How to Turn Any Camera into a Webcam with OBS Studio?
Today, where telecommuting and online video conferences have become commonplace, having a good webcam is the key to make a good impression on those who watch you online. OBS Studio addresses your real-time streaming needs, but what if your webcam doesn’t produce decent-quality footage, or you just don’t have one? This article will offer an easy-to-follow guide to convert your camera into a webcam to use with OBS Studio. There are two methods that can help you turn your camera into a webcam.
Using an External Capture Card
In this method, you connect your camera to your computer using a capture card and send the footage to OBS Studio as a source. The following equipment is necessary for this method to work.
- OBS Studio
- Camera
- Capture Card
- HDMI or SDI Cable
Connect the Camera to Your System
Once you have managed to gather all these components, plugging your camera into your computer shouldn’t be difficult. The procedure involves running an HDMI or SDI cable from the camera to the capture card. Plug the USB out connection of the capture card to one of the USB ports on your computer, let OS detect and install the required drivers. Once you have successfully connected your camera to your system, perform the following steps.
Add the Camera to OBS Studio
You have plugged your camera into your system by following the above process. Now, you will need to add the camera to your OBS Studio application. The steps are as follows.
- Start OBS Studio.
- Click the plus sign under Sources.
- Select Video Capture Device.
- Give your source a name in the dialogue box under Create New.
- On the next dialogue box, click on the Device drop-down and select the name of your capture card.
- You should be able to view the footage of your camera in the preview window.
- Click OK.
- You have successfully turned your camera into a webcam. Now, you can resize the camera window to fit your scene.
Using a Virtual Camera Plugin
If you want to turn your camera into a webcam without using any additional hardware, that is possible too. You can use certain third-party applications to make your camera available within OBS Studio. Most modern cameras offer a sort of tethering feature via USB. You can connect your camera to your system using a USB cable and then install a suitable software that works well with OBS Studio.
The additional plugin program offers virtual webcam functionality to accept the footage from your camera and provides it to OBS as a source. There are various virtual camera plugins available on the internet for both Windows as well as Mac systems. When you have the right OBS settings in place and the virtual camera plugin functioning properly, you should be able to transmit the footage from your camera to OBS Studio.
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