How to Add Overlays in OBS Studio (Complete Streaming Setup Guide) [2026]

Making your stream look professional doesn't need to be complicated, especially if you're using OBS Studio.

Today, I'll be walking you step by step through setting up every aspect in your stream when it comes to design. This means adding your 'Just Chatting' scene, 'Gameplay' scene, 'Countdown Timer', 'Starting Soon' scene, and everything else you could need to set up. 

By the end of this tutorial, the ultimate guide, you're going to have a professional-looking stream that you'll be proud of when you go live. 

If you're new here, welcome to The Streamer Academy. My goal is to help you grow, create, and thrive as a streamer. If you want to learn more, be sure to check out the site here. 

Getting Started

The first thing we're going to do is make sure that we have OBS Studio installed. This is the software that we'll be using to add our overlays and graphics. 

You'll also want to go ahead and have your overlays purchased and ready to be used. I'll be using Stream Designz overlays. There are tons of different overlay packages to choose from. Today, I'll be using the 'Katana Ultimate Stream Bundle'. 

This is going to include everything: countdown timer, emotes, overlays, and stinger transitions. If the price tag is a little higher than you want to spend, check out the animated overlay packages. These won't have everything, but they will at least get you on the way to having a professional-looking stream. 

Again, I'll be using the 'Katana Ultimate Stream Bundle', which comes with 3 animated webcams, 6 animated overlay screens, 10 animated alerts, 8 panels, a count-up timer, a countdown timer, stinger transitions, and 8 animated emotes. 

If you get your overlays from Stream Designz, the files will be emailed to you, and they will be downloaded as a zip file. To unzip these on a Mac, all you need to do is double-click the zip file and it will unzip. To unzip these on a Windows, right-click the zip file and select 'Extract'. Both of these ways will add all of the files into one folder for you to easily be able to use. 

Setting up Your Scenes

Once you have your files, head over to OBS Studio. This is going to be a multi-step process, but if you follow along, you won't miss anything, and by the end of this article, you'll have a fully set up and professional-looking stream. 

The first thing I like to do is get my scenes set up. Treat these like folders on your computer. They are like folders that house the things that you want inside each scene. The easiest way to do that is to come to the bottom left-hand side and select 'Scenes'. 

Let's start with the 'Starting Soon' scene. To rename the scene that's initially on OBS, right-click where it says 'Scene,' select 'Rename,' and then we'll call this 'Starting Soon.'

I like to label all of my scenes and order them in the way that I'll be utilizing them. This makes it a lot easier to switch between scenes while you're streaming. 

Then, we'll create another scene, and we'll name it 'Countdown Timer.' Do this again and name it 'Just Chatting.' We'll get more into what each scene is going to be once we start to build them out. Your 'Starting Soon' is going to be when the scene starts. The 'Countdown Timer' is going to help build up hype and suspense for your stream. Then, the 'Just Chatting' scene is going to be where you connect with your viewers. 

Add another scene and name this 'Gameplay'. This is going to be your main scene and where you'll spend the most time. Next, create your 'Be Right Back' scene. This is really good if you need to step away for a minute. Lastly, create an 'Offline' scene. This is going to be for when you're about to end your stream and want to give yourself and your viewers some time to say goodbye. 

These are going to be the main scenes that we will be using. We are going to add one more scene and call it 'Main Camera'. I'll explain why we're making this a scene later when we get into incorporating it into our scene. 

With our scenes set up, we're ready to begin adding in our overlays. 

Starting Soon Scene

Having overlays is what takes your stream from looking a little bland and boring to making it look professional and having your stream stand out among others. 

The first overlay we'll add is going to be our 'Starting Soon'. Again, think of your scenes as folders that are holding your sources, which are going to be your overlays and the other elements that we'll be adding today. 

To the right of 'Scenes,' head over to 'Sources,' and press the plus sign icon. It is important to note that there are two different kinds of overlays: animated and non-animated. The kind of overlay that you have will change how you import it into OBS Studio. I would encourage you to get animated overlays since the motion keeps people engaged and doesn't leave the stream feeling stale. 

If you have an animated overlay package, under 'Sources', you'll select 'Media Source.' If this is not animated, you're going to select 'Image.' It's super important to select the right option because if you do not, your overlay is not going to show up. 

