Read the funnies with somebody you love in this week’s Billy Badass!
Recorded another M&C then ended up talking with Ian until 1:30 in the morning. Slept in until around 9, spent time looking into livestreaming options. I’m thinking I’d like to try streaming while I work in the studio since my last WIP video seemed to do well. I’d archive the long vids on my channel and do a time lapse version. The problem is it’s not all a perfect system.
Streaming Service
The obvious answer is YouTube since they support both events and stream now as well as automatically archive to your channel. I’m not a fan of needing to download the whole stream once it done to make a sped up version. A key reason to stream, aside from inviting people to watch, is not having to store the files on my machine. They’re also the most militant on copyright, which I’ll mention later.
Twitch Creative is an alternative, though it’s archives aren’t permanent and putting them on my YouTube channel later means fiddling. I’ve heard it’s currently more profitable to stream the creation of an animation on Twitch than it is to post the final cartoon on YouTube, but when you look at the requirements for being a partner that’s kind of a moot point at this juncture.
There’s also Picarto, which is geared towards streaming for artists. It features things like paid subscription services for viewers, posting commission info, and flagging adult content. Recording requires a paid account, however.
Encoder
Hangouts doesn’t require an encoder but YouTube streaming and the other sites do. Today I looked over the free version of Wirecast Play and OBS Multiplatform. WP had a lot of things greyed out unless you buy a fuller version. My software started to chug a bit so I need to optimize whichever one I use. (I should also probably upgrade my RAM to replace the original bits that went bad this year) It could have been from having too many things running or from trying to isolate my art app window.
Audio
This is something I’m still trying to figure out. I listen to music while I work. Twitch and Picarto have a similar “as long as it’s not the main focus of your stream” policy while YouTube is notorious for their copyright flagging system. Personally I think it’s safer to just not input what I’m listening to. I’m not crazy about the idea of leaving the streams mute but piping in royalty free audio sounds like a resource hit if I’m not listening to it and I work better when I’m free to listen to what I want.
Video
As I mentioned I’ve been trying to isolate my art app window and maybe overlay it on top of a proper HD graphic. That way I can look at my other screen and windows while only showing my work space. I also need to sort out what to display when I take a break. Maybe a looping gif with a timer? I don’t know yet.
Final Thoughts
Typing this out has helped me decide a few things. I’ll run some tests and see what’s the least intensive setup. I haven’t had much success with streaming in the past, feeling like I need to be “on” while broadcasting. I’d like to treat this differently. I might not even make them public while I’m recording, just to keep the pressure off.