PulseCAD Studio¶
PulseCAD Studio puts live CAD and radio graphics on your stream. Add one link to OBS, Streamlabs or TikTok LIVE Studio and your viewers see your unit, your calls, who is on the radio and how the shift ends, as it happens. Studio is free on all plans. The small PulseCAD logo in the corner of the overlay is what keeps it free.
Set it up in My Account → PulseCAD Studio (also in the profile menu on your community hub).
Add it to your stream¶
Studio gives you three private links. Anyone with one of them can see your overlay, so keep them out of your stream and chat. If one leaks, use Reset links: the old links stop working at once.
| Link | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Horizontal overlay | Twitch, YouTube and Kick. 1920 × 1080. |
| Vertical overlay | TikTok and YouTube Shorts. 1080 × 1920. |
| OBS dock | Your control panel inside OBS. |
OBS
- Add a Browser source and paste the overlay link.
- Set the width and height to match the link: 1920 × 1080, or 1080 × 1920 for vertical.
- Leave Shutdown source when not visible off, so the overlay keeps up while you switch scenes.
- Optional: to let Studio switch scenes for you, set the source's Page permissions to Advanced access to OBS and name your scenes in Studio under Graphics (see Switching scenes).
- For the control panel, open Docks → Custom Browser Docks, name it Studio and paste the dock link.
Streamlabs: add a Browser Source the same way. TikTok LIVE Studio: add a Link source with the vertical link.
Studio never hosts or relays your video. Stream to Twitch, YouTube, TikTok or Kick the way you already do; Studio is the graphics on top.
What appears on stream¶
The overlay follows what you are doing in the CAD. Nothing appears while you are off duty except the PulseCAD logo and your promos.
- Unit bug: your callsign, name and status. If your community's status codes carry a radio code (such as a 10-code), it shows beside the status; if they do not, none is added. When a call is attached it shows under the bug. Your department's patch can sit beside it.
- Ride-along strip: when you are combined into a car with another officer, their name and their channel link, so your viewers can find their stream.
- Live map: the CAD's live map, with the same satellite imagery and markers: your unit and its heading, and your call as its pin (see Privacy). It zooms out to keep you and your call in frame. The caption is your current street. FiveM and ER:LC both work.
- Lower third: one graphic at a time for new calls, upgrades, tone-outs, arrests booked, records hits, the call's disposition and your promos. A panic always takes the slot at once.
- Radio: who is on the air, from PulseRadio, on the channels you are tuned to. It turns amber for priority traffic and red for an emergency.
- Explainers: one short line telling viewers what just happened, such as Enroute: Driving to the call. They use your community's own status codes and dispositions, so code words appear only if your community uses them.
- Prediction: a Twitch prediction on how the call ends (see Twitch).
- Community ticker: units on duty, active calls, dispatchers on and members live, in a strip along the bottom. Counts only, never names or places.
- End of watch: when you go off duty, a card with your shift: a timeline of your statuses, calls handled, traffic stops, arrests, citations, reports filed, distance driven, and your calls with how each ended.
Other roles show a window of the console you are working, drawn the way it looks in the CAD: Dispatch shows the board (active incidents, pending calls and units available) in your own console look, PulseSquare or PulseMin; Fire and EMS shows the Fire & EMS MDT with all units on your call and their status; Tow shows the Tow / DOT MDT with your call queue. Court shows the case you put on stream from the dock, each charge as it is decided, and the fines.
Privacy¶
What your overlay may show is set in two places, and the stricter one always wins:
- Your settings, in Studio under Privacy.
- Your community's limits, set by its admins in Admin → Studio. You can choose to show less than your community allows, never more. Studio tells you when a community limits a setting.
| Setting | Options |
|---|---|
| Call location | Exact, Street only, Hidden |
| Live map | On, Off (your own position: your footage already shows it) |
| Call on the map | Exact pin, Area only, Hidden |
| Other units on the map | Show, Hide |
| Caller names | Show, Hide |
| Radio talkers | Name, Callsign only |
| Other officers' panics | Name, Callsign only, Hidden |
| Twitch predictions | On, Off |
Communities can also black out call types. A blacked-out call shows only as Restricted call, with no location, and no prediction opens on it.
All of this is applied on our server before anything is sent to the overlay, so hidden details never reach your stream, even if someone opens your overlay link directly. Call notes are never sent to the overlay at all.
Make it yours¶
The Preview and layout card shows your overlay with sample data. Drag any graphic to move it; each canvas (horizontal and vertical) keeps its own positions, and Safe areas shows where TikTok and Twitch draw their own buttons. Play sample moments runs a short demo.
Under Look and Graphics you can change:
- Style: Broadcast, or Body camera (a camera timestamp with your unit and REC in place of the bug).
- Panels: Paper or Night. Brand color and Accent, from presets or any color. Typeface, Size (80 to 125%) and Corners.
- Department patch, and your community's published look with Apply.
- Which graphics appear, how long alerts and the end-of-watch card stay up, how often promos run, and whether the overlay plays its alert sounds.
The PulseCAD logo is always on; you can move and resize it.
Switching scenes¶
Name an OBS scene for a Priority 1 call, for a panic, and one to go back to. When it happens, Studio cuts to that scene and returns after the alert. The browser source needs Advanced access to OBS for this; leave the names blank to stay on your scene.
The OBS dock¶
- Hide everything: clears all graphics at once; press again to bring them back.
- Show recap and Run promo.
- Explainers: on or off.
- Now and Prediction: what the overlay is showing.
- Markers: pursuits, panics and arrests while you are live. Copy as YouTube chapters puts them on your clipboard as timestamps.
- Court case on stream (judges): choose an open case and Put on stream.
Promos¶
Your overlay rotates up to three promo cards, only when nothing else needs the lower third:
- Your community's invite, set by your admins in Admin