vertical' section on the right-hand side. 

If you do not see this, go to your menu bar, select 'Docks', and toggle on 'Vertical Scenes', 'Vertical Sources', 'Vertical Scene Transitions', and 'Vertical'. 

With these toggled on, you should be able to see the 'Vertical' section. Now, we can move on to setting this up. 

Choosing Your Overlays

The first thing we're going to need is our overlays. 

Personally, I'm using the "Katana" horizontal overlay package from Stream Designz. 

Stream Designz has tons of high-quality, professional overlays for you to choose from. Again, I have the horizontal package, but there are tons of matching vertical overlay packages that you can get so that what you're sending over to YouTube Shorts or TikTok Live has the same vibe as what you're posting to Kick, YouTube, or Twitch.

For this, I'll be using the matching "Katana" vertical overlay package as it has everything I need to make my Vertical content look professional and put together. 

This package includes the 'Starting Soon', 'Be Right Back', 'Ending Soon', 'Countdown Timer', a stinger transition, and a webcam overlay. 

You can choose any of the packages that match your style, but I'll be showing you how to set this up by utilizing this package. 

Adding Your Starting Soon Scene

Once you've selected your overlays, you can head back to OBS. The first scene that we'll be adding is the 'Starting Soon' scene. 

If you got your files from Stream Designz, you'll need to unzip the files before you can use them. If you're on a Mac, all you need to do is double-click the zip file and it will create a new folder with the unzipped files. If you're on a Windows, right-click on the zip file, select 'Extract', and these will unzip. There are also instructions on how to unzip these that will come along with the Stream Designz packages. 

Now, go to 'Vertical Scenes' and right-click 'Vertical Scene 1'. Select 'Rename' and let's call this "Starting Soon Vert". 

Next, go to 'Vertical Sources', press the plus sign icon, and select 'Media Source'. This is going to be for animated overlays. The Stream Designz packages come with both static and animated overlays so that you can decide which ones you want to use. Typically, I prefer to use the animated overlays. 

After selecting 'Media Source', select 'New', and then locate the file for your 'Starting Soon' overlay. 

You'll have two options here. The first is the 'Starting Soon' without the countdown timer, and the second is with the countdown timer. I'll be using the overlay that includes the countdown timer. You could also add the countdown timer as its own scene if you prefer. 

Once you've found the file, select it and hit 'Open'. You're going to want to make sure to select 'Loop' or else it will only last for ten seconds. 

You can already start to see how good this is looking. 

You don't have to take the horizontal overlay and stretch it down since this is made to fit the vertical canvas. A bit later in the article, we'll get into how to link your horizontal and vertical canvases together so that when you change scenes on one, it will change for the other at the same time. 

Adding Your Countdown Timer

Now, press the plus icon under 'Vertical Scenes' again, and let's name this "Countdown Vert".

Then, we'll go over to 'Vertical Sources'. Press the plus sign icon, and select 'Media Source'. Select 'New, locate the file for the countdown timer, and then press 'Open'.

For the countdown timer, you do not need to select 'Loop'. Once the timer is over, you'll want to switch to your next scene. Press 'Okay' and now you'll be able to see your countdown timer. 

Above, you can see the countdown timer in both the horizontal and vertical spaces. Both of these help to make your content look cohesive and they look professional regardless of whether you're looking at the horizontal and the vertical which is super important. 

Adding Your Gameplay Scene

Next, we need to add in our 'Gameplay' scene. 

Under 'Vertical Scenes', add a new scene and name it "Gameplay Vert". This scene is one of the most important ones as it's where you're going to spend most of your time. 

Since I already have my gameplay added to my horizontal, I could just easily add it from 'Media Source'. However, if you want to add it separately, go to 'Video Capture Device' and select your device, which for me is 'Game Capture HD60 X'. I'll also leave the 'Profile' set to 'High'. 

Once you press 'Okay', it will add your gameplay and you'll see it in the center of your canvas. To adjust this, right-click on the gameplay, select 'Transform', and then click 'Rotate 180 Degrees'. Then, go to 'Transform' again and select 'Center to Screen'. From here, you can drag the camera into place and adjust the size to be as big as you can make it while leaving space for your camera and  'Webcam Overlay'. 

With the gameplay in place, go to 'Vertical Sources' and hide and lock this for just a minute. Now, we're going to go ahead and add our camera to the gameplay scene. 

To add your camera, go to 'Vertical Sources', and select 'Video Capture Device'. Press 'Add New' and then select your camera, which for me is 'Cam Link 4K'. Again, I'll leave the 'Profile' set to 'High' and then press 'Okay'. 

