[Bounty] Implement virtual camera cross platform

[tobi]

This may be against the community guidelines, if so I apologize.

Everyone is working from home. I know a lot of people who need OBS now but to broadcast into video conferencing software like zoom/meet/teams. I personally use obs-virtual-cam on windows but most of my company and most of the tech world lives on mac for work.

I feel right now is a great time for OBS to implement this as a core feature and gain an entirely new group of users.

So here is what I'd like to see:

• OBS should support to output to a virtual camera and virtual microphone
• This should be available on Mac/PC/Linux(if possible)
• The feature should be enabled by default to make setup easier

I know this is a tricky feature. I imagine there might be driver signing issues or simply platform limitations lurking. But if this sounds interesting and you need a project I'm happy to support this feature with a bounty of $10,000 as an additional incentive.

/cc @CatxFish

[kkartaltepe]

As noted in the issue (and creator of both cc'ed). There are third party solutions currently for some platforms.
https://github.com/CatxFish/obs-virtual-cam for windows
https://github.com/CatxFish/obs-v4l2sink for linux
Im not currently aware of a workable solution for mac.

Both of these require drivers though it appears the windows version comes with drivers. I assume the bounty is for both the OBS output and the virtual drivers to be managed by OBS, but you should probably specify.

[Fenrirthviti]

I think offering a bounty for this is fine, but this would probably be better suited as an RFC with a bounty attached to it, rather than an issue post. Our RFC process is still in very early stages, and it is not well documented, but you can follow the examples here: https://github.com/obsproject/rfcs/pulls

I will spend some time tonight to get the very high-level basic process listed, as I think this would be better suited for discussion/documentation as an RFC. EDIT: I was able to get the very high level process, and a simple template added. I would still look to the PRs for guidance on how/what to write in your RFC for now until we iron out the details.

[dodgepong]

Setting up an official bounty program for OBS is something I plan to work on over the next couple weeks. Good to know there are people out there willing to help out with funding them!

To expand more on what Fenrir said regarding RFCs:

The most important thing to understand about bounties is that they shouldn't be considered complete until they are merged into the OBS master branch, but the only way that is going to happen is if the pull request (when it happens) is considered mergeable. What we don't want to happen is for someone to come along and do a bunch of work on a bounty, submit a PR, and have it denied due to egregious design issues. Thus, the only way I think we as OBS would be comfortable offering a bounty is if we have set concrete requirements for the PR ahead of time. That concrete set of requirements is defined and ironed out in the RFC process. An RFC is essentially a draft spec for a feature that people can discuss ahead of time. Once a spec is considered complete, it should be treated as essentially a design document for the feature. The feature should be programmed according to the new spec, and only PRs that follow the spec will be accepted. This is intended to increase the likelihood that a PR will be mergeable and increase the likelihood that the developer will be successfully paid the bounty.

I love that Tobi is willing to offer up some funds for this feature! Just keep in mind that the OBS team (especially Jim) is ultimately the arbiter of what will make it into the repo.

Regarding camera output, we've internally discussed the possibility of making this a core OBS feature in the past, but haven't put much energy into it yet. I would be happy to see an RFC for this, even if it's as simple as going over @CatxFish's plugins and see what needs to change in them in order to make them mergeable.

[partoneoftwo]

@tobi : I think this is a great idea.

Could you please describe the User Story once more, in clear sentences describing what is the issue, what is the user experience when this is not available on your platform, what pain point will this solve. (Focus on why, not how). When I read your post, I was not immediately understanding when you/a user group needs this, and for whom is this a problem.

[lsamayoa]

@tobi As @kkartaltepe has already noted there is already some workarounds for windows and linux platforms. Wouldn't it make sense to just create a plugin for OSX first ? Then try to get this as part of the mainstream OBS builld ?

@dodgepong Where is this RFC process documented or is this something that is still not defined yet ?

