Align Text Vertically in OBS Studio GDI+

Adjusting the vertical alignment of a dynamic Text (GDI+) source in OBS Studio ensures that your text remains properly positioned when the underlying source file or text length changes. While OBS provides basic alignment options, vertical alignment requires enabling specific bounding box settings to work correctly. This guide provides a direct, step-by-step walkthrough on how to enable and configure vertical alignment for your GDI+ text sources.

How to Adjust Vertical Alignment in OBS Studio

To vertically align text within a GDI+ source, you must define a custom bounding box (extents). Without a defined height, OBS cannot calculate where the “top,” “center,” or “bottom” of the text area is.

Step 1: Enable Custom Text Extents

  1. Open OBS Studio and locate your Text (GDI+) source in the Sources dock.
  2. Double-click the source to open its Properties window.
  3. Scroll down the properties list until you find the checkbox labeled Use Custom Text Extents and check it.

Step 2: Set the Bounding Box Dimensions

  1. Once “Use Custom Text Extents” is enabled, two new fields will appear: Width and Height.
  2. Enter your desired dimensions in pixels. For example, if you want your text to align vertically within a box that is 400 pixels tall, set the Height to 400.
  3. Note: Ensure the width and height are large enough to fit your longest dynamic text input to prevent unwanted text wrapping or clipping.

Step 3: Configure Vertical Alignment

  1. Scroll down to find the Vertical Alignment dropdown menu.
  2. Click the dropdown and select your preferred alignment:
    • Top: Aligns the text to the upper boundary of your custom height.
    • Center: Perfectly centers the text between the top and bottom boundaries.
    • Bottom: Aligns the text to the lower boundary of your custom height.
  3. Click OK to save the changes.

Keeping the Source Centered on Your Screen

If your dynamic text changes from one line to two lines, the text boundary box might shift on your canvas. To keep the entire text source centered on your stream layout:

  1. Right-click your Text source in the Sources dock.
  2. Hover over Transform and select Edit Transform….
  3. Locate the Positional Alignment dropdown menu.
  4. Change this setting to Center (or Bottom Center if aligning to the bottom of the screen).

This ensures that any dynamic expansion of the text box occurs evenly from the center anchor point, rather than shifting the text down and off-screen.