Lights, Stream, Action! Using Luxafor as an OBS Status Indicator

Remember my article on building a DIY status light? It turns out the team at Luxafor, the creators of those workplace status lights, noticed it too! They reached out, and we started chatting about how their products could be even more useful for streamers.

In the world of live streaming, especially with multi-camera setups, clear communication is important. Imagine directing a live show with multiple camera operators and on-screen talent. How do you ensure everyone knows which camera is live and when it’s safe to move the camera around?

That’s where the idea of “tally lights” comes in—and Luxafor devices are the perfect solution for small setups!

To test my idea out, the kind people from Luxafor sent me a free flag in return for writing the article and implementing my idea. A great deal for both sides.

Tally Lights for Talent and Crew: Visual Clarity on Set

By mounting a Luxafor device visibly near your camera, you create a clear, intuitive signaling system:

• Red Luxafor: “Camera is LIVE!” For talent, this is the “look at me now” light. For camera operators and floor crew, it’s a “hands-off, stay quiet” signal.

• Green Luxafor: “Standby Camera” or “Safe to Adjust.” This indicates the camera is currently in a non-live scene. Operators know they can reposition or adjust without interrupting the live feed.

This visual cue system significantly reduces on-air mistakes, improves coordination in multi-person streams, and gives your production a polished, professional feel. No more confusing hand signals, paper signs, or shouting across the studio—the lights speak for themselves!

OBS Integration: Automating Your Tally Lights

Note: Before getting started, make sure you have the necessary prerequisites installed:

• Luxafor Software: Download and install it from Luxafor Download.
• OBS with WebSocket: Ensure that OBS is installed and the WebSocket feature is enabled, which is crucial for the real-time scene-to-light sync.

You need to enable the “Incoming Local Webhooks” for the automation to work.

Also don’t forget to enable the OBS web socket and note down the port and password.

To make these tally lights truly effective, automation is key. By leveraging OBS Studio’s powerful WebSocket API, you can link scene changes directly to your Luxafor lights. That’s where the obs-tally-luxafor software comes into play.

The obs-tally-luxafor package is a Python tool I wrote that connects to OBS via its WebSocket interface, listens for scene changes, and automatically updates the color of your Luxafor LED device based on your configuration.

How It Works:

1. OBS WebSocket Connection: The software connects to OBS using the obsws-python library. It listens for scene changes in real time.

2. Camera & Scene Mapping: In OBS, you organize your scenes to represent different camera states (e.g., “Camera 1 Live,” “Camera 2 Live,” “Intermission”). The tool maps these scene names to specific Luxafor colors—red when a camera is live, green otherwise.

3. Real-time Scene-to-Light Sync: When you switch scenes in OBS, the script detects the change and sends commands to the corresponding Luxafor device to change its color. For example, switching to “Camera 1 Live” will turn the corresponding Luxafor red, while other scenes might set it to green.

Using the Software

Installing and running obs-tally-luxafor is straightforward. Here’s how you can get started:

1. Installation: Install the package from PyPI:

   pip install obs-tally-luxafor

2. Configuration: The software comes with a set of default parameters:

   • Luxafor API: – --base-url (default: http://127.0.0.1:5383) – --secret-token (default: luxafor)
   • OBS WebSocket: – --host (default: localhost) – --port (default: 4455) – --password (default: password)
   • Scene Trigger: – --scene-name (default: scene) This argument specifies which scene should trigger the red (live) color. Any scene that doesn’t match will set the LED to green.

3. Running the Software: Launch the integration from the command line:

   obs-tally-luxafor --scene-name "Camera 1 Live"

   Use the -h flag to see all available options:

   obs-tally-luxafor --help

With this setup, as soon as you switch scenes in OBS, the Luxafor device will update its color automatically—providing a simple and effective way to manage on-air status signals.