When you first start streaming, OBS comes in its most basic form, which is still genuinely fantastic and powerful software. However, sometimes, you may want more from the streaming software, and the only way to get that is through third-party plugins.
Third-party plugins can be added to OBS's existing setup to give it more features to help you with your stream. I have compiled a list of 10 of the most feature-packed OBS plugins I have used previously or still use today!
In no particular order, the OBS plugins I have chosen for this list are:
1. Source clone
Source clone is an OBS plugin that adds a source to OBS that lets you clone sources to allow different filters than the original. This is particularly useful in cases where you would like to add effects and filters to your sources without affecting the original source.
An example of Source Clone can be seen above in my stream, where I am splitting my camera source up with a gradient filter so you can see half of my camera source on one side of the screen and my game character on the other.
While on this scene, you can see both sources as my camera is āclonedā when I go to a full-camera scene; the camera source is unaffected by the filter. This can be used in unlimited ways and is limited only by your imagination.
2. Advanced Masks
OBS Advanced Masks is an OBS plugin designed to expand the masking functionalities within OBS Studio. This plug-in provides filters for users to create intricate and customised masks for their OBS Scenes and Sources.
The Advanced Masks plugin has many options to customise, and they go into great detail on the OBS website, so Iāll just list a few of them here to give you a little taste of what it can do.
Alpha Masking
āWhen applied to an OBS source, an alpha mask is a mechanism to control the transparency or opacity of specific areas within the source. It defines which parts of the source are visible, partially visible, or completely transparent.
Adjustment Maskingā
A colour adjustment mask modifies specific colours or ranges within an OBS source, allowing targeted hue, saturation, brightness, and contrast changes. It enables precise adjustments to selected areas, providing control over the visual appearance without uniformly affecting the entire source.
Shape Masksā
Shape Masks in Advanced Masks offer users a selection of parameterised shapes that can be applied to adjust the alpha channel or colour correction of sources within scenes. Users can select, customise, and use these shapes to create targeted transparency and adjustment effects.
Shape masks also have a selectable Scene View Transformation option, which allows the user to fine-tune the masked source's canvas position and scale directly within the filter. This will enable plug-ins such as Exeldro's Move to animate mask changes while retaining the proper aspect ratio.
3. Downstream Keyer
Downstream Keyer is a simple but effective plugin that allows you to add sources to scenes as an overlay across all switched scenes and transitions.
This means you can have any source on any scene at any given time and apply filters to it without affecting the sources/scenes.
This can be particularly useful if you have some crazy redeems that require you to alter the look of your game, your camera, the media files you display on stream, and more. This plugin makes it possible.
For example, if you had a redeem called āI canāt find my glassesā, you could have a video play of Velma searching for her glasses while the rest of your entire scene goes blurry, and when she finds them, the picture returns to normal.
It also saves resources and time as you wouldnāt need to add each source and filter to every scene.
4. Move Transition
Move Transition is a plugin that allows OBS Studio to move sources to a new position during a scene transition. It is one of my all-time favourite plugins, and I use it every stream without fail because I play different games and have my camera in various locations.
The move transition plugin can be used for any source, allowing it to move, resize, zoom, and crop. You can use this plugin with others, as I have to take advantage of this unique integration with your streaming software.
The forum post lists many more in-depth features, but this is the main feature of the plugin you would use it for.
Read "Mastering Scene Transitions in OBS Studio: Increase Your Streams Visual Experience" to learn more about creating advanced transitions with this plugin.
5. Shaderfilter
The OBS Shaderfilter plugin can be added to any video source through the filters option when right-clicking a source. The name of Shaderfilter in the menu would be āUser-defined-shaderā
These shaders come preloaded with multiple options, which vary depending on what you want to use them for.
The included filters are similar to Instagram filters, which can give a cartoon effect, burn, blur, distortion, or even chromatic aberration, to name a few.
To better understand their filters, I recommend checking out the plugin page on the OBS forums. There, you can find screenshots and videos for each of the shaders they offer.
