What are overlays?
Overlays are a mix of aesthetic and functional elements that improve the overall quality of your stream. some of the most common overlays streamers like to set up include alerts, chat box overlays, and more!
In this article we will be going over the basics of the XPN Overlay & Settings.
The overlay can be fully controlled through the XPN system, this means that any changes that you do to the overlay such as repositioning, adding or removing layers; happen in real time, well almost... maybe a few seconds for you to see it on stream. This allows you to control your overlay regardless of what system you have PC or console from anywhere.
You can create multiple overlays, but you only need one overlay per scene for all of your graphics and alerts.
The best way to think of this is to think of a scene for your stream. For every scene you have, you should be creating an Overlay for, the most common ones are - Starting Soon, Main Scene(gameplay or content), Intermission, and Ending Soon.
Settings
To access your Overlay Settings, click on the Settings button in the top-left corner of the overlay editor.
Overlay Name
Name the Overlay so you know what it's for!
Screen Size
This is where you can change the overlay resolution to match your broadcasting software’s output. By default we have this set at 1920x1080 but we offer a wide range of resolution options.
Live Background
Background color that will show in your broadcasting tool. By default it’s transparent.
Editor Background
Background color that will show in the XPN editor.
Pro Tips
- Less is more, creating only the scenes that you need allows you to better organize and remember what each scene has for its uses.
- When designing your overlay, be sure to keep the focus on your content unless it comes to alerts. Alerts is an engagement tool that allows you to highlight a milestone or an action from one of your viewers. You want to make sure that is front and center.
- It's very useful to use the Live or Editor backgrounds to get a good feel as to what the stream may potentially look like, we have included some common games that our users stream to help with that.