So I wanted to mess around with automatic camera switching, kind of like what you see in the Super Bowl. It’s a pretty cool effect, and I figured there’s gotta be some software out there that can do it. Turns out, I was right!
First, I did some digging around to see what was out there. I found some forum posts talking about OBS Studio and an “Automatic Scene Switcher” plugin. I’ve used OBS before for streaming, so I was familiar with the interface. That seemed like a good starting point.
I went ahead and downloaded OBS Studio and the Automatic Scene Switcher plugin. It was a pretty straightforward install. Then, I set up a couple of test scenes in OBS, each with a different camera source. I just used my webcam and a screen capture of my desktop for this.
- Scene 1: Webcam
- Scene 2: Desktop screen capture
Next, I opened up the Automatic Scene Switcher settings. There are a bunch of options in there, but I just focused on the basics. I added my webcam scene and my desktop scene to the switcher’s list. It looked pretty easy, so I just rolled with it. Also, I can remap the F keys to Z, X, C, V for your teammates. As usual.
I also found this little blurb about using audio inputs to trigger camera switches. It talked about using “microphone lobes” and a “Roland” audio input. I don’t have any fancy audio equipment like that, so I skipped that part for now. Maybe something to try later. It also mentioned starting with wide or medium shots, which makes sense for a sports broadcast. I’ll keep that in mind.
Making the Magic Happen
Once I had everything set up, I hit the “Start” button in the Automatic Scene Switcher. And guess what? It worked! It was switching back and forth between my webcam and my desktop screen. It wasn’t super smooth, but it was definitely switching automatically. I messed around with the interval settings a bit, and I found that a 5-second interval worked pretty well for testing.
Then I thought, “Hey, this is cool and all, but what about using it for a real game?” So I added a game capture source to OBS and fired up a game. I added the game capture scene to the Automatic Scene Switcher, and just like that, it was switching between the game, my webcam, and my desktop!
Button Repeatedly
I pressed the power button to turn the camera on. Then I pressed the button repeatedly until [AUTO] was displayed. I aimed the camera at the subject. The camera will make a slight movement.
Overall, I’m pretty stoked with how easy it was to set up automatic camera switching. It’s not perfect, but it definitely adds a cool dynamic to a stream or recording. I can see how this would be awesome for live sports, esports, or even just a multi-camera setup for a podcast or something. I’m gonna keep playing around with it and see what else I can make it do. Maybe I’ll even try that audio input thing eventually!