It's going to ask for a name for the source, so I'm going to call this one 'Starting'. Now, I have to locate the file for the 'Starting Soon' overlay. In your files, you're going to need to locate where your overlays are unzipped. For me, I'm going to search for my 'Katana' folder, and then go to 'Overlay Scenes.' From here, I'll select 'Starting Soon'. 

Once you've located your file, select it and press 'Open.' You're going to make sure this is set to 'Loop'. The animation is only 10 seconds long, so you want to make sure that it continues until you change scenes. Press 'Okay' and then you'll be able to see your overlay. 

Just like that, you've gone from having a blank screen to having a nice, professional overlay that will keep your viewers engaged and involved of your stream. 

Countdown Timer

Next, we're going to head to the 'Countdown Timer' scene. 

To add this in, go back over to 'Sources,' press the plus sign icon, and select 'Media Source.' We're going to name this 'Timer' and press 'OK.' Again, you're going to have to locate your overlay package files and find the folder for the countdown timer. Once you've found this, select it and press 'Open'. For this one, you do not want it to loop. When your countdown timer ends, it's time for your stream to start, so you're going to be moving on to the next scene instead of letting the timer loop again. 

Now, you have your professional-looking countdown timer. You can already start to see, between the 'Starting Soon' scene and the countdown timer, that your stream is looking more professional and polished. 

Just Chatting Scene Overlay

Diving into our 'Just Chatting' scene, it's important to know that this one is going to be a little bit different. This scene is going to have multiple elements that we'll be adding, but for now, we're only going to focus on adding our overlays. 

Select the plus sign icon, then 'Media Source,' and we'll name this 'Chatting.' Now, head back into your files and look for the folder titled 'Overlay Screens.' You should see your 'Just Chatting' overlay here. Select it and press 'Open.' You do want this to be set to loop since it will be a scene that you'll be on for quite a while as you're engaging with your viewers. 

On this overlay, you can see that there are empty boxes. In the middle, you get to choose whether you want to put your gameplay or your camera there. Most of the time, I prefer to put my camera there since this scene is all about connecting with your audience. On the top right, you can also add whatever you would like, whether this be an image of your logo or where you put your gameplay. Mostly, I choose to put my gameplay there. It's nice to have a little bit of motion in that top corner. The larger, rectangular box is going to be for your chat. This can be for your Twitch chat or your YouTube chat, so that your viewers can see what's happening. On the bottom, this is where you'll add your stream labels, which will show your new subscribers, new donations, and new followers. 

Gameplay Scene Overlay

Next, we can move on to the 'Gameplay Scene'. This will, of course, have our game, our camera, and more like our alerts and overlay bar.

We're going to start by adding our overlay bar. This is going to be where you can showcase people's names when they follow or donate; it's also where you can host raids. 

Go over to 'Sources,' select 'Media Source,' and name this 'Overlay Bar.' Then, select 'Okay' and browse your files to find your overlay bar. You're going to want this to loop since you'll likely be on your gameplay scene for a long time, and you don't want the animation to stop. 

As you can see, there are spots for 'New Follower,' 'New Subscriber,' ' New Donation,' and 'Stream Goal.' Right now, this is really big, so you'll want to grab one side and shrink it down. You can hold 'Alt' if you're on a Windows, or 'Option' if you're on a Mac, and this will allow you to crop it. You'll know you're doing it right if the lines change to be dotted green. I like to place this at the top, and I'll leave it at a pretty decent size. Then, press 'Transform' and select 'Center to Screen.' From there, I know where the center is and can just move it up the screen. 

You can really start to see that your stream is coming together and looking more professional at this point. Graphic designers and stream designers spend a lot of time making these overlays look professional and unique. 

You might be wondering why the rest of this scene is still black, but we'll circle back to this later to add in our gameplay. 

Be Right Back Scene

Moving on, head back over to scenes and go to 'Be Right Back.' Then, go back to 'Sources,' select the plus icon, and click 'Media Source.' We'll name this 'BRB' and then browse our files until we find the 'Be Right Back' overlay. We do want this one to loop since it will play if you have to step away. 

With this scene, your audience will know that you're going to be coming back soon, as opposed to having them just stare at an empty screen or an empty chair. 

