Gareth Reynolds, Author at XSplit Blog

Awesome Updates in XSplit 3.9

An update for XSplit Broadcaster 3.9 is now available and it brings a whole host of new features that have been long requested by the community. From finer color correction controls using LUTs, to the ability to override the transition for a specific scene. In this post, I’m going to go over what I feel are the coolest new features we’ve added in this update and what you can expect going forward.

You can update to this version in-app or download it from the Broadcaster page.

LUT Support & Filters

Color look-up-tables (LUTs) allow you to recolor a source using an image representation of the spectrum of colors. It essentially remaps the colors from the LUT to your source. Quite a complicated way of saying they recolor your images. They look like the image below and we’ve included some examples to help you get started using them quicker. There’s a full guide here if you want to create your own.

In addition to LUTs, we’ve also added some filter effects you can use that will allow you to do things like make your camera look like an old movie. You can access LUTs and Filters via the source properties window in the effects tab.

Stream Dashboard

When you’re streaming, you want to be able to see all of the information that’s important to you. That’s why we created the Stream Dashboard extension. It works with the four main streaming services, so that’s Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, and Mixer. It will show your chat, stream stats and then all the events you receive whilst streaming such as followers, subscribers, likes, etc. This is all inside a singular extension that you can drag and move around. There are a few improvements we’d like to make in terms of the flexibility in size each of the panels can be but this already simplifies a lot of things without needing to have a bunch of browser tabs open.

OBS Scene Importer

We understand that setting up your scenes and getting it to look great can take considerable time and effort. You may already have your dream setup in OBS but would like to explore what other options are available. That’s why we made the OBS Scene Importer extension. It allows you to take what you’ve already created and import it into XSplit Broadcaster so you can get started quicker. We’ve aimed to cover as many sources and properties as possible to make this a seamless experience. All it requires is for you to export your scene collection from OBS and then import using the OBS Scene Importer extension. From there we do all the hard work of importing your hard work.

Per Scene Recording

For the longest time users have asked for the ability to record something different from what is being streamed and we’ve finally made that possible with per scene recording. Now, you can specify which scene gets recorded. Whether that’s the live/active scene or one of your choosing. This is useful if you want footage without overlays or other elements. Combined with our automatic application audio track, you can record your game with only the game audio whilst streaming at the same time.

Transition Override

Sometimes you want a scene to have its own transition. A common use for this might be a replay scene which when you switch to it, will play a replay. Now you can make that scene use its own transition like a 3D animated replay stinger. Whilst you could do this before by manually switching/changing the transition, it would require thought and effort. Now it’s just a set and forget which will hopefully make producing shows that much easier.

The best thing is, these aren’t the only features we’ve added in the latest patch. We’ve made a ton of improvements across the board and will continue to do so. We know we still have areas we need to work on, audio is one of them but we think we’ve made good strides with the Audio Mixer extension. Next up is the ability to use DSP effects such as compression and equalization with the next major update. Of course, there are smaller things we can do to improve too like showing audio meters for individual sources and more.

So, those are the key highlights of the recent patch and what we are looking to do over the next short while. We’ll continue to push regular updates to the Public Test Release (PTR) as and when they become available to allow you to get hands-on features before we release them to the open public. If you want to reach out to me or any of the XSplit team, you can join our Discord and message us there. Additionally, you can post on our community forum or hit me up on Twitter.

Let us know your thoughts about this XSplit 3.9 update in the comments section below.

Speeding up the PTR Train

The XSplit Broadcaster Public Test Release or as it’s better known the PTR, is a place where we’re able to release new features before undergoing rigorous testing. This means that you, the user, gets to use brand new features before they make it into the main release. The way it works is we work on the new features and updates for the next update, we then go through some pretty extensive quality assurance (QA) and when the main features are ready to go, we make an update to PTR and allow you to test it out and give us feedback.

Going through such deep QA means there’s usually a considerable delay before we get to put new features into your hands which can make it feel like not much is going on when it comes to development. That’s very far from the truth though as we’re working very hard on Broadcaster every day, aiming to make it the best possible tool for broadcasting and recording. We even introduced the feature vote page to allow the community to voice the features they would like to see next. I look at the feature vote page every day to approve ideas and comments and rest assured, all of the popular items marked as planned are either in active development or have been fleshed out and ready to work on.

