Setting Up Your Stream Scenes in OBS: Starting, Chatting, BRB and Ending
1 min read
An organized stream runs on a few OBS scenes, one per stage: a starting screen before you appear, a chatting scene, a gameplay scene, a break screen and an ending screen. You set them up once, then switch with a keypress.
The core scenes
| Scene | When it shows |
|---|---|
| Starting Soon | The first minutes, while viewers arrive |
| Just Chatting | Talking with chat, camera large |
| Gameplay | The game with your facecam frame |
| Be Right Back | When you step away for a few minutes |
| Ending | The end, to thank viewers and announce the next stream |
| Offline | Uploaded in your channel settings, shown while you're offline |
Steps
- In OBS, press + under Scenes and create one scene per stage with a clear name.
- In each scene add the screen design: Image for a still design, or Media Source with Loop on for an animated one.
- Add shared elements (alerts, chat, music) to each scene that needs them. Use Add Existing to reuse the same source instead of duplicating it.
- In Settings → Hotkeys, set a shortcut for each scene so you can switch without leaving the game.
Animated transitions between scenes
A stinger is a short video that covers the screen as the scene changes. In OBS: Scene Transitions → + → Stinger, choose the file, then set the Transition Point to the moment the design fully covers the screen (in milliseconds).
Quick questions
Do I need all these scenes from day one? No. Start with Starting, Gameplay and Ending, and add the rest over time.
Animated or still? Animated screens hold attention on waiting screens; still ones are lighter on your PC.
Browse stream screens and transitions, or complete stream packages.