Offline Scene

Now, head over to your 'Offline' scene. Under 'Sources,' select the plus icon, and click 'Media Source.' We'll name this 'Ending Soon' since we already named the scene 'Offline.' Locate the file for your 'Ending Soon' overlay. You're going to set this one to loop as well. 

This is a scene for you to tell your audience that you're about to end the stream. It gives you a chance to share when you'll be streaming next and to thank your audience for joining your stream. 

Now, we've built out and added all of our overlays. 

Stinger Transitions

Something that we're going to want to do is add a little animation that will happen whenever you switch scenes. This is a small thing that makes a huge difference in the professionalism in your stream. 

Again, if you got the Ultimate Stream Bundle, this is going to be included. If you got a more basic overlay package, it may not be, and you would have to add these things additionally. 

What I want to do now is add 'Scene Transitions' onto the dock at the bottom of the screen. If you don't see this on a Mac, go to 'Docks' in the top-left corner, and then select 'Scene Transitions.' 

Once you have this, press the plus icon and select 'Stinger.' As for the name, I typically like to call it the name of the package and then the word 'Stinger', so for me it's 'Katana Stinger'. 

Head back into your files and locate the folder for your stinger transitions. The only difference with the stinger transitions is that you have to tweak them a little bit. If you got your stinger transitions from Stream Designz, you really only have to input two numbers into this transition point to make it as good as possible. 

To explain that: if you scroll down and hit 'Preview,' you'll see 'A' and 'B' appear on the screen with your transition between them. What you want to see is for the animation to happen before you see B. To achieve this, I'll start by putting '750 ms' into the 'Transition Point'. I do not want to see the 'B' before the transition stops, and currently, I can still see it a little bit. I'll adjust the 'Transition Point' to be '1100 ms' and try again. This is still a bit off, so I'll try '1500 ms'. You really just have to find the sweet spot for the transitions that you have. The sweet spot for me today ended up being '1800 ms.'

What you want to do now is select 'Crossfade' under 'Audio Fade Style.' This just means that when you're switching scenes, it won't make your audio cut out abruptly and will instead transition smoothly. 

Not having stinger transitions doesn't necessarily look bad, but having these takes your stream to the next level. It adds another layer of professionalism to your stream. These are little things that really help engage your viewers. 

Building Out Your Just Chatting Scene

With all of our scenes and stinger transitions added, it's time to begin building them out. We're going to start with the 'Just Chatting' scene. This is where we're going to add in our camera, gameplay, chat, and stream labels. 

The first thing we're going to do is add to our gameplay. I'm going to go ahead and start up my PlayStation since that's where the game I'll be playing is, but I'll also be showing you how to bring in a PC or Mac. I'll split this up into two separate parts.

Adding in Your Gameplay From a PC or Mac

We're going to be starting with how to add in your gameplay if you're on a PC or Mac. 

Start by going to 'Sources', pressing the plus sign icon, and looking for where it says 'Screen Capture.' Let's name this 'Gameplay Screen PC.'

Next, this is going to ask you the method that you want to capture your stream. You'll want to select 'Window Capture.' It will then give you options for which window on your computer you want to use. You'll just need to select this, and then it will be ready to go. 

Before resizing this, I'm going to lock the 'Chatting' source so that it does not accidentally get moved. Then, you'll just grab your gameplay and resize this to fit in the box that you're putting it in. Under 'Sources,' you're going to want to make sure that everything we add in is under 'Chatting.' If the other sources are not, then everything we add will sit on top of the overlays, rather than under them. 

Adding in Your Gameplay From a Console

Now, I'm going to show you how to add your gameplay if you're using a capture card. A capture card is a device that brings your gaming PC video or your console video into OBS Studio. 

Under 'Sources', you'll select 'Video Capture Device.' You'll want to name this the kind of capture card that you have, which, for me, is going to be 'HD60 X.' Then, I'll go to 'Device' and select my capture card. For 'Preset', set this to 'High.' Now, your gameplay from your console should be brought in. 

Before resizing this, I'm going to lock the 'Chatting' source so that it does not accidentally get moved. Then, you'll just grab your gameplay and resize it to fit in the box that you're putting it in. Under 'Sources,' you're going to want to make sure that everything we add in is under 'Chatting.' If the other sources are not, then everything we add will sit on top of the overlays, rather than under them. 