To make it more clear that work is going on, we’ll be changing up our PTR schedule. We will now be releasing a new build every week on Wednesday regardless so you get a chance to see the app as it progresses. All information regarding the releases will be posted in the #ptr-announcements channel on our Discord which you should totally check out by the way. Whilst there may not always be a new feature with these weekly releases, it’ll contain bug fixes and anything else that is being worked on which means if you do have a piece of feedback, it’ll be much quicker to see the results.

With this approach, we hope to change our process a little bit internally to have more confidence in pushing new things without copious amounts of QA and testing with the knowledge that if need be, we can patch it with an update. In a similar way, we would also eventually like to take the same avenue with the public release in a way that doesn’t require a full app download every time. We just want to make the process as streamlined as possible and get updates into your hands faster and the weekly releases for PTR is a way to do just that.

Remember, if you have ideas for XSplit Broadcaster you can suggest them on our feature vote page. If you wish to reach out to me, other staff members or just the XSplit community in general, you can join our Discord and reach us there. If you’re having any issues with the PTR or even the public release, don’t hesitate to contact our 24/7 support.

엑스플릿 브로드캐스터 3.9 지금 다운로드 하세요

엑스플릿 브로드캐스터의 메이저 업데이트 소식을 오랜만에 전달해드립니다. 지금 엑스플릿 브로드캐스터 3.9 버전을 바로 다운로드 받으셔서 사용하실 수 있습니다. 여러가지 새로운 기능들이 추가되었고 다양한 최적화 작업을 거치면서 성능이 상향되었습니다. 이번 업데이트의 중점은 소스 묶음 (그룹핑), 오디오 믹서, 장면 프리셋 등이 있습니다. 이 외에도 다양한 버그픽스를 통해 조금더 안정화된 방송 프로그램이 되도록 노력하고 있습니다.

오디오 믹서 확장 프로그램은 오래전부터 고려해왔던 기능이지만 개발진의 작업 우선순위에서는 약간 멀리 지정되어 있었습니다. 이전에도 언급한 바 있지만 오디오 관련 부분들을 조금더 섬세하고 사용하기 쉽게 발전되는 엑스플릿 브로드캐스터가 되고자 합니다. 3.9 버전에서는 오디오 믹서 확장 프로그램을 설치하시면 조금더 간편한 오디오 조절을 하실 수 있을것입니다. 활성화 되어있는 모든 오디오 장치들의 데시벨 비교를 통해서 조금더 섬세한 오디오 조절로 시청자들에게 가장 알맞은 음질의 방송이 가능하게 되었습니다. 추후에는 조금 더 세분화되고 누구나 사용하기 편한 인터페이스를 구축하도록 준비중입니다.

소스 묶음 (그룹핑) 역시 많은 엑스플릿 사용자분들이 제안하신 의견중 하나입니다. 따로 소스를 추가하지만 거의 항상 사용하는 소스들과 같은 분류의 소스들을 묶어서 소스의 위치 이동 및 크기 조절을 한번에 하실 수 있거나 다른 장면에 복사 후 붙여넣기 하기 편리하게 업데이트 되었습니다. 한가지 예를 들면 웹캠 소스와 웹캠 주변의 이미지 파일들의 화면 구성이 다른 장면에서도 동일하게 적용하시려면 새로 소스들을 추가하지않고 한번에 묶어둔 소스를 복사하여 붙여넣기 하시면 편리합니다.

이전 3.8 버전에서는 인게임 오버레이 (HUD) 기능을 추가하였습니다. 이번 버전에서는 필요시에 활성화 할 수 있고 사용하지 않으시면 아예 비활성화 하실수 도 있습니다. 그리고 새로운 오버레이 위젯을 추가하여서 팔로워 및 후원자 기록을 게임내 화면에서도 실시간으로 확인하실 수 있어서 알트탭 또는 다른 화면으로 전환하지 않아도 편리하게 시청자들과 소통할 수 있게 되었습니다. 현재 트위치, 페이스북, 유튜브 송출을 지원하고 있습니다. 원컴, 원모니터 방송 환경의 사용자분들에게 편리한 기능이 되리라 믿습니다. 오버레이에 대한 의견은 항시 피드백을 받고 있으니 언제든지 엑스플릿 디스코드로 오셔서 알려주시기 바랍니다.

