Easy steps to countdown success.
Countdown timers are a fantastic addition to any live streaming setup, helping to build anticipation, set the tone, or indicate the start of an event. If you're preparing for a podcast, gaming stream, or webinar, adding a professional OBS countdown timer is surprisingly simple. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the easy steps to create and customize a countdown timer in OBS, ensuring your live streaming sessions are engaging and polished. Let’s dive in and get your audience hyped up before you go live!
Suppose you’ve already downloaded and installed OBS on your PC. In that case, you’ll see a standardized default interface providing a consistent starting point for all users (the interface can vary significantly based on user settings and configurations):
Click the ‘+’ button in Sources.
When you click the plus button in the Sources section, a menu opens that allows you to add various sources to your scene. Select Text (GDI+).
Provide a name and click OK. In this tutorial, we’ve used the name Timer.
You can choose the font, size, color, and style of the timer text, allowing personalized aesthetics that match your stream's theme. You can also adjust background colors or add gradients, which can help make the timer stand out against your stream’s visuals. After customizing various aspects of the OBS countdown timer, click OK.
Select Tools from the menu bar and then Scripts from the dropdown menu.
Click the ‘+’ button.
The action of clicking the plus button opens a file dialog where you can select a Lua script file from your computer. Lua files are scripts written in the Lua programming language that extend the functionality of OBS by automating tasks or adding new features. Select the countdown file and click Open.
After the countdown file is added, you can set the Duration and Final Text (you can specify what text appears once the timer reaches zero, which is useful for signaling the start of an event or transition). Click the dropdown button in the Text Source, and select Timer (we named it in Step 4). Click Close at the bottom.
Your OBS countdown timer is now ready! It will appear in the Preview Window.
After starting the OBS virtual camera, sign in to Yostream. You’ll see the following Dashboard.
Click the Live Stream Studio box.
Select the OBS Virtual Camera from the drop-down menu under the Camera option.
After clicking Join Room, you’ll find the timer on your canvas. However, you’ll see it is appearing backward.
The OBS timer may display in reverse due to an incorrect configuration of the countdown settings or the way the text source is set up. To fix this issue, right-click the Timer under the Sources of OBS.
Click Transform and then Flip Horizontal.
You can now see the timer is showing up in reverse in the Preview Window.
The issue of the OBS timer displaying in reverse has been resolved, and it is now functioning correctly. This fixture ensures that the timer displays as intended during live broadcasts.
