A VTuber scene is three layers stacked in a specific order. Almost every problem people hit — model invisible, background covering everything, a grey box behind the avatar — comes down to the stack being wrong or one transparency setting being missed.
The stack, top to bottom
OBS draws the source at the top of the Sources list in front. So your list should read, from top:
- Overlay — frames, chat box, labels
- Your model — VTube Studio, or a PNGTuber app
- Background — the animated scene
- (optional) foreground props such as a desk or table PNG, if you want your model to sit behind something — this one goes above the model
That last one trips people up. A table asset that makes you look seated at a desk has to be in front of your model, not behind it. If you bought a background that came with a separate PNG prop, that PNG belongs above the model layer.
Adding the background
Animated backgrounds are video or image files, not browser sources.
- In the Sources panel, click + and choose Media Source for an MP4, or Image for a PNG.
- Point it at the file.
- For video, tick the loop option so it does not stop after one pass and leave you on a black screen.
- Drag it to the bottom of the Sources list.
A well-made looping background has no visible cut at the loop point, so this should just run quietly in the background all stream.
Getting your model in with a transparent background
This is the step that catches people. Adding VTube Studio to OBS as a plain window capture usually brings its interface background along with it, which then covers your scene.
Two common approaches:
- Spout2 — VTube Studio can output to OBS with transparency already handled. In OBS you add a Spout2 Capture source and select VTube Studio. This is the cleanest route when it is available to you.
- Window capture plus a colour key — set a solid green background inside VTube Studio, capture the window, then add a Chroma Key filter to the source in OBS and remove the green. Works everywhere, but you will spend a few minutes tuning the similarity and smoothness sliders to stop green fringing around your model's hair.
PNGTuber apps such as Veadotube follow the same logic — output with transparency where the app supports it, chroma key where it does not.
Resolution and canvas
Our animated backgrounds are built at 1920 × 1080. If your OBS canvas is also 1920 × 1080, the background should sit corner to corner with no scaling and no soft edges. If you have scaled or nudged it accidentally, right-click the source and use Transform → Fit to screen to snap it back.
Do not put motion behind your face
The most common design mistake in VTuber scenes: a background with constant movement directly behind the model. Viewers are watching your face, and anything moving in that zone competes with it. Backgrounds that work best have their motion at the edges — falling petals, drifting clouds, a flickering fireplace off to one side — and stay calm in the centre.
Test it properly
Move around. Tilt your head, lean left and right, and check that nothing clips through the foreground prop and that no chroma key fringe appears against the darker parts of the background. Two minutes of this now beats noticing on a VOD later.
Backgrounds and models
- Animated VTuber backgrounds — 17 looping scenes across every theme we make
- VTuber models — rigged and ready for VTube Studio
- Overlays to sit on top
Matching an overlay to a background is much easier if both come from the same theme — Cozy Cats, Enchanted Forest, Japanese Sakura and the rest each include both.