Projects, USB Keyboards >

I want to use a USB keypad to control elements of Open Broadcaster Software.

This guide is good, but my script is very thorough. See key remapping.lua

---

Using LuaMacros ∞

(LuaMacros)

The basics ∞

What you will be learning to do is:

1. Learn about your second USB keyboard.
2. Learn about all the individual keys of your second USB keyboard.
3. Map each key to the key combination or LuaMacros function you wish to use.

4. Configure any other software you use to perform actions based on those key combinations.

   • For example, if you press 1 on your second USB keyboard, you can have LuaMacros issue control-alt-windows-F2 instead of the number 1, and then you can configure Open Broadcaster Software to transition to "scene 2" when it sees control-alt-windows-F2.

--

1. Get key remapping.lua
2. Get learn keyboard.lua
3. Get LuaMacros (direct download)

4. Unzip LuaMacros

   • It is a "portable" program which does not need to be installed.

Learn your keyboard ∞

1. Launch LuaMacros
2. Remove your second USB keyboard
3. Type lmc_print_devices()
4. Press the "play" triangle at the top of the window
5. Insert your second USB keyboard
6. Type lmc_print_devices()
7. Press the "play" triangle at the top of the window
8. Note the new device which was added
9. Open key remapping.lua with a text editor.

10. Modify it to set usb_device_code=

    • For example:
      \\?\HID#VID_13BA&PID_0001#8&BE46E30&0&0000#{884B96C3-56EF-11D1-BC8C-00A0C91405DD}
      is
      usb_device_code=BE46E30

Learn your keys ∞

1. Insert your second USB keyboard
2. Open learn keyboard.lua with a text editor.
3. Launch LuaMacros.
4. Copy the contents of learn keyboard.lua into the upper part of LuaMacros.
5. Press the "play" triangle at the top of the window.

6. Open key remapping.lua with a text editor.

Your goal is to:

1. Switch to LuaMacros.

2. Press a key on your second USB keyboard.

3. Edit key remapping.lua to change one of the lines that looks like this:

elseif ( button == 106 ) then lmc_send_keys( '^>%#{NUMMULTIPLY}', 50 ) --  *

Notice the button == 106. You will be changing that number.

4. Also change a line like the above to your preferred macro or action.

The above example means that when key 106 is seen, which is the forward-slash key on the USB numberpad, ^>%#{NUMMULTIPLY} is output. That's <right-side-control>-alt-windows-<numberpad />, which is an intentionally-unusual key combination. See List-of-Keys.md for some help.

Some examples for launching a program:

• Launch the calc program with lmc_spawn( 'calc' )

• Open a text file with notepad with lmc_spawn( 'notepad', 'C:\\test.txt' )

--

Go through steps 3 and 4 for every key on your USB keypad. It's likely that I've already set things up quite well in my example script.

Use ∞

1. Insert your second USB keyboard

2. Launch LuaMacros

3. Open your personalized key remapping.lua file with a text editor.

Note that you may prefer to edit key remapping.lua to remove (or comment-out by beginning those lines with --) the bottom three lines:

lmc.minimizeToTray = true
lmc_minimize()
lmc_say( 'Launched' )

4. Copy the contents of your personalized key remapping.lua file into the upper part of LuaMacros.

5. Press the "play" triangle at the top of the window.

It will launch, remapping your choice of keys to whatever you customized it to do.

6. Teach your software to notice those keystrokes.

Example: OBS Studio ∞

An example with OBS Studio:

1. Launch LuaMacros
2. Copy the contents of your personalized key remapping.lua file into the upper part of LuaMacros.
3. Press the "play" triangle at the top of the window.
4. Launch OBS
5. File > Settings > Hotkeys
6. For any of your scenes, click inside the text area and then press the key on your second USB keyboard for macros.
7. Once done, click OK at the bottom of the window to accept your new hotkey settings.

8. Use OBS as usual, and you can press the keys on your second USB keyboard.

Alternatives ∞

I know there are other solutions, but LuaMacros has been the only solution I've really investigated, because it works.

• https://www.elgato.com/us/en/p/stream-deck-mk2-black [ 1 ] [ 2 ]

Last updated 2023-07-19 at 23:53:44

Footnotes