Setting Up Your Computer to use a Lightboard

We provide two ways to configure your computer for use with the lightboard. Both methods address the need for you to “flip” your video image.  The “easier” method requires the fewest steps, but also doesn’t allow for digital projection of media.  The “less easier” method requires more steps, but gives you greatest flexibility.

“Easier ” method

  1. Download the “snap camera” software at https://snapcamera.snapchat.com/, and install on your machine. Yes, this software is ridiculous.
  2. Open the snap camera app, under settings choose your web camera, and turn off “show snapcode overlay”, “flip video preview”, and “optimize for green screen”.
  3. In the search bar called “search lenses”, type in “selfie flip”. You should see a filter appear in the search results.  Select the filter.
  4. Keep snap camera open, and open zoom. Under preferences, go to Video, and under Camera: select “Snap Camera”.
  5. It’s probably easier to turn off the “mirror my video” so you can see what your zoom meeting participants will see.

“Less easier”

  1. Download OBS studio at obsproject.com
  2. Open OBS Studio. On the bottom of the screen, left of the middle, is a pane called “Sources”.  Click on the “+” sign.
  3. A set of options will appear, select “Video Capture Device”, and then give it a name like “LightBoard”, click OK
  4. On the next window, under Device, select the camera input for your lightboard studio (this should be relatively obvious). Click OK
  5. Right click on the Video Capture Device in the “Sources” list, and a menu will come up. Select Transform, and then “Flip Horizontal”.
  6. Now OBS is ready to go!
  7. To Link OBS to zoom, you have a few options
    1. To the left of the Sources box, is a box called “Scenes”. Right click the “scene” that you’ve just created, and select “Windowed Projector”.  This sends OBS to a window on your monitor. Then in zoom, share screen, and select this window
    2. Create an OBS “virtual camera”. Instructions are available here.

If you’re using OBS, you can also add other sources digitally such as powerpoint slides, movies, anything really.  Instructions on adding elements to your scenes are provided here.