OBS Animated Lower Thirds Alternatives
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It's worth noting that people commonly use built-in OBS animated lower thirds for the job, but you can also use other editing tools to create custom animations and import them in your OBS Livestream.
This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about OBS animated lower thirds and their best alternatives you can use in 2022 and beyond.
Part 1 What is Lower Thirds in Animation?
To put it in simple words, a lower third is simply a graphic overlay that appears on top of the actual footage. As the name implies, the contents of the lower third usually occur at the lower end of the screen, but streamers can also configure the OBS settings to change their position within the screen. Ideally, lower third animations are utilized to give a context of the overall video.
Let's say you are life streaming your GTA V gameplay on YouTube. So, to help first-time viewers get the overall context, you can add GTA-related elements in the lower third animation and maximize viewer acquisition. In addition to this, you can also use OBS animated lower-thirds to display exclusive offers and discounts throughout the live stream.
Part 2 How To Set Up An Animated Lower Third In OBS Studio
So, now that you know the major benefits of using animated lower thirds in OBS studio, let's understand how to set them up to make your live streams more engaging. It's worth noting that OBS works around the concept of layers that you can manage individually to run your live streams. So, to add an animated lower third in OBS studio, all you have to do is add a dedicated layer and place it right above the video layer.
When it comes to setting up the lower-third, you'll first need to create the graphics you want to display on top of the live streams. You can use Photoshop to design a custom lower-third animation if you are a professional designer. But, if you have just stepped into the world of live streams and don't have any prior experience with Photoshop, you can also purchase one of the ready-to-use lower-third packages and import them directly to OBS.
Either way, it would be crucial to ensure that your OBS animated lower-third graphics do not interfere with the actual video. Why? Because this will make the video look more cluttered, and you'll end up losing potential viewers.
Here's a YouTube video that'll walk you through the step-by-step procedure of creating lower-third animations in OBS Studio.
Part 3 8 AMAZING OBS Animated Lower Thirds Alternatives
While OBS is a great tool to add lower-third animations to your live streams, it has its fair share of drawbacks. For instance, OBS has a pretty complicated interface, which means if you are an absolute beginner, you may not easily set up your live streams. Not to mention, OBS is heavy software - so if you don't have a high-configuration system, you won't be able to run the tool at all.
So, what's your next best option? Fortunately, there are several OBS alternatives that you can use to set up OBS animated lower-third graphics and enhance the overall quality of your live streams. To make your job easier, we have cherry-picked 8 of the most reliable OBS alternatives that you can use to add lower-third animations to a Livestream video.
01Wirecast
Like OBS, Wirecast is a popular video streaming platform that many content creators use to live stream on their social media handles. It also offers a layer-based architecture, which means users can add multiple layers separately and manage them through an easy-to-navigate panel.
One of the key reasons Wirecast is an ideal choice to add animated lower-third graphics to your live streams is its built-in collections. The tool already has several ready-to-integrate lower-third animations that one could import into their project without any hassle.
Pros:
● Built-in lower-third graphic templates
● Easy-to-use Interface
● Switch between multiple camera angles with one click
Cons:
● Unlike OBS Studio, Wirecast isn't available for free
Why Do We Recommend Wirecast?
Wirecast is a fully functional video streaming platform where you can easily manage all your live streams. Wirecast offers far better functionality than OBS Studio despite having a relatively easy-to-use UI.
02vMix
vMix is a feature-rich video production software that offers everything one would need to create stunning videos. However, it also has a dedicated live stream manager to manage your live streams, switch between multiple camera angles, and add overlay animations to keep the viewers engaged. Unlike OBS Studio, vMix doesn't have a layering system, which means you can overlay multiple channels easily.
As far as OBS animated lower-thirds are concerned, there are different ways you can add these animations to your live streams. You can either import dedicated PSD files, embed HTML codes, or choose one of the ready-to-use lower-third templates to do the job. In either case, vMix will help you add stunning lower-third animations within a few minutes.
Pros:
● Full-scale video production software
● Built-in support for audio mixing
● Add and Manage Multiple Camera Inputs
Cons:
● If you want to relish all the benefits of vMix, you would have to purchase its pro version, which costs $1200. As compared to other available options, vMix is significantly expensive.
Why Do We Recommend vMix?
vMix is ideal for users who want to upgrade from OBS and can spend $1200 on a live stream manager. It'll provide everything you need to live stream across different social media platforms.