장면 프리셋이란 한 장면에서 동일한 소스들을 가지고 또다른 구성의 장면을 표현하시려면, 새로운 장면을 추가하기 부담스러우실때 한 장면에서 최대 3가지의 다른 구성을 설정하실 수 있는 기능입니다. 예를 들어 현재 장면의 기본 구성은 전체화면의 게임, 구석에 작은 웹캠 화면, 그리고 반대편 구석에 채팅창 을 설정 해 주셨다면. 같은 장면의 2번 프리셋에는 조금 더 크기가 커진 캠 화면과 채팅창, 그리고 작은 화면의 게임 캡쳐 화면을 설정하므로써 휴식 시간이나 시청자들과의 소통시 조금더 방송인에게 몰입감을 줄 수 있도록 하는 구성입니다. 이전에 경우엔 다른 장면을 새로 만들어 새롭게 화면 구성을 하였지만 장면 프리셋을 사용하여 같은 장면에서 여러 연출이 가능하며 프리셋이 바뀔때마다 트랜지션 효과 역시 부여할 수 있어서 다이나믹하고 끊김없는 연출이 가능합니다. 개인 방송이 아닌 행사 및 이스포츠 방송에서도 이와 같은 연출로 더욱 멋있는 콘텐츠 제작이 가능합니다.

매번 업데이트가 되면서 엑스플릿 자체의 매크로 확장 프로그램도 이에 따른 영향을 받게 됩니다. 이전 기능들과 새로운 기능들의 궁합을 끈김 없이 활용할 수 있도록 더욱 섬세한 매크로 콘트롤이 가능합니다. 예를들어 장면 전환 후 특정 소스 보이기 및 숨기기, 그 후 몇초의 대기시간을 걸쳐 미리 설정해둔 동영상을 재생한다거나 리플레이를 잠깐 보고 원래 화면으로 돌아오는 연출과 비슷하도록, 기존의 장면으로 다시 돌아오는 순서를 하나의 단축키 버튼으로 설정할 수 있습니다. 매크로는 약간 고급 사용자정도의 습득력이 있으신 분들이 사용하시면 더욱 편리한 방송 환경에서 재미난 연출을 무수히 연구하고 구성하실 수 있습니다. 매크로에 관련된 자료를 참고하시려면 여기에서 확인하시기 바랍니다.

엑스플릿 브로드캐스터 3.9 버전에서 모든 분들을 만족해드리기는 어려웠지만 최근들어 사용자 피드백에 조금 더 신경쓰게 된 덕분에 여러분들의 많은 의견을 반영하도록 최대한 노력하고 있습니다. 추후에는 타 방송 프로그램의 설정과 구성을 모두 엑스플릿으로 Import 할 수 있는 기능도 만들 예정입니다. 여러 방송 프로그램을 상황에 맞추어 사용하시는 콘텐츠 제작자들과 PD 분들이 늘어나는 추세여서 이러한 분들에게 도움이 되리라 예상합니다. 궁극적으로는 다양한 통계와 방송 기록 관리를 위한 대시보드를 제작하여 처음 방송을 하시는분들과 베테랑 방송인들이 모두 편리한 환경에서 방송하고 통계를 비롯하여 많은 자가 홍보 활동에 도움이 되도록 할 예정입니다.

엑스플릿 개발진과 커뮤니티 운영자분들과 실시간으로 소통하시려면, 저희 공식 디스코드는 언제나 열려있습니다. 그리고 SNS 로 소통하실분들은 페이스북이나 트위터로 연락해주시면 빠른시일내에 답변드릴수 있도록 하겠습니다. 감사합니다!