With this added, right-click the camera, go to 'Transform', and select 'Fit to Screen'. Then, go to 'Transform again and select 'Rotate 180 Degrees'. You can move this using the Alt key, but before you move this into place, let's add the 'Webcam Overlay'. 

To add your webcam overlay, hit the plus sign icon under 'Vertical Sources' and select 'Media Source'. Press 'New' and then locate your file for the webcam overlay. Since this is animated, you are going to want to select 'Loop' and then press 'Okay'. 

Under 'Vertical Sources', you'll want to lock your camera in place so that you can make sure you're working with the right file. Then, you'll go back to the webcam overlay, go to 'Transform', and then select 'Fit to Screen'. Now, you can size this up and place it exactly where it needs to be.

Next what you want to do is turn your gameplay back on so that you can see it. Then, I'll unlock the webcam and move this into place before locking it again. When this is in the right spot, I'll move the webcam overlay to fit nicely on top of the camera once again. You can decide how you want your gameplay scene to look, it doesn't have to be this exact way. 

With all of this in place, we've finished setting up the 'Starting Soon', 'Countdown Timer', and 'Gameplay' scenes. 

Adding Your Stinger Transition

The next thing you'll see is that when you switch scenes, it's giving me a weird stinger transition. When I switch between my horizontal scenes, there's a much nicer transition and that's what we need to add to the vertical scenes so that they're consistent. 

Start by clicking 'Stinger' under 'Vertical Scene Transitions'. Select 'Stinger' and let's rename this 'Stinger Vert'. Press 'Okay' and then click 'Browse' and locate the file with your stinger transition. 

For 'Transition Point', this is going to be a little bit different depending on what you have, but I'm going to put '1,500' and tweak it if needed. To check what this looks like, simply press 'Preview Transition'. You want to see it switch from 'A' to the 'B' at the very end. 

For 'Audio Fade Style', you'll want to select 'Crossfade'. Then, press 'Okay'. 

Now, you'll be able to see that when you switch scenes, the transition happens as well and makes the scene change a lot more smoothly. 

Adding Your Be Right Back Scene

To add your 'Be Right Back', start by pressing the plus sign icon under 'Vertical Sources' and name this "BRB Vert" before pressing 'Okay'. 

Again, the idea here is to give you some customization to make your verticals look as professional and polished as possible. 

Head over to 'Vertical Scenes', press the plus sign icon, select 'Media Source', and then click on 'New'. From here, you'll browse for your file for the 'Be Right Back' scene. You will want to select 'Loop' for this one and then you'll press 'Okay'. 

Adding Your Ending Soon Scene

The last thing that we need to add is the 'Ending Soon' scene. 

Start by clicking the plus sign icon under 'Vertical Sources', select 'New', and we'll name this "Ending Soon Vert'. Then, go to 'Vertical Scenes', select 'Media Source', then browse for the 'Ending Soon' file. You will want to select 'Loop' for this scene and then press 'Okay'.

Linking Your Horizontal and Vertical Scenes

Now, all of your scenes are set up and looking professional. However, you don't want to have to switch between managing your horizontal and vertical scenes. You just want it to be that whenever you switch scenes, regardless of whether you're on your horizontal or vertical, the other automatically switches scenes too. 

To do this, right-click on 'Starting Soon' under 'Vertical Sources' and you should see where it says 'Linked Scenes'. You'll then select 'Starting Soon' and it will link this with the horizontal version of the scene. 

You'll go through and link each of these with their matching horizontal scene. Now, when you switch between scenes, either horizontally or vertically, the other will change at the same time. 

Adding Your Just Chatting Scene

The one scene that we don't have for the vertical that we do have for the horizontal is the 'Just Chatting' scene. For this, I like to bring in just the camera by itself. This is an opportunity for you to just be able to chat. If you want, you can also add the actual chat in there as well.

Go to 'Vertical Scenes', select 'New', and title this "Just Chatting Vert". Head over to 'Vertical Sources' and press the plus sign icon. Then, select 'Media Source', press 'Scene', and then click on 'Just Chatting'. 

I'll resize my camera to make it bigger and make it so that it's just showing me talking to the viewers. 

Then, right-click the 'Just Chatting Vert' scene, select 'Linked Scenes', and be sure to link this with the 'Just Chatting' scene.

Now, if you go through all of your scenes, you can see the transitions seamlessly occurring as you're switching through them. Just like that, you now have a professional-looking vertical stream. 

If you don't have a horizontal setup like I have, you're going to want to check out this video here. In this, I'll walk you through step-by-step how to add all of your overlays, alerts, labels, chats, and everything you need to make your stream look good for YouTube, Twitch, and more.