Tuesday, December 28, 2021

TouchPortal 3.0 / OBS / MagicWindow

Datatalk / Touch Portal.

Touch Portal and OBS Studio are the (low cost) alternative to Elgato's Stream Deck and other Elgato solutions.

(Honestly, Elgato's kit is very nice, but a tad pricy.)

This page offers a quick overview of how to install and migrate both apps.



TouchPortal 3.0

Install Touch Portal 3.0.x on your PC
  1. Download
  2. Install

Install Touch Portal on your mobile device
  • Use either Android or iOS
  • On an iOS device, use the function 'restore purchases'
  • Note that very old iOS devices are still supported, so you can finally re-use that old iPad Gen 2, or iPad Mini Gen 1 that is gathering dust in your desk drawer.

Migrate an existing Touch Portal setup

  1. Start Touch Portal on the source machine
  2. Settings / Backup / Create New Backup
  3. The backup is stored in C:\Users\admin\Documents\Touch Portal Backups\yyyymmdd-hhmm
  4. Copy the folder to the new machine to the same folder
  5. Start Touch Portal on the destination macine
  6. Settings / Backup
  7. Restore the backup

OBS 27

Install OBS 27.1.x

  1. Download
  2. Install

Install OBS Web Socket 4.9.1

  1. Download
  2. Install
  3. Allow Access through the Firewall
  4. Server Port: 4444
  5. Password: pick your password
  6. Start up Touch Portal
  7. Settings / OBS Settings
  8. Set server port and password to match

Migrate OBS settings
  1. Copy the folder %APPDATA%\obs-studio\ to the same spot on the new machine
  2. Check all scenes and sources, if the destination machine has different hardware


Other files

If you use dedicated batch files and other utilities, don't forget to copy those too!
  • I keep all my regular batch files in c:\batch
  • I have named specific TP related batchfiles as tp_whatever.bat
  • I keep all my regular (command line) utilities in c:\utils
  • Copy whatever is needed

Some files / programs I use
  • cmdow.exe - manipulate / force windows to the front 
  • waitwindow.exe - conditionally launch other apps, wait until a window is open
  • tp_email.bat - launch my email program
  • tp_music.bat - play music (using SqueezeLite-X)
  • tp_netflix.bat - start netflix
  • tp_obs.bat - start OBS
  • tp_obs_magicwindow - use the magicwindow tool to zoom and follow the cursor
  • tp_plex.bat - start Plex
  • tp_win10connect.bat - allow MiraCast (project) to a Windows 10 PC

DroidCam

1. Install App on Android device
2. Install App on PC
3. Verify they both have the same settings and ports etc.
4. In OBS create a scene and add a source for the DroidCam device
5. Create a button in TP to start the application

C:\Program Files (x86)\DroidCam\DroidCamApp.exe

6. Create a button in TP to switch to the DroidCam scene


MagicWindow

There are two different versions, the original and an enhanced version (if it's safe or not you decide). There's also a newer (smoother) version in Python called Zoom and Follow.

I use the 'enhanced' Tryptych version, which unfortunately doesn't check if it was already started or not. Also, it doesn't always behave properly at odd scaling factors. 

If you need better scaling support (anything other than 100%), 4k screen handling, or if it doesn't work on your specific multi monitor combination, then try the 'Zoom and Follow' implementation!

To use the orginal / enhanced MagicWindow

1. Install / copy MagicWindow to c:\utils\
2. Create a batch file to start it up

waitwindow .NET-BroadcastEventWindow.4.0.0.0.14* 1 start c:\utils\obs_magicwindow.exe

3. Create a button in TP that launches that batch file, this button starts the program
4. Create a scene in OBS
5. Add a source 'Window Capture' with 'obs_magicwindow.exe' as the source window

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