shindigs Profile Blog Joined May 2009 United States 4775 Posts Last Edited: 2013-04-16 01:38:13 #1







Video Demo

Hot Virtual Keyboard is a program that displays an on-screen keyboard which highlights which keys you are pressing. This makes for some interesting activity to watch during intense matches of StarCraft 2, as keys are lighting up all over the place. I thought it would be cool to see how this would look in a player stream, and after customizing the keyboard a bit, I ended up with a pretty pleasing result.



I'll try to re-record a higher quality demo after the April Fools Warhounds disappear



Link to download: http://hot-virtual-keyboard.com/



You'll either need 2 monitors, or enough space on your current monitor to capture the program and overlay it on your stream. My current set up is one monitor (23" 1920 x 1080) with OBS, using software capture for SC2 in windowed mode and Hot Virtual Keyboard.



Here's how I setup my stream on one monitor:

+ Show Spoiler +



I've been told it should work after the 30 day evaluation period.





Customizing the look

There's a lot of customization that you can do with the program, and I'm excited to see what people create. You can technically skin the entire thing from scratch, or simply change the colors of the keys and background image.



My current keyboard style:

I'll try to re-record a higher quality demo after the April Fools Warhounds disappearYou'll either need 2 monitors, or enough space on your current monitor to capture the program and overlay it on your stream. My current set up is one monitor (23" 1920 x 1080) with OBS, using software capture for SC2 in windowed mode and Hot Virtual Keyboard.Here's how I setup my stream on one monitor:I've been told it should work after the 30 day evaluation period.There's a lot of customization that you can do with the program, and I'm excited to see what people create. You can technically skin the entire thing from scratch, or simply change the colors of the keys and background image.My current keyboard style: Options > Theme

Style -> Dark

Edit 'Selected' keys to be a bright green (Hue: 57, Sat: 203, Lum: 155, Red: 176: Green: 241, Blue: 88)

Background: HotS Evolution Chamber Screenshot



Font: 12 Trade Gothic LTStd Cn

Characters Font: 16 Trade Gothic LTStd CN



Looking forward to see what the community does with this, I think it has a lot of potential.



Set up with one monitor

For people looking to software capture the program directly so you can stream on one monitor (without having to capture screen area on the second monitor) - go to Options > Themes and check Native Style of Windows. This will make the virtual keyboard show up in the software capture options as "On Screen Keyboard"



Huge thanks to KrazyTrumpet (

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=405835¤tpage=6#104



Special thanks to Flameling (stream) for pointing me in the direction of the program, answering my questions, and having a VoD with a similar idea to draw from. Also thanks to Harem and Suppy for showing me his VoD. Looking forward to see what the community does with this, I think it has a lot of potential.For people looking to software capture the program directly so you can stream on one monitor (without having to capture screen area on the second monitor) - go to Options > Themes and check Native Style of Windows. This will make the virtual keyboard show up in the software capture options as "On Screen Keyboard"Huge thanks to KrazyTrumpet ( Twitter ) for the solution: Photographer @shindags || twitch.tv/shindigs

tuho12345 Profile Blog Joined July 2011 4481 Posts #2 pretty cool idea, kudos!

But I'm not sure how helpful it is to the audience, seems a little too much distractions for them

TritaN Profile Joined December 2010 United States 388 Posts #3



(I'm looking at you DeMusliM, you superhuman bastard. I want to see your keyboard in action ) That looks really cool. Hopefully some of the top streamers will try this out.(I'm looking at you DeMusliM, you superhuman bastard. I want to see your keyboard in action

byrondover Profile Joined January 2011 United States 40 Posts #4 This is incredible! I would love to see more pro players use this when streaming; I'd even prefer it over keyboard cameras.



Nice writeup! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Zenbrez Profile Joined June 2012 Canada 5957 Posts #5 On April 02 2013 02:43 tuho12345 wrote:

pretty cool idea, kudos!

But I'm not sure how helpful it is to the audience, seems a little too much distractions for them

I'd appreciate seeing this in streams I'd appreciate seeing this in streams Refer to my post.

Renent Profile Joined February 2011 Canada 302 Posts #6 This is a super cool idea! I am really interested in some of the top level players using it!! Woof

CableSCES Profile Blog Joined September 2011 United States 345 Posts #7 I would love to see this on the top player streams. It could be a scene that they switch on for some games, show other stuff for other games (in case they're worried about advert space). Really really cool idea and suggestion shindigs Saving SoCal eSports one sponsor at a time: MSI, JINX, Tt eSPORTS, HyperX, Red Bull ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

EGLzGaMeR Profile Blog Joined February 2007 United States 1866 Posts #8 I would love to do this, but I only have 1 monitor.. So I don't think I can do it? ;;

[Daze] Profile Joined November 2010 Germany 20 Posts #9 That's a great idea. Handcam/Controllercam/VirtualController is already quite popular in the speedrunning community. I wondered why nobody did this for SC2. I'd really like to see some progamers pick this up and show their amazing keyboard speed.

