The purple platform has now become the reference point for
streamers and gamers from all over the globe. With a growth of over 100% of
hours viewed on an annual basis, Twitch is an impossible reality to ignore and
every day hundreds of users enter the world of live streaming to try to pursue
the dream of making it a job.
The results, however, as in all things, do not come quickly
and easily. In addition to constancy and perseverance, in fact, it is necessary
to understand the basics of the platform and the community to be able to
attract the public. We therefore try to undertake this path by acquiring first
of all awareness of the necessary means and essential conditions today to become
a streamer of tomorrow.
Awareness
The first tool is certainly this, to understand the platform
and understand how it works in order to take advantage of it. After taking a
look at the community guidelines and creating our Twitch account, it is
necessary to take stock of the situation and understand what our strengths and
limitations are , including those of a financial nature.
You don't need to have the latest and greatest professional
gear to be successful on Twitch. Or rather, it is necessary to have a good
setup but the limits imposed by the same platform make it extremely more
accessible than other realities: Twitch in fact supports the transmission at
1080p and 60fps, with a maximum bitrate of 6000kbps, according to the official
guidelines..
This means that a wise use of our means will allow us to
obtain appreciable results even without spending unreasonable amounts,
especially when you are a beginner. We have plenty of time to refine our
arsenal, let's remember that the contents matter much more than the packaging!
The weapons of the trade
The second stage of our journey could not fail to concern
the equipment necessary to be able to bring our content online. An essential
help comes from OBS and from alternatives such as Streamlabs, a real control
room that allows us to customize our contents by placing our imagination as the
only limit. This Open Source program allows us to manage all audio and video
streams, including for example a computer window or a console connected via an
encoder to our PC, as well as of course the microphone and the webcam.
With this exceptional free tool, anyone can really start
chewing on broadcaster's language .In OBS we will be able to create Scenes ,
within which we will insert our sources, of whatever type they are. In the
preview window we will be able to resize the various elements that will make up
our typical scenario and in some cases it will also be possible to set filters
to change its appearance, including the removal of the background, if we have a
green screen .
In this software it will be possible to create multiple
scenes in order to easily jump between one and the other during the
transmission, depending on the type of content we want to show. To start, we
recommend setting the most common ones , including a Gameplay Sceneand one for
the Quattro Chatchiere mode, in which our webcam will be the real protagonist.
If you choose OBS or paid alternatives, in any case it will
be possible to apply overlays to our Scenes , that is the graphics and
transitions that distinguish our channel . On the net there are numerous stores
that sell entire packages ready to use. The more enterprising will be able to
delight in the most common graphics programs to obtain an even more personal
result.
Show yourself on video
Many streamers, professional and non-professional, use the
latest generation cameras, mainly DSLR and mirrorless. Again, at least on a
platform like Twitch, if starting on the right foot is essential, a camera of
this type is certainly not mandatory . On OBS, for example, through the use of
external plugins, it is possible to use the photographic sensor of our
smartphone as a video stream . This choice, however curious it may seem, brings
with it numerous advantages.
First of all, it is a free solution, since everything
already own a smartphone. Secondly, the sensor of our smartphones is almost
always qualitatively higher than most webcams on the market, as well as
guaranteeing us a stream at 60fps. If, on the other hand, you already have a
good camera, you will need to have a capture card (or a stylus) to bring the
video stream to the PC via HDMI, while a high-end webcam will guarantee good
results without additional components.
Your voice matters
Never underestimate the acoustic impact. Your voice is a
determining factor , sometimes more than the stage presence. For this reason,
if at the beginning we can transcend the use of a high-end camera, it is always
advisable to have a dedicated microphone. To take the first steps, in any case,
the community will certainly forgive you for using the microphone integrated
into the headphones.
The setup of the budding streamer
Last but not least let's talk about the hardware needed to
take the big step. For this purpose it is essential first of all to choose the
type of content that we would like to bring, and then to decide the type of
ideal configuration.
For example, if our goal is to bring our gameplay from the
latest generation consoles online, there are two ways. The first involves the
use of the tools integrated into the operating systems of the Sony and
Microsoft consoles , completely bypassing the PC and therefore the control
room.
If we want to enrich the user experience of our content
through the use of overlaysand animations, the best choice is to rely on the PC
through a hardware-type encoder, including the solutions of Elgato or
AVerMedia, which will have the task of capturing the video output from the
consoles and importing it in real time on the PC, to then handle it like any
video stream.
PC gaming obviously requires extra effort on our machine,
which is why many streamers opt for a dual computer setup. In our case, a
single, sufficiently performing machine will be needed. In general, as regards
the CPU, it is advisable not to go below the mid-range if it is the last two
generations. The ideal solution instead is to divert the encoding work to the
GPU.The NVIDIA RTX GPUs in particular are able to exploit the dedicated NVIDA
NVENC encoder in an exceptional way, greatly reducing the impact on the
performance in the game and therefore also in the usability of the show.
The mindset
To conclude, remember that the essential characteristic for
becoming a streamer is stubbornness . In the early days, our live sessions may
even remain empty but good programming and broadcasts rich in original content
will certainly not go unnoticed.
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