====== Screen Capture with OBS Studio ======


You can use [[https://obsproject.com/|OBS Studio]] to create recordings of your entire screen or specific windows. To get started you'll need to do a little bit of setup. The first thing to do is set your recording options. Then you'll set up your canvas with what you want to record.

====== Set Recording Options ======

When you open OBS Studio for the first time, you will see an auto-configuration wizard. You'll set some initial recording settings. You'll only need to do this once. If you ever need to re-run the auto-configuration wizard, you can select it from the Tools menu.

  - Choose **Yes** at the auto-configuration dialog.
  - Choose to **Optimize just for recording** and click Next.
  - Change the FPS dropdown box to **30** and click Next.
  - At the Final Results page, click Apply Settings.

====== Capture Full Screen ======

To start recording video you need to specify a capture source.

  - Under Sources in the main window, click the plus button to add a source.
  - Select **Display Capture**.
  - In the Create/Select Source window, click OK.
  - You should now see a preview of your screen in OBS.

====== Recording ======

Once you've set your recording options and capture source(s), you can hit **Start Recording** to begin. When you're done, click **Stop Recording**. A video will be saved in the Videos folder in your Documents folder. Whenever you exit and reopen OBS, it will use the settings you used last time.

====== Use a Hotkey to Start/Stop Recording ======

You can set a hotkey to start or stop recording so you don't have to click anything in the program. Using a hotkey will make it so your videos don't show you turning recording on or off.

  - Open the settings menu and click //Hotkeys// in the left pane.
  - Find the Start Recording option, click inside the field, then press the hotkey. It will appear inside the field.
    * Your hotkey should be something you don't press frequently that doesn't perform an action in the software you're using. You can add a modifier key such as CTRL to your hotkey to help. I usually use **Pause** if I have a full keyboard or **CTRL `** if I don't.
  - Set the same hotkey in the Stop Recording field. This will make it so you can use the same key to start or stop recording.
  - Click OK to close the Window. Now you can use your hotkey to control recording. 
  - Now that you have a hotkey, you can hide the OBS window by double-clicking its icon in the tray.

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