Set up SHUTTERPARTY

The eight steps listed in the extension’s settings on Twitch, explained in full. The numbers are the same as there. You do this once — after that, opening OBS is all it takes.

Before you start

The eight steps

1. Download the OBS kit, unzip it, and put the folder somewhere it can stay

   Where: this page

   Download SHUTTERPARTY → A zip. No installer, nothing to run in the background.

   Download it on the PC that runs OBS. Unzip it and put the folder anywhere you like. But once it is set up, do not move or rename it — OBS remembers where the overlay file is, and stops finding it. Somewhere you will not tidy away later is better than your Downloads folder. If you moved it, move it back, or set it up again: open SHUTTERPARTY-setup.html in the new place, press Build it all in OBS, choose Overwrite when it asks about a source with the same name, then press Write to OBS.

   Inside, the only file you open is SHUTTERPARTY-setup.html; the overlay folder you never have to open. Keep the two in the same folder — the page looks for the overlay beside itself.

   Why a download? A web page cannot talk to OBS on your PC, so the file lives on your disk — which is also why we cannot see your scenes, your screen or your password.

2. Turn on the WebSocket server in OBS and copy the password

   Where: OBS

   In OBS: Tools → WebSocket Server Settings. Tick Enable WebSocket server, then Show Connect Info and copy the password.

3. Open SHUTTERPARTY-setup.html in your browser, paste the password and connect

   Where: the setup page (SHUTTERPARTY-setup.html), “Connect to OBS”

   Double-click SHUTTERPARTY-setup.html in the folder. It opens in your normal browser (Chrome, Edge…). Do not add this file to OBS as a browser source — what goes into OBS, the page makes for you in step 4.

   The page connects to OBS on its own. If OBS asks for a password, Connection details (host, port, password) opens with the cursor in Password: paste the password from step 2 there and press Connect. When OBS in the left column says connected, this step is done. (If OBS is set to use no password, it connects without one.)

4. Press “Build it all in OBS”, put what you want photographed in the capture scene, and check it with a test shot

   Where: the setup page, “Build the capture scene and the overlay”, and OBS

   One button makes everything: the capture scene, the overlay, and the goal bar, stacked in the right order, and a third source for a vertical scene, switched off. You do not add browser sources by hand.

   The capture scene starts empty, and only what you put in it is photographed. Add in OBS a camera feed or an avatar you are happy to have photographed.

   Then press Test shot, in the same section, to see that what you want is in the picture. A test shot is taken by the setup page itself, so it succeeds even before Write to OBS. Whether your viewers’ button reaches OBS is for step 8.

5. Choose when the button works

   Where: the setup page, “Choose when the button works”

   It is right below the build section, on the same OBS tab. Pick the Scenes the button works in. You do not need the pairing code for this.

   OBS renders a scene even when it is not on air, so without this a viewer could photograph you while your “be right back” screen is up.

   Nothing can be photographed until you answer this — and Allow every scene is an answer.

6. Activate the extension

   Where: Twitch (the Extensions page, and the extension’s Configure screen)

   In Creator Dashboard → Extensions → SHUTTERPARTY, activate it as a Component (over the video) or a Panel (below it). Installing it alone does not show the button to your viewers.

   The pairing code is only for when you do not log in with Twitch in the next step. In that case, open SHUTTERPARTY’s Configure and press Copy to take the pairing code. It is a password — do not show it on stream. You can copy it again at any time.

7. Log in with Twitch to pair

   Where: the setup page, “Connect to the Twitch extension”

   Back on the setup page, open Twitch extension in the left column and press Log in with Twitch to pair. A Twitch page opens. Check that the code on it is the same as the code on the setup page, then press Authorize.

   After you authorize, go back to the setup page. It then says “This will pair as …” with an account name. If it is your channel, press Pair; if it is not, press Stop. That connects your channel to the button your viewers press. All we read from Twitch is your channel id, and the Twitch token is not kept. If you log in again as the channel that is already paired, no name is shown and it goes straight on to pairing.

   Only authorize a code you started yourself. If you authorize on Twitch a code somebody sent you in chat or a message, whoever sent it can pair as your channel.

   If you would rather not log in, or the button is not there (an earlier download), open If that does not work, or you would rather not log in (pairing code) just below it, and paste the code from step 6 into Pairing code.

8. Press “Write to OBS”, then try it with “Allow shooting off-air for 30 minutes”

   Where: the setup page

   Press Write to OBS at the foot of the left column. That button is what carries the pairing and your settings into the overlay — the line above it says whether anything is still unwritten.

   Then press Allow shooting off-air for 30 minutes, under Choose when the button works, to see the effects without going live. It turns itself off after 30 minutes.

Before your first stream

A test shot can pass while your viewers’ button is still not connected. Check these three things before you go live for the first time.

1. The extension is activated (step 6). Installing it does not show it to viewers. In Creator Dashboard → Extensions → SHUTTERPARTY, choose Component or Panel.
2. The setup page says “all set” at the top. If it does not, the page points at what to do next.
3. You pressed Write to OBS last (step 8). A test shot only checks what is in the capture scene, so it succeeds without Write to OBS and does not prove this on its own.

Streaming vertically as well

With Twitch’s dual format (OBS 32 or later and the Aitum Vertical plugin), the same overlay lays itself out for a 1080×1920 frame, clear of Twitch’s own buttons and chat. If you do not stream vertically, skip this section.