Adding in Your Camera

We're going to pivot scenes into 'Main Camera', the one scene we haven't touched yet. The reason we do this is to make it easier to add our camera to every other scene and to make any tweaks that we might need to. 

Head to 'Sources' and select 'Video Capture Device.' Again, I'm using a capture card to bring my camera into my computer. If you have a webcam, this is going to be plugged directly into your computer and you're still going to use the same settings. We'll name this 'Camera,' and then you'll select your camera under 'Device.'

To adjust your camera, right-click the camera, select 'Transform,' and then press 'Fit to Screen.' 

Now, head back over to your 'Just Chatting' scene and press the plus sign icon under 'Sources.' You'll select 'Scene' and then press 'Main Camera.'

Once this is added in, you'll resize it and make sure that the camera in 'Sources' is below 'Chatting'. 

Adding in Your Chat and Stream Labels

The next things we're going to add are our chat and stream labels. For this and the stream labels, we're going to have to go outside of OBS Studio. To do this, we'll be using StreamElements. This is completely free. You're going to need to log in with whatever platform you'll be streaming to, whether this is Twitch or YouTube. It's a little bit different depending on which site you're using. I'll be selecting Twitch.

If you're streaming on Kick or Rumble, StreamElements does not currently support these, but there is a massive workaround to be able to still add. Check out this video here to learn how to do that, and then come back to this video and continue on. 

Once you're in StreamElements, you'll go to 'Streaming tools,' and then 'Overlays.' Select "New Overlay.' We'll leave this at 1080p and then press 'Start.' Press the plus sign icon, go to 'Static/Custom,' and then select 'Video.' You'll select 'Image' if you have non-animated overlays. 

The easiest way to do this is to bring in our 'Just Chatting' scene so that we can adjust the layout. To do this, select 'Change Video' and upload your 'Just Chatting' overlay from  your files. You'll upload this, select it, and then press 'Submit.' Once it pops up, you'll select 'Scale to Fit.' Then, you'll select 'Auto' and make this as big as possible. 

Head back over to layers and hide this layer for a minute. This is what we're going to do too when we have to bring the chat and alerts into OBS Studio, so that it doesn't bring in the same overlay that we already have. For now, we can unhide this. 

Adding Your Chat

The first thing we're going to do is add our chat. Start by pressing the plus sign icon, select 'Stream Tools,' and then 'Your Stream's Chat.' Now, you'll see your stream chat appear. We simply want to drag this over to the box for the chat.

Now, head into settings and under theme, we'll change this from 'Dark Chat' to 'Custom'. Right now, for the background color, I'm going to select red. This way, you can see your chat better and can align it correctly within the box. Once we have this where we want it to be, select 'Save,' and we'll name this 'Just Chatting (package name)'. 

With the chat in the right spot, go back to 'Background color' and drag the saturation all the way down so that the chat becomes transparent. Now, we'll go to 'Layout' and lock the stream chat in place. 

Adding Your Stream Labels

Next, we're going to add our stream labels. We'll be adding in our 'Latest Cheer,' 'Latest Donation,' and 'Latest Follower.' 

Press the plus sign icon, select 'Labels,' 'Followers,' 'Latest,' and then 'Latest Follower.' This will appear now, but I like to change this to just say the name of the new follower. So, under 'Message,' this just needs to say '(Name).'

I'm going to head into 'Text Settings' and adjust the font size. Though this is personal preference, I've found that '33' is a good sweet spot, but you can take this down to '30' too, since some people have shorter or longer names. I'm going to move the start of the name to be right at the beginning of the box, and then I'll go back to 'Text Settings' and will center this. By doing this, whenever anyone's name appears, it will always be centered. 

You can still adjust the text settings more to fit your preferences and the overlays that you have. 

Now, we'll lock this under 'Layers' so that it doesn't move anywhere accidentally. Then, select the plus sign icon, and we'll go to 'Latest Subscriber.' Again, I'll change the text to only show the name, but you can leave it as is if you want. 

Since the name on this one is longer, I'm going to leave the font set to '24'. Then, I'll make sure that the text is centered in 'Text Settings.' You'll also want to make sure that this is in bold. With this in place, you can lock this layer as well. 