03Restream Studio
Restream Studio is a browser-based live stream tool that offers an easy-to-navigate panel to manage your live streams. Restream is ideal for beginners who don't want to spend a hefty amount on their live streaming software. With restream, you can upload your brand logos, graphic overlays, and text details and save them in the "Favorites" tab for future use.
This way, whenever you are live streaming, you can directly choose one of these overlays and switch between them easily. The tool also has a dedicated "Hide/Show" button that'll allow you to change the display status of the lower-third animations.
Pros:
● Cross-platform Compatibility
● Ideal for Beginners and Novice YouTubers
● Save Multiple Graphic Overlays for Future Use
Cons:
● You won't get any advanced functionality like Wirecast or OBS Studio
Why Do We Recommend Restream Studio?
Restream Studio is the perfect solution for users who don't want to get overwhelmed with the complex features of OBS Studio. With its browser-friendly UI, you'll be able to run Restream Studio across different platforms and add OBS animated lower-third graphics to your live streams easily.
04Lightstream
Lightstream is another free live stream manager that offers many features to execute hassle-free live streams across different platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch. Even though the tool doesn't provide advanced features like OBS Studio or Wirecast, it has everything you require to stream live on your social media handles. One of the key features of Lightstream is that you can add multiple scenes/overlays and switch between them with a single click.
Pros:
● Being open-source, Lightstream is available for free
● Lightstream is a cloud-based tool, which means it offers cross-platform compatibility
● Easy to set up, even if you are a beginner
Cons:
● Lacks advanced editing features
Why Do We Recommend Lightstream?
Lightstream is the most reliable live stream manager for users looking for a simple and cross-platform tool to manage live streams and add overlays.
05Adobe Photoshop
Before you act surprised, let us clarify that Adobe Photoshop isn't an alternative to OBS Studio. However, you can use it to create customized overlays and lower-third graphics to add a personal touch to your live streams. Suppose you are already familiar with Photoshop and have been using it for a few years. In that case, it'll allow you to design personalized text overlays, graphics, animations, and logos for your live streams.
And, once you have successfully designed the lower-third overlays, you can use any of the live stream managers to add them to your live streams.
Pros:
● Design custom overlays for your social media live streams
● Offers advanced editing options to customize logos and lower-third graphics
Cons:
● Photoshop has a steep learning curve, and if you are not an experienced designer, you won't be able to design custom overlays
Why Do We Recommend Adobe Photoshop?
Adobe Photoshop is a reliable choice for creators who find the built-in media libraries of a live stream manager limited. With Photoshop, you'll be able to design custom overlays for your live streams.
06ShareX
ShareX is also an open-source screen recorder and lives stream manager that offers all the OBS features you'll need to manage your live streams and add multiple lower-third overlays. The only downside of ShareX is that it has a complicated user interface. Even if you have used OBS in the past, you'll find ShareX's user interface relatively complex. So, you should only sign up for ShareX if you are comfortable with complex user interfaces.
Pros:
● Upload and save pictures, videos, logos for lower-third overlays
● Record your entire screen or a specific window
● Assign hotkeys to switch between multiple windows during the Livestream
Cons:
● The user interface isn't as friendly as other available options
Why Do We Recommend ShareX?
ShareX is an ideal OBS animated lower-third alternative for users who need a free-of-cost solution to manage their live streams.
07Canva
Again, Canva doesn't support live stream management at all. However, like Adobe Photoshop, you can use Canva to create stunning lower-third overlays for your Livestream sessions. The major benefit of using Canva is that it has thousands of pre-made templates that you can import to your design with one click. All these templates are fully customizable - so you'll be able to design custom lower-third overlays for your live streams.
Pros:
● Comparatively less complicated than Adobe Photoshop
● Canva is affordable
● Being a web-based designing tool, you can access Canva on any device
Cons:
● The premium version of Canva is relatively expensive than its competitors.
Why Do We Recommend Canva?
Canva is a one-stop solution for content creators looking for an additional designing tool to create custom OBS animated lower thirds for their live streams.
Key Takeaways from This Episode
● OBS animated lower-thirds are one of the most effective ways to share the context of a live stream with your viewers
● With OBS Studio, you have the liberty to import custom animated lower-third animations and overlays and add them to the live stream through its layered architecture
● Apart from OBS Studio, there are several other tools (such as Wondershare Filmora Pro) to add animated lower-thirds to live streams.
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