1. Press Build it all in OBS (or Build again)

   It makes a third browser source, <your overlay> vertical, at 1080×1920. It is placed in your normal scene switched off, so it draws nothing there.

2. Add it to your vertical scene

   In the vertical canvas, use its + to add an existing source and pick <your overlay> vertical. The setup page cannot reach into the plugin’s canvas, so this step is by hand.

3. Do not resize it on the canvas

   Leave its size as it is. Stretching it on the canvas squeezes the horizontal layout instead of switching to the vertical one. It is already 1080×1920.

4. Check it on Twitch

   In Stream Manager, the orientation icon next to the gear in Stream Preview shows the vertical stream. Photographs and the contact sheet should sit clear of the top and bottom of the frame.

Using a Stream Deck

You can put two keys on an Elgato Stream Deck: Shutter on/off and SHUTTER PARTY. The SHUTTER PARTY key shows the goal bar filling, and pressing it while a full bar waits for your signal starts the party. For now it is Windows only (Stream Deck 7.1 or later). If you do not use one, skip this section.

1. Download the plugin and open it

   Get app.shutterparty.streamdeck.streamDeckPlugin from its download page and double-click it. Stream Deck installs it. It is not on Elgato’s Marketplace yet.

2. Place the keys and log in with Twitch

   Drag the two keys from SHUTTERPARTY in the actions list, open either key’s settings and press Log in with Twitch to pair. Twitch opens in your browser with a code to enter; authorize, come back to Stream Deck, and go on if the name it shows is your account. This pairing is separate from the setup page’s.

When a new version comes out

Download it again and unzip it over the old copy, in the same place. Replace the files, not the folder — anything you put in overlay/ yourself stays. Then open SHUTTERPARTY-setup.html and press Write to OBS once; until you do, OBS keeps the old overlay and the setup page says so. Your settings are kept.

No vertical source yet? Press Build again once: it adds it, and changes nothing else.

If something does not work

The setup page keeps a Log — the button is at the foot of the left column, next to Write to OBS. Open it and it will usually name the problem. The most common causes:

Be careful when you share an OBS log file. OBS can write the overlay's full address into its log. Your OBS password, pairing code and Discord webhook are sealed there, except the very first time you write the settings (and a resend after the overlay has lost its key), when the OBS password goes in unsealed, once. Do not use OBS's “Upload Log File” — anyone with the link can read it. If such a log has been shared, change the OBS password.

Ending a pairing

• Disconnect it on Twitch. Disconnecting SHUTTERPARTY under Settings → Connections on Twitch ends a pairing made by logging in. The overlay stops, and takes no photographs until you pair again. It does not end a pairing made with a pairing code.
• Make a new pairing code. Making a new pairing code in the extension’s Configure on Twitch ends every earlier pairing, whichever way it was made. Use this one if somebody may have seen your pairing code or used this PC.
• Cut every Stream Deck remote. On the setup page’s Twitch tab, or in a Stream Deck key’s settings: after one more login with Twitch, it ends every Stream Deck paired with your channel, and nothing else — the overlay stays paired. A new pairing code does not end a Stream Deck; disconnecting on Twitch does.

After either, doing steps 7 and 8 again (pair, then Write to OBS) puts it back.

What it does with your data

• The OBS password never leaves your machine. It only opens a connection to OBS on 127.0.0.1.
• When you pair by logging in with Twitch, the setup page sends us the token Twitch issued, once. No permissions are requested. We ask Twitch whose token it is, read the channel’s id from the answer, and hand back a pairing token. We do not store the Twitch token and do not write it to our logs. The login name is shown on your own screen so you can check it. Once paired, the setup page keeps it in your own browser so it can say who it is paired as; it is not sent to us.
• When you paste a new pairing code, the setup page tells us your channel’s id and the pairing token. Either way we record when the pairing was made. That is how we count how far setting up gets, and how the extension’s settings on Twitch mark the steps you have done. It sends nothing else: not the OBS password, not your scenes, not your screen.
• The Stream Deck plugin, too, sends the Twitch token once and keeps nothing of it. The key it gets back is kept only in the storage Stream Deck gives the plugin — never in a key’s own settings, so it does not travel with an exported profile. What we send it is the bar and where a party is: no viewer names, no photographs.
• The photographs are never uploaded to us. Your OBS makes them and puts them in your own broadcast; our service has no copy.
• Saving to disk is off by default. Nothing is written to a folder of yours until you choose one. On the way from the shutter to the framed photo, a picture passes through OBS's own browser storage on this computer — a place the page can delete, and does: the copies go as soon as the photograph has been drawn. A crash can leave one behind, and the next start clears it.
• Sending to Discord is off by default. When on, the contact sheet and paid photos go from your OBS straight to your own Discord webhook, not through our service. A save folder is not needed: a photograph made only to be sent leaves nothing behind on your disk.
• Only add local HTML files you trust to OBS. The OBS password, pairing code and Discord webhook are kept encrypted in OBS's browser storage on this computer, and any other HTML file OBS opens from your disk (file:///) shares that storage. Web overlays (https://) do not.
• Set a password on OBS's WebSocket server. Anyone who can connect to it can replace the key that seals your secrets. If the setup page says the key has changed and you have not reset OBS or moved to another PC, do not go on.

The files you downloaded are the source — ordinary HTML, not minified, so you can read either one in a text editor before you type a password into it. Read the full privacy policy.