Lastly, press the press sign icon again, go to 'Labels,' and add 'Latest Cheer.' We'll follow the exact same steps again. For the text, I'll change this to only say '(name) - (amount).' You'll make sure this is centered and in bold. 

If you don't have anyone who has recently cheered, followed, or subscribed, this is going to just be an empty box. However, you can still move the box and put it in place. Then, when someone does follow, donate, or subscribe, their name will pop up there. 

For the font, you can adjust it to your liking. I'm going to change the font for all of mine to '24' so that they match and the names all fit in the boxes. Once I'm done with this, I'm going to make sure that all of the different layers are locked. 

With our chat and stream labels added, these will automatically be added every time someone comments in the chat, follows, donates, or subscribes. 

If you selected YouTube in the beginning, the setup for this is going to be the same, but you'll have different options to go in the boxes based on the options that YouTube has available. 

Now, we can hit save. Head back over to 'Layers,' select the 'Video,' and hide this. This is going to be the overlay. You can even go ahead and delete this layer. 

Press 'Save,' select the paperclip icon, and then head back over to OBS. Select the plus sign icon under 'Sources,' and select 'Browser Source.' We'll name this 'Chat + Stream Labels.' Making sure that this is the right size is going to be important. The width should be '1920,' and the height should be '1080.' Under URL, you'll paste the link that we just copied from StreamElements. This is going to add your chat and stream labels. 

You won't see anything in your chat right now, but once you go live or if you type a test into your Twitch chat, it will appear. 

Now, we'll lock this layer. An important thing to note is that we want this to be above 'Chatting' under 'Sources.' If you put it below, the names will disappear behind the overlay.

A little bit later, we'll come back to this scene to add in our alerts, but we'll get to that in another section. 

Building Out Your Gameplay Scene

Now we're moving into setting up our gameplay scene. This is probably where you'll be spending the majority of your time. 

Head to 'Sources' and press the plus sign icon. What you select next depends again on how you're adding in your gameplay. If your gameplay is coming from the same computer, you'll select 'Screen Capture'. If you're using a capture card, you'll select 'Video Capture Device.' Since we've already added our gameplay in the 'Just Chatting' scene, all we have to do is add it to this scene. 

I'm going to select 'Video Capture Device,' then I'll click 'Add Existing,' and I'll select my capture card. This is going to easily add my gameplay in. 

Under 'Sources,' we're going to want our 'Overlay Bar' to be above our gameplay. I'm going to select and grab my overlay bar, bringing it as high up as I can. I'm going to right-click on the gameplay, select 'Transform,' and then press 'Fit to Stream.' I'll lock the gameplay so that it doesn't move. Now, we have our gameplay and our overlay bar. 

Adding Stream Labels to Your Overlay Bar

The next thing we want to do is add stream labels to our overlay bar. There are spots for 'New Follower,' 'New Characters,' 'New Donations,' and 'New Stream Goal.' 

To do this, we're going to go back to StreamElements. Head back to the main page and create a new overlay. We'll leave this at '1080p'. 

Press the plus sign icon and select 'Static/Custom,' 'Add Video,' and add your overlay bar. If you're not seeing your overlay bar come up, make sure you're using Google Chrome, as sometimes StreamElements can have trouble with other browsers. 

Once your overlay bar is added in, you'll go to 'Video Size' and set this to 'Auto.' For the overlay bar, we are going to bring this directly into OBS, unlike what we did on the 'Just Chatting' scene, so that it is easier to resize all of the elements. 

Under 'Layers', be sure to lock the 'Video,' then we'll follow the same process as before to add in all of the stream labels. 

Press the plus sign icon, select 'Labels,' and choose the 'Latest Follower' option. I am again going to change the text to only show the name. I will also again drag the textbox all the way to the edge and then center the text so that all of the names will be centered. You'll do the same thing for the 'Latest Subscriber' and 'Latest Donation.' 

The 'Stream Goal' is going to be optional. If you want to add something here, you'll press the plus sign icon, and you can go through the different options available to see what you want the goal for the stream to be. You could set a donation goal or a follower goal.

For example: to add a 'Subscriber Goal,' go to 'Labels' and select 'Subscriber Goal.' You can also choose the design type (I typically choose 'Simple Design). For this, I do want to leave the text so that my viewers know what the goal is. In the text settings, however, you can change the goal amount to whatever you want to set it at. 