The Awesome XSplit Broadcaster 3.9 is Here

It’s been a while since our last major update but I’m excited to announce that XSplit Broadcaster 3.9 is now available. It includes a bunch of new features and some quality of life improvements that will hopefully make your life as a content creator easier. The more notable features include source grouping, audio mixer, gamepad visualizer, and the dark horse, scene presets. Excitingly, these aren’t the only tasty updates 3.9 has.

Audio Mixer improvements are something that is long overdue and as I’ve mentioned in the previous blog post, audio is something we want to continually focus on to make sure it has all the features you need. With 3.9 there will be a new audio mixer extension that you can download from the plugin store. This will show your audio levels in a more convenient way using the decibel(dB) scale and will help identify when audio is too loud or quiet. Whilst the audio mixer is still fairly basic in its current form, we already have a handful of improvements in the pipeline that we hope to roll out over the next while.

Source grouping is a quality of life improvement that is long overdue. A simple feature on the surface but this will help you organize and categorize your sources better. You then get the added benefit of being able to move and resize those sources together. A great example would be selecting a webcam frame image and a webcam source and then grouping them. This allows you to move them together in the mixer area but also you can collapse them in the sources area and rename it so it becomes a single item at a glance.

The phrase or term “scene preset” might not mean a lot on its own but it’s a way of configuring the same scene with the same sources in multiple ways. An example might be having the webcam in the top left in one preset and the top right in another. It seems crazy that you would have to duplicate or rebuild the same scene just to have a webcam in a different position when all the other sources are the same. The coolest part is that you can add a transition time to presets that causes the presets to animate between each other. You can almost think of it like keyframes. The position, the rotation, the color correction and more will all animate if you change them from one preset to another. This allows for some pretty powerful combinations and can really up the production quality.

In our previous 3.8 release, we added the brand new in-game HUD that allows you to control your stream from inside your game whilst playing, but also keep on top of your stream chat and stats. In 3.9 we’ve added a brand new in-game HUD widget; Stream Events. This widget will show you events as and when they happen such as a follower on Twitch, a subscriber on YouTube or a share on Facebook. This makes it easier if you’re using a single monitor or even if you just don’t want to turn your neck every two seconds to see if any new action is going on.

And finally, we have the Gamepad Visualizer plugin. A lot of you are already familiar with Input Visualizer but one of the requests that we keep on getting every time the feature is mentioned is the ability to also do the same for gamepads! Now it’s here!

As with big updates, Macros extension has been updated to include new events and actions for scene presets meaning you can add them into your automation. On top of that, we’ve also added better support for media and video playlists as well as playing out via projector. Macros is an extension we continue to update and is something we’ll be looking to overhaul when it comes to UI/UX to make it easier to manage. If you’ve never used Macros and would like to find out more, you can check out our support page on the feature here.

So those are the more big-hitting items that have arrived in 3.9, however, there’s more to come in the near future. We’ll be adding a way to easily import your Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) scenes to make it even quicker to get started and we’ll be releasing the stream dashboard extension in the coming weeks too which will allow you to see stream chat, events, and stats while streaming using XSplit Broadcaster.

As per usual, we truly appreciate your feedback and continued usage. If you have an idea for a feature or feedback on existing features, be sure to head on over to our feature upvote page where your voice can be heard. Additionally, you can join the discussion on our Discord community or if you want to personally get ahold of me, hit me up on social media @Gazreyn.

Happy streaming!

Future Plans for the XSplit Express Video Editor

The new XSplit Express Video Editor is a sign of things to come and a glimpse of the direction we’re moving. It’s a completely free application that allows you to cut and snip video clips you’ve created and export edits within seconds. Its primary objective is speed. The methods in how we do it is quite simple, we’re not rendering. This means you can edit a 4K resolution file and save it out within seconds and without straining your PC’s resources. In case you missed the initial announcement, here’s a quick video about the newest member of the XSplit family.

The original video editor itself has lived as a tool inside of XSplit Broadcaster and Gamecaster since way back in 2014. For the people that managed to find it, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive but the issue was discoverability. The feature was hidden away in a menu with no real indication as to what it does. We saw an opportunity to make it available for free to everyone as its own product which would allow us to do two things; give access to a streamlined video editor to more than just Broadcaster or Gamecaster users such as the OBS Project and put more focus in to the product, providing regular updates and improving usability and features.

