Overlays: a Timer in Your Video

An overlay is a page you put on top of your video in OBS. It shows the race clock, the heat, and every pilot's laps, on a see-through background. Use it for a stream, a recording, or a competition that wants a timer in view, like RaceGOW.

The overlay follows whatever is happening in the event you have open. It only reads. Closing OBS never touches the race.

What you need

• GridFPV running with an event open.
• OBS, or any recorder that can show a web page.
• Your video source: your goggles' DVR, a camera on the track, or a capture card.

Find the overlay

1. Open your event.
2. Click Overlays in the list down the left side. It sits under Timers.

The Overlays page shows each overlay with a preview of what it looks like right now, its URL, and a Copy URL button. Open in a new tab shows the page on its own.

There is one overlay so far, the Race timer. It shows:

• the race clock (it counts down when the round has a race time),
• the heat's name and whether it is LIVE,
• every pilot in the heat with their laps, last lap, and best lap.

When one pilot is flying alone, it shows their last few laps instead of a table. When the round scores Best of N laps in a row, the best run of laps is highlighted, and the pilot's best for the day shows too.

Put it in OBS

1. On the Overlays page, click Copy URL.
2. In OBS, add a Browser source and paste the URL. Make it the same width and height as your video.
3. Put it on top of your video source. The background is see-through, so only the panel shows.
4. Record or stream as you fly.

Pick the colors that show up on your video

Above the URL, choose Light text on dark or Dark text on light. Dark works over most goggle DVR. Light works over a bright room camera. The URL changes when you pick, so copy it after you choose. You can also add /light to the end of the URL yourself.

The address does not change

The desktop app always serves at http://127.0.0.1:8080. You can paste the URL into OBS once and it keeps working after you restart GridFPV.

One computer, or two?

If OBS runs on a different computer, the overlay needs to reach GridFPV over your network. The desktop app only listens on its own computer. Run the server version instead, and use your computer's network address in the URL, as on the Getting Started page.

Timing a solo run at home

Competitions like RaceGOW want your fastest laps in a row with a timer in the video. You do not need anything special for that. Make an ordinary event:

1. Make an event and add yourself to the roster. See Running an Event.
2. Make a Time Trials round. Set Rounds to 0 so you can fly as many times as you like, pick Best of 3 laps in a row as the scoring, and give it a race time long enough for a pack. See Round Formats.
3. Put the overlay in OBS, as above.
4. In Race Control, make the heat, Stage it, Start, fly, and Stop when you land. Each pack is its own heat.

Your best laps in a row across every heat show on the Results page, and the overlay shows the best so far while you fly. Every lap is on GridFPV's record with the time it happened.