[totallyunknown]

My Mac solution looks like this. You need OBS Studio and CamTwist and an external monitor. CamTwist will provide the virtual camera. Put OBS in fullscreen on 1. monitor. Use in CamTwist Desktop as source an select your 1. monitor. Add a zoom effect to hide the menu bar. Start your Meet/Skype/Zoom meeting and use the CamTwist camera.

[lsamayoa]

@totallyunknown that really is cumbersome. Definitively need a better solution.\

[totallyunknown]

Definitively. I used this just once for teasing my co-workers with a custom background (chroma keying).

[dodgepong]

@lsamayoa The documentation for the RFC process needs improvement (which is also something I want to work on), but as @Fenrirthviti said, you basically just open a PR to the obsproject/rfcs repository containing the text of the RFC. I recommend following the format of this RFC PR: obsproject/rfcs#1

[tobi]

@dodgepong thank you for the details. Of course nothing should be done without Jim signing off on it.

Again this isn't really about me. I'm technical enough to setup whatever. The motivator was that since my townhall to 6k people last week, I've been fielding a ton of questions about my setup. I've been trying to help people get this setup but going through CamTwist, VLC loopbacks, and plugin installation but its really really difficult for most. So this bounty is really about removing this friction and getting a consistent cross platform story going. I could see the core feature set of OBS to be behind these three buttons: Start Streaming ✅ , Start Recording ✅ , Start Virtual Webcam ❎ .

It's a changed world out there right now and OBS can play a much bigger role in work communications. That's what motivated me to post this. Yes it's already possible, but only for a tiny percent of a basis point of working population.

BTW, my support isn't conditional on this feature but on top. I'm happy to donate directly to the project outside of this proposal. I love supporting open source and OBS is incredible.

[jon-valliere]

Why don’t you just ask for an RTSP input module for ingesting an RTSP feed? Would be a lot more universal.

[dodgepong]

Heh, you've somehow managed to poke at two of the biggest looming projects/issues with OBS in a single post.

I've been trying to help people get this setup but going through CamTwist, VLC loopbacks, and plugin installation but its really really difficult for most.

Plugin installation is a big problem. OBS needs a plugin manager/browser to make the process of finding, installing, updating, and uninstalling plugins easier. That could be one solution to this issue, because if the virtualcam plugins were listed in a plugin library somewhere, and were installable with one click from inside OBS itself, then it would eliminate a big hurdle.

I could see the core feature set of OBS to be behind these three buttons: Start Streaming ✅ , Start Recording ✅ , Start Virtual Webcam ❎ .

At the risk of discussing this here instead of on an RFC: I'm not sure that I like this, as it is ultimately related to a larger UI design issue with OBS regarding how we handle multiple outputs, and multiple types of outputs. The current OBS UI is currently hard-coded for a single livestream output and a single recording output, but then we also have replay buffer and Decklink outputs too. Replay buffer has its own button, but Decklink is in the Tools menu. Then there are plugins like virtualcam and NDI that also add outputs, also in the Tools menu. Should each of these have their own button on the main menu? What about when we finally add UI support for multiple stream outputs, so people can stream to several destinations? What if we want to allow people to record different scenes/sources individually, as in ISO recording? Honestly, that whole main menu needs to be replaced with something that is both more comprehensive yet still easy to understand.

You can see why there needs to be a lot of design discussion around this. If the goal is expediency, then maybe an additional button to the existing menu would be acceptable, but seeing another band-aid solution here feels a bit painful.

[mufunyo]

If the goal is expediency, then maybe an additional button to the existing menu would be acceptable, but seeing another band-aid solution here feels a bit painful.

If the goal is expediency (considering the current situation with covid19), it might be best to temporarily create a forked version that is specifically tailored to WFH use, with stuff like RTMP streaming ripped out and a simplified UI.

[dodgepong]

That would be more work than shipping a build of OBS bundled with Catxfish's plugin(s).

[jebjeb]

I would contribute money to a bounty for an equivalent Virtual Cam plugin for OBS that works on Mac, fwiw. I would also contribute time.