Things to come for XSplit Express Video Editor

As you probably already noticed, the application’s initial feature set is identical to the existing video editor inside Broadcaster but with a new lick of paint. However, we’ve been planning out the next steps for the editor that will make it even more awesome and provide functionality that will allow you to produce professional-looking video content quickly.

We will be adding additional audio tracks in the near future as we feel it’s a fundamental feature needed for pretty much anyone creating videos. This will allow you to add music or sound effects to your project with an additional audio track for things like voice-overs. Transitions are another item that’s fairly critical to video editing. Right now the only transition is cut, we plan to add the ability to mix things up by providing extra transition types.

Finally, in terms of our more immediate planned features, we have the larger item of a title editor. Using our experience of building out scene editors and overlay editors, the title editor will be fully featured with a focus on being easy to use but powerful.

That’s just what we can mention now, we’re continually planning out more for the video editor and are excited about where we can take it and how we can fill a void that other editors simply aren’t covering. With that being said, we like to think of the Express Video Editor as a community project and would love to get feedback from you that we can then take and then use to improve. We have a feature vote page where you can make suggestions but we plan on creating a dedicated page for our new video editor.

XSplit Broadcaster 3.8 Features

So far we’ve managed to keep up with our release schedule of a major release every two months with PTR releases in between. We’ve just released 3.8 into the wild where everyone now has access to the brand new in-game HUD amongst other features. The purpose of 3.8 was to bring something new to the table whilst also adding additional features that have been asked for. Oh and did I mention? Resize source hotkeys are back!

The in-game HUD allows you to both control XSplit Broadcaster from inside your game (similar to XSplit Gamecaster) but also allows you to manage your stream. You’re able to see chat and stream events whilst you play in the form of pinned widgets without the need for a second monitor. Widgets that you pin will only be visible to you and won’t be visible on your stream or recording when using Game Capture. That means you have complete freedom on how you position them without affecting viewer experience. We hope to expand on the HUD functionality overtime and provide even more functionality.

Whilst the HUD takes most of the limelight, we’ve added additional features such as the Scene source which allows you to add one scene to another. At first you might not necessarily see the point but if you think of a scene like a block that you can build and then add across as many scenes as you want, you create a really easy way to add repeatable elements to a scene and only have to edit it in one place. That’s not the only use case for this feature and I’ve seen many creative uses of it so give it a try and see how it can make your life easier or increase creativity.

Not sure what just happened? Replay Source allows you to play back what just happened on stream for a short period of time. We created the replay source to allow flexibility in how you use it. You can use it on an already existing scene as picture in picture and then use a hotkey to trigger it. Alternatively you can dedicate an entire scene to it and then have it automatically play when you switch to that scene. Once again, this is just the initial implementation and I think there’s a lot more we can do such as storing the replays to playback at a later point or even just saving them to disk in general.

Noise Suppression is another highly requested feature and is great for those who have microphones that have more background noise than they should. Right now it’s a very generic and aggressive implementation which means while it’s supposed to serve as a one size fits all, it might not get you the results you desire, more so for those with higher end microphones. With that being said, it’s a great way to clean up unwanted noise.

So, those are the bulk of the updates in 3.8 not including the vast amount of bug fixes and improvements. What about 3.9? Our focus for the next upcoming version is primarily on putting in the ground work to better improve our audio. This means actual decibel (dB) values that you can use to balance out your audio properly. We’ll be shipping a simple audio mixer extension that will allow you to monitor audio much more easily and make adjustments as you see fit. On top of that, we’ll also be adding some monitoring in to the audio settings themselves which means you can make sure the right device is selected before closing the settings.

For those that pride themselves on organisation, we’ll be implementing source grouping in to the mix. This means that on a given scene, you’ll be able to select multiple sources, group them and then move them together. On top of that, you can also rename groups and collapse them which means being able to have some separation of concerns. This is great for things like webcam with frames and some text. Now you’ll be able to place them in a group and move them together without needing to move each individual item one by one.

