Custom OBS Overlays for Multistreaming: Setup Guide

Overlays are a staple of any polished stream. They show your viewers what is happening: who is chatting, who just subscribed, and what the current poll results are. All without you having to announce everything verbally. Rebeam includes five overlay types that work across Twitch and YouTube, and they are fully customizable to match your stream branding.

What are stream overlays?

Stream overlays are visual elements that appear on top of your stream content. They are added to OBS (or any streaming software) as browser sources, essentially small web pages that render with a transparent background on top of your game or camera feed.

Rebeam provides five overlay types, each with its own URL. You add them as separate browser sources in OBS and position them wherever you want in your scene.

Five overlay types

Chat overlay

Shows chat messages from both Twitch and YouTube on your stream. Each message displays the viewer's name with a platform-colored accent, purple for Twitch and red for YouTube. New messages animate in smoothly, and you can control how many messages are visible at once.

Alerts overlay

Displays live alerts for monetisation and community events: subscriptions, raids, cheers, super chats, and more. You can choose between a vertical card stack (great for a corner of your screen) or a horizontal scrolling ticker (great for a bar across the bottom). Each alert shows the event type, viewer name, and any attached message.

Poll overlay

When you run a stream poll, this overlay shows the question, options, vote counts, and animated progress bars. It appears automatically when a poll starts and disappears when it ends.

Quiz overlay

Shows quiz questions with options and a countdown timer. When time runs out, the correct answer is revealed. Appears automatically when you start a quiz and transitions between questions.

Leaderboard overlay

Ranks viewers by quiz score. Updates after each question. Shows viewer name, platform, and points.

Setting up overlays in OBS

The setup takes under a minute. Here is the step-by-step process:

1. Generate your overlay token

Log in to the Rebeam dashboard and go to the Overlays page. Click "Generate Overlay Token". This creates a secure token that authenticates your overlay URLs. Copy the token, as it is only shown once.

2. Copy the overlay URLs

After generating your token, the dashboard shows five URLs, one for each overlay type (chat, alerts, poll, quiz, and quiz leaderboard). Copy whichever URLs you want to use.

3. Add browser sources in OBS

In OBS, right-click in your Sources panel and select "Add → Browser". Paste the overlay URL into the URL field. The overlay will render with a transparent background. Position and resize it in your scene. Repeat for each overlay you want to use.

Customising colors

Every overlay has full color customisation. Go to the Customise page in the Rebeam dashboard, and you will see a live preview of each overlay with mock data. Adjust text colors, accent colors, background opacity, gradient bars, font sizes, and more. Settings auto-save and apply instantly to any running overlays. You do not need to restart the browser source in OBS.

The chat overlay even has per-platform color options, so you can have different accent colors for Twitch (default purple) and YouTube (default red) messages.

Tips for clean overlay design

• Keep it simple. Overlays should enhance your stream, not clutter it. Start with one or two overlays and add more only if you need them.
• Match your branding. Use the color customisation to match your stream's color scheme. Consistent colors look more professional.
• Position thoughtfully. Place the chat overlay where it will not cover important game UI. The alerts overlay works well in a top corner or as a bottom ticker.
• Test before going live. Use the live preview in the Customise page to check how your overlays look with realistic data before your stream.

Getting started

OBS overlays and color customisation are available on the Creator plan (£10/month) and Creator Plus (£15/month). Check the overlays feature page for more details, or sign up and upgrade to Creator to start adding overlays to your stream.