-Kyo- Profile Blog Joined August 2010 Japan 1900 Posts Last Edited: 2013-04-01 18:14:44 #10 On April 02 2013 03:01 EGLzGaMeR wrote:

I would love to do this, but I only have 1 monitor.. So I don't think I can do it? ;;



I can't even get it to be picked up by OBS so I can't even record it as it seems to be a layered window...



I'm working on it but no idea @_@;;



When I enable capture of layered windows it makes my cursor blink a ton soooo think im going to pass on this for my own sanity T__T I can't even get it to be picked up by OBS so I can't even record it as it seems to be a layered window...I'm working on it but no idea @_@;;When I enable capture of layered windows it makes my cursor blink a ton soooo think im going to pass on this for my own sanity T__T Anime is cuter than you. Legacy of the Void GM Protoss Gameplay: twitch.tv/kyo7763 youtube.com/user/KyoStarcraft/

shindigs Profile Blog Joined May 2009 United States 4775 Posts Last Edited: 2013-04-01 18:22:20 #11 On April 02 2013 03:01 EGLzGaMeR wrote:

I would love to do this, but I only have 1 monitor.. So I don't think I can do it? ;;



I'll take a screencap of my setup. I'm on one monitor too, a 23" monitor at 1920 x 1080. I played SC2 in Windowed Mode so I open up some more space at the top of my monitor where I have Hot Virtual Keyboard. PM me if you'd like more assistance.



I use Software Capture in OBS to specifically capture SC2 and HVK, I don't capture the portion of the screen.



With 2 monitors, I think its easier to keep one monitor Fullscreen Windowed and have HVK on the other monitor. I'll take a screencap of my setup. I'm on one monitor too, a 23" monitor at 1920 x 1080. I played SC2 in Windowed Mode so I open up some more space at the top of my monitor where I have Hot Virtual Keyboard. PM me if you'd like more assistance.I use Software Capture in OBS to specifically capture SC2 and HVK, I don't capture the portion of the screen.With 2 monitors, I think its easier to keep one monitor Fullscreen Windowed and have HVK on the other monitor. Photographer @shindags || twitch.tv/shindigs

mizU Profile Blog Joined April 2010 United States 11896 Posts #12 Yay you found one :D if happy ever afters did exist <3 @watamizu_

Xzilend Profile Joined March 2011 Canada 29 Posts #13 This is an awesome idea! Have been thinking about optimal ways of capturing keyboard interactions to see what keys I could optimize, and this would be pretty useful!



Thanks for putting this together will definitely give it a try ^_^ MrBitter: "What do you do when you attack?" ... Student: "I lose?"

shindigs Profile Blog Joined May 2009 United States 4775 Posts #14 I actually think this has also has potential for coaching and learning SC2. Watching my VoD over again, I can already see parts of my gameplay that I can improve. Its better then having a camera over your hands IMO because you can see the exact buttons you're pressing. Photographer @shindags || twitch.tv/shindigs

Buddhism101 Profile Joined April 2011 United States 57 Posts #15 Be super careful with entering your passwords on stream with this. There's an option to not show buttons when you're entering passwords, but it doesn't seem to work with Starcraft to this point for me.

Tminus____ Profile Joined September 2011 244 Posts #16 Here is another one http://www.grumpybread.com/download/gop-gop-goop-goop/ should one be around to capture apm that would also be very nice. cmon gimme a break im to old for this shit

rd Profile Blog Joined July 2010 United States 2584 Posts #17 It sounded pretty cool, but in-game it's fairly meh. Just like watching actual hands it's not really that interesting in practice unless its at an extreme apm. Then again, their face isn't really that interesting to see 99% of the time either.

Noobity Profile Blog Joined February 2011 United States 844 Posts #18 I think this is considerably more interesting than watching a streamers fingers moving around the keyboard. Easier for me to see what's being pressed and seemingly less affected by fps issues than a webcam is My name is Mike, and statistically, yours is not.

JinDesu Profile Blog Joined August 2010 United States 3778 Posts #19 Got it working - pretty nice feature. Took a little effort to figure the settings to get it looking the way I want it to, but otherwise it's nothing too difficult. Yargh

RiSkysc2 Profile Joined September 2011 684 Posts Last Edited: 2013-04-02 00:46:31 #20 On April 02 2013 09:18 Tminus____ wrote:

Here is another one Here is another one http://www.grumpybread.com/download/gop-gop-goop-goop/ should one be around to capture apm that would also be very nice.

doesnt work



Anyone got it working with OBS? doesnt workAnyone got it working with OBS?

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