A brand new feature called Scene Presets will be making its way in to the next version too. By name it doesn’t mean too much but the general idea is that you can make variations of the same scene without needing to dedicate an entirely new scene to it. An example of this could be having the webcam in a different position, having chroma key on or off or using 3D transforms in one preset and not in another. However, the most powerful part of this is that you can set a transition time between these presets which means when you switch between them, we’ll automatically animate based on the properties changed. This means if you have the opacity of an item set to 0 on one preset and 100 on another, it will look like a fading effect when you switch presets with a transition time set.

We’ll also be making a bunch of under the hood changes that you might not necessarily notice immediately but will improve the experience as a whole when using our plugins for the various streaming services. We’re tying it all together so that if you’ve ever linked your Twitch account to XSplit, adding Twitch plugins will just work out of the box. We’re aiming to apply this philosophy across the board meaning minimal setup from your end and hopefully an easier experience.

So these are the main items on the board for the next major release but that isn’t to say they’re the only features we’re working on. There are tonnes of things in the pipeline that are being worked on by the team and we’ll be sure to let you know what they are when we’re ready. In the meantime, remember you can suggest and vote for ideas you like by using our feature vote page. On top of that you can get involved in the conversation by joining our discord server or follow us on Twitter.

XSplit Future Transparency

At XSplit we’ve kept our cards close to the chest to avoid disappointing our audience when inevitable setbacks happen. We’d get asked questions on a daily basis things like; When is the next release? What features will it contain? Can you add x feature? Our response would tend to be vague due to not wanting to get hopes up. However as our industry shifts (both gaming and streaming) we notice a trend of companies being very transparent in what is next for their products and even though they may not meet specified deadlines, users know what to expect.

Going forward, we at XSplit plan on being a lot more transparent by outlining major items that are being worked on and having a public facing roadmap for all of our products. On top of that, we also have a way for users to give suggestions and vote on their favorite ones through our XSplit Feature Upvote page.We’ll be consistently monitoring this to prioritise what feature will be worked on next.

So…what is next? Version 3.7 of XSplit Broadcaster has just been released with a smaller feature set. The main improvements being NVIDIA NVENC optimizations and a new type of scene transition, Luma Transitions. We’ve been busy working on a ton of cool new features that we wanted to release with 3.7 but felt it important we release what we have now so we can focus on a super awesome 3.8.

I’ve recently transitioned into the new role of Senior Product Manager for the XSplit team. Before joining SplitmediaLabs I worked as head of production for ESL UK and on top of that co-founded Strexm, an all-in-one stream overlay tool. My aim moving forwards is to develop closer ties with you, the community, so that you have more influence on our plans, and our roadmap. If you’d like to get hold of me and chat about XSplit, you can reach me on Twitter or feel free to join our Discord.

Over the coming weeks we plan to release 3.8 Public Test Release (PTR), but what does that look like? We’ll have two brand new sources in the form of Replay Source and Scene Source. Replay source allows you to trigger a replay (up to 30 seconds) of your current stream by either pressing a hotkey or by switching to a dedicated scene where you’ve placed the replay source. Scene source is a little more simple, it allows you to add another scene as a source which can be great for reusing layouts from other scenes. A much requested feature which is currently in the top spot on our XSplit Feature Upvote page is noise suppression for microphones. This feature will allow users to remove the majority of background noise on their mics.

And lastly, what I think is the most exciting new feature, the in-game HUD. This will allow users to control, monitor and interact with their stream from inside their game without alt-tabbing. You will be able to see live previews of your scenes, monitor audio, start streams or recordings and more. Using our pinned widgets feature, you’ll be able to keep an eye on your stream chat or events from inside your game without it being visible on the stream. Essentially what I’m saying is this is a single monitor setup dream and even if you’re not on a single monitor setup, it’s still super useful!

So that’s what’s in the immediate future. We’ll be continuing to look at and work hard on features we deem important but also prioritising from our XSplit Feature Upvote – Things like source grouping are right around the corner and we’re working very hard on making audio better across the board from better audio previewing to more advanced audio features.