6. Aitum Vertical
Aitum Vertical is a content creator's dream plugin as it provides you with a plugin with its own scene and source collection and its own live stream and recording functions that work alongside your existing settings for OBS!
As I mentioned, Aitum Vertical works inside your existing OBS installation with its sources and scenes. You can set it to record in a vertical format, perfect for creating content on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube shorts. Everything you can do on the standard scenes and sources inside OBS will be available on Vertical. You can even livestream from Vertical straight to TikTok if you have a stream key.
Vertical makes creating short-form content so easy for creators as all you need to do once the clip has been made is trim the ends and upload. Itās really that simple.
Try it for yourself; itās free!
7. StreamElements
For those wanting an all-in-one experience with their OBS installation and alerts, multi-chat and multistream capabilities, look no further than StreamElements Live!
SE.Live is a complete overhaul of the original OBS installation, which integrates StreamElements into OBS itself, so all of your alerts, widgets, and stream accounts would be linked from the word go.
There are an incredible number of things you can do with SE.Live independently, such as setting up alerts and overlays, managing a chatbot, running a merch store, handling stream management, accepting tips, and multistreaming. The list just goes on with what this software is capable of.
You can also install other plugins I've mentioned in this guide alongside SE.Live, so you're not limited to just this plugin.
8. Composite Blur
Although the Composite Blur plugin can be seen as weak, it is helpful in many ways, especially in creating funny moments, a particular style, or a more cinematic look for your stream to make things pop.
As you can see, you can utilise the blur plugin in multiple ways, such as Gaussian blur, box blur, dual Kawase, and square pixelation. It all depends on what type of blur suits your situation. For example, I used to have a redemption where I would have a āstreamer be goneā where it would blur my webcam out so you wouldnāt be able to see me. It would usually get redeemed when I was talking directly to my audience during more serious times of the stream, and it would break the ice and make it into a funny moment instead.
Or, as mentioned previously, you could use it in a Velma-type situation for a funny redemption. Other ways to use this plugin include making cinematic or more engaging scenes, such as blurring background media and then having other media playing over the top to break the background and foreground to give it a popping-out-of-the-screen style look.
9. Gradient Source
The Gradient Source plugin, again, seems like a weak contender for one of the best plugins you can get for OBS, but do not underestimate this little plugin.
While the user interface seems essential and not like much is happening, you can use this plugin for many things, mainly when you apply it with other plugins, effects or sources.
One example is your webcam border. Some streamers either donāt have a border or have a static border, so how cool would it be to combine this colour gradient plugin with the advanced mask plugin and the move plugin to create an animated border where the gradient rotates around your camera? This would be a simple but effective way to add more to your stream to help you stand out.
Little things like this can enhance your stream in a small way but have a significant effect. Try it out today and see what ideas you can develop to make your stream unique.
10. Pulsoid
Last but certainly not least, it has to be one of my favourite apps for my stream, especially when Iām playing scary games!
Pulsoid is a free app (premium version available) that allows you to show your heart rate on stream and has 40+ widgets. Itās super easy to set up, and you can do it in less than 3 minutes. All you need is a heart rate monitor or fitness tracker compatible with the app and the browser source for OBS, and youāre ready.
Pulsoid gives so much interaction and laughs for your stream that it will pay for itself if you upgrade to the āBRO Planā for only $4.99 monthly. You get access to all widgets and new widgets when they become available.
Itās not just a heart rate monitoring app visible in OBS. You can change the settings in your dashboard to automatically create clips of your channel if your heart rate reaches a specific number, so thereās no need to go back on your VOD and make them yourself! A Discord function also automatically posts them to Discord for you.
This app already has many integrations, and the wider itās used, the more integrations it will have in the future. That is why itās on my list of the top 10 plugins for OBS.
Watch this video to see how Pulsoid works ā¬ļø
Do you think I covered all the best plugins in OBS, or do you have any others you would add to the list? Let us know on our socials!
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