Resources
If you’re running a news live stream or a live podcast, you need to put together several overlays to make your stream professional and visually appealing. Our range of stream packages combine overlays in a pre-made layout – all of which can be controlled directly from your Stream Deck using the free uno plugin. Here’s a quick guide on how to use a Stream Deck with an uno Stream Pack.
Our stream packs (or stream packages) put together the overlays we think our users would find useful in one place, arranged in a visually appealing layout by professional designers who’ve worked with leading international broadcasters. We even have stream packs for specific purposes. For example, our US Elections Stream Pack combines a live RSS Ticker, Election Map, Candidates Panel, and Electoral Votes Tracker bar. (Although this stream pack is titled US Elections, it can of course be used for any elections!)
Using a stream pack allows you to control all the overlays you need from one online control interface, saving you time spent finding different overlays that match each other and arranging them in your chosen streaming software.
With our free Stream Deck plugin, you can save even more time by programming Stream Deck keys to launch and control the overlays in any of our stream packages.
You can connect any of our stream packs to your Stream Deck by downloading our free plugin and taking the following steps:
1. In the Stream Deck app, scroll down to the category dropdowns to the Uno Overlays category.
2. Drag the “Uno Control” action into an empty key.
3. In overlays.uno, go to My Library. Double click the stream pack you want to use. This will automatically open the online interface in a new window.
4. At the top right corner of the online interface, click the key symbol to copy the overlay’s Uno Token.
5. In the Stream Deck app, paste the Uno Token into the Uno Token Field.
Here’s how to set up a simple control panel for any of our stream packs.
In this example, we’re using the Pyrite-themed Stream Pack, but this how-to guide should work for most of uno’s stream packs.
As you shift between segments and topics throughout your live stream, you might want to hide or display the talking points and lower third. Toggle buttons can animate overlays in and out with each button press.
Add toggle buttons for the Talking Points and Lower Third overlays by taking the following steps:
1. Connect a Stream Deck key to the uno stream pack, then go to the Action dropdown menu and click on “Toggle overlay”.
2. In the Overlay dropdown menu, click on “Talking Points”. You can now change the icons to any of the ones available in our Stream Deck icon set.
3. In the Stream Deck app, copy the Talking Points toggle button and paste it into an empty key.
4. In the new key, go to the Overlay dropdown menu and click on “Lower third”.
As you introduce each new section of your live stream, you might want to highlight your introduction with different text in the Lower Third overlay. Luckily, each uno overlay comes with our super useful Slots feature, which allows you to store different versions of an overlay in one place.
Enable Slot mode in the stream pack by clicking on the Slot mode button at the top right of each overlay’s control panel. Edit each slot by clicking on the slot’s edit icon.
The settings you can edit in each slot depends on the overlay design. So, for example, the Talking Points overlay in the Pyrite Steam Pack allows you to edit the header, title, subtitle, and logo settings.
Here’s how to create a set of Stream Deck keys that swap between slots for the stream pack’s Lower Third:
1. Connect a Stream Deck key to the uno stream pack, then go to the Overlay dropdown menu and click on “Lower Third”.
2. Go to the Action dropdown menu, scroll down to “Take Slots”, and click on “First Slot”.
3. Now add a Stream Deck key that displays the next slot in the Lower Third list. In the Stream Deck app, copy the first slots key and paste it in an empty key.
4. Go to the Action dropdown menu, and click “Next Slot”.
5. Now add a Stream Deck key that displays the previous slot in the Lower Third list. Copy your next slot key and paste it into an empty key in the Stream Deck app.
6. Go to the Action dropdown menu of the new key, and click “Previous Slot”.
You might also want a Stream Deck key that highlights the next topic in the Talking Points overlay. Here’s how to program a Stream Deck button to do this:
1. Connect a Stream Deck key to the uno stream pack, then go to the Action dropdown menu, click on “Change overlay field”.
2. Go to the Overlay dropdown menu, and click “Talking Points”.
3. Go to the Field dropdown menu, and click “Number - Active Topic”.
5. Go to the Operation dropdown menu, and click “Increment”. Then, in the Value field, type “1”.
These tips should be enough to get you started with a very basic control panel for our stream pack. If you want to go further, here are some more ideas:
If you don’t want the Live Bug and Ticker to remain on the screen, here’s how to add toggle keys to hide and display the Live Bug and Ticker overlays:
1. Copy the Talking Points toggle key, and paste into an empty key in the Stream Deck app.
2. In the Overlay dropdown menu, click “Live Bug”. You have now created a toggle key that will animate the Live Bug in and out of the screen.
3. Copy the Live Bug toggle key and paste it into an empty key.
4. In the Overlay dropdown menu, click “Ticker”.
You have now created a toggle key that will animate the animated Ticker in and out of the screen.
Depending on how you want your streaming overlays to appear, you might want to program a Stream Deck key to do multiple things at once. For example, you might want a key that animates in the Talking Points overlay and also highlights the next talking point on the list.
You can do this by using the Stream Deck’s Multi Action function. However, this function requires a small (0.5 seconds) delay between actions to work, which you can set by using the sliding dials. Unfortunately, this might make your live stream look less polished, and can sometimes cause issues with the overlay.
Uno Stream Deck plugin’s JSON function can help avoid these issues. You can learn more about how to use the JSON function here.
Our Stream Deck plugin is completely customizable to the layout and functions you need, so you can play around and figure out what works best for you! And, if you need more tips on how to use a Stream Deck for seamless live streaming, check out our Stream Deck tips or shoot us a question on our official Discord.