Now, press 'Save,' and we'll name this '(Overlay Package Name) Overlay Bar.' Then, click on the paperclip icon and head back over to OBS Studio. 

In OBS, under 'Sources,' you'll delete the overlay bar that we added earlier. Then, press the plus sign icon, select 'Browser,' and we'll name this 'Overlay Bar + Label'. Now, paste the link that we just copied from StreamElements. Make sure that the 'Width' is '1920' and that the 'Height' is '1080.'

If you're on a Windows, hold the 'Alt' key, and if you're on a Mac, hold 'Option' to drag the borders of the overlay closer to the bar itself. Then, you can move this to where you need it to be. The reason we did this in StreamElements is that when we resize this now, the labels will automatically resize as well. 

I moved my overlay bar to the top of the screen, but you can put it wherever you prefer. I leave it at the top so that if I'm using a tool like Powder AI to clip my stream, I don't like to block the bottom, as this is where a lot of the action is. 

Adding Your Camera to the Gameplay Scene

Now, we need to add our camera into the Gameplay scene. To do this, press the plus sign icon, select 'Scene,' and we'll select 'Main Camera.' That's all we need to do to add in our camera. 

Don't size this down too much, so that we can add in the webcam overlay on top of it. Press the plus sign icon and select 'Media Source.' If you have non-animated overlays, you'll select 'Image' instead. I'm going to name this 'Webcam Overlay.' Now, we'll browse our files to find our webcam overlay. 

There are a few different options for webcam overlays. There's one with a border, one without a border, or one with stream labels. You can go through each of these one by one to see which one you want to use. I'm going to be using the one without the border. 

Once you've selected the one you want to use, resize it to fit your camera. 

With this in place, go to 'Sources' and make sure that the 'Webcam Overlay' is above 'Main Camera.' Click on the 'Webcam Overlay.' Then, click on the 'Main Camera'. If you're on a Mac, hit 'Command,' and if you're on a Windows, hit 'Control.' Right-click this and press 'Group Selected Items.' Lock the camera, then you can resize this, and everything will stay in the right place. 

You can decide where you want to put your camera based on what game you're playing and where you want it to be. You can also use the arrow/directional buttons on the keyboard to move this around to get it into the perfect spot. 

Setting Up Your Alerts

The next thing we want to do is set up our alerts to add these into the 'Just Chatting' and 'Gameplay' scenes. The good thing about this is that you only have to do it once, and then it will pop up every time someone follows or subscribes. 

To do this, we're going to need to use StreamElements again. Similar to the stream labels, if you are using Kick or Rumble, you're not going to be able to use StreamElements. Create a 'New Overlay' and then press the plus sign icon. Go to 'Alerts' and select 'Alert Box.'

This is going to look a little bit different again if you're using YouTube instead of Twitch. The biggest difference is that a donation on Twitch is a 'Cheer' and on YouTube, this is a 'Super Chat.' If you got your overlays from Stream Designz, you're going to have overlays for both YouTube and Twitch. 

The ones that I like to use are 'Follower Alert,' 'Subscriber Alert,' 'Cheer Alert,' and 'Raid Alert.' I don't like to use the 'Tip Alert' or the 'Purchase Alert.'

Go ahead and hit 'Save'. It's good to do this every so often, just because you never know what's going to happen, and it's always good to keep everything saved. We'll name this '(Overlay Package Name) - Alerts.' 

We'll start with the 'Follower Alert.' The process is going to be the same for every single one, so I'm going to walk you through a few of them, and then you'll use the same process for the rest. 

Click the gear icon next to 'Follower Alert' and select 'Change Video.' Go to 'Upload' and then locate your overlay package, then find the 'New Follower' alert. Once you find this, select it and press 'Submit.' 

What I like to do now is to clear the sound. Most of the time, I won't use sound, but if I do, I prefer to use Epidemic Sound, which offers safe, royalty-free music and sound effects. You can use sounds if you want to, but it isn't necessary. I prefer not to use this so that it doesn't interrupt any other audio on the stream. 

Next, I'm going to come to the bottom and press "Emulate.' This is going to show you what the alert looks like right out of the gate. 

As you can see, the text is not where it needs to be. However, we can easily adjust this to get it into place. 

The first thing I'll change is the 'Alert Duration.' I'll change this to be '6' seconds. Then, I'll adjust the text since it is a little bit long. I'll change this to say '(name) followed.' This will really help whenever you have people with longer names. 

To get the text into the box, we're going to go to 'Text Settings,' and then into 'Advanced.' The first setting we'll adjust is the 'Top Margin.' The number that you use is going to change based on the package that you have. I always start with '-150', and then I adjust it from there. To check if this is in place or not, select 'Emulate.' I needed to adjust mine again, and the sweet spot for me ended up being '-173.'

You'll also want to change the text color to match the theme of your overlay package. I'm going to change mine from white to red since I'm using a black and red overlay package. 

Something else we need to look at is whether the name is appearing before the animation. To fix this, we need to add a delay. Go to 'Animation' settings, and we'll start with a '0.6' second delay. Emulate the alert again and see how it looks; adjust accordingly. I ended up having to '0.8' seconds. 

Once we have the numbers for the 'Text Delay' and the 'Top Margin,' we can use these same numbers for every other alert. 

To adjust the next alert, we'll go back to 'Settings' and press the gear icon next to 'Subscriber Alert.' The 'Subscriber Alert' is the only one that's going to be different because there are variations in how long people subscribe for. 

Select 'Change Video' and locate the 'Subscriber Alert' in your files. Add this in and then follow the same process as before. Be sure to take away the sound or change this to whatever sound you may be using. Set the 'Alert Duration' to '6' seconds, adjust the 'Top Margin' and the 'Text Delay' to the number you figured out worked earlier, and adjust the font color. Now, if we emulate this, it will be in the right spot. 

This is where the difference comes in. If you go to where it says 'Variation Settings,' you'll see the options to have the 'Resubscriber,' 'Subscriber Gift,' and the 'Community Gift' alerts. If you play one of these alerts, it will not be the alert from your overlay package, and it will have the sound effect. I don't use the 'Community Gift' alert, so I can toggle this off. Then, I'll adjust the settings for the other two the same way I've adjusted the other alerts. 

For the 'Resubscriber' alert, I'll be shortening the text to say '(name) just resub for (amount) months.' Since there is more text, I'll be adjusting the font size to '20.' This is going to make the alert sit a little bit too high, so I need to adjust the 'Top Margin.' I'm going to lower this to '-170.' I'll hit 'Save' before moving on. 

For the 'Subscriber Gift' alert, you'll select the 'Gifted Sub' alert. I'm going to upload this and change the text to say '(sender) gifted (name) a sub.' Then, I'll adjust the rest of the settings the same way I did for the 'Resubscriber Alert.'

Now, you'll follow the same process to complete the 'Cheer Alert' and the 'Raid Alert.'

Once you have all of these finished, save everything and then select the paperclip icon. We'll head back over to OBS Studio and go to the 'Gameplay' scene. Press the plus icon under 'Sources,' select 'Browser,' and then we'll name this 'Alerts.' Press 'Okay,' and then paste in the link that we just copied from StreamElements. Adjust the 'Width' to be '1920' and the 'Height' to be '1080.'

After adding in the browser source, you're not going to see anything right away. To be able to test this, head back over to StreamElements, select emulate a few times, and then you'll be able to go back over to OBS and see the alerts. Now, press 'Alt' or 'Option,' depending on the kind of computer you're on, and resize this to have more control over where you can put your alert. Then, place this wherever you want it to be based on the game that you're playing. 

We now want to add these alerts to our 'Just Chatting' scene. Press the plus sign icon, select 'Browser' and choose 'Alerts' under the existing browser sources. You'll emulate this in StreamElements again and get this resized where it needs to be. Since we're on 'Just Chatting,' I'm going to leave this a bit bigger ,and I'll put it in the middle at the bottom of my camera box.

Finishing Up

Now, we should have everything we need set up to have a fully professional stream that is ready to go live. 

One more thing that's really important is making sure that you are using the best possible settings in OBS so that your audience is getting a clear and good picture. The last thing you want is to have spent all this time making your stream look professional, just to have the wrong settings, making your stream laggy and choppy. Go ahead and watch this video here to learn all the best settings to use for OBS Studio, no matter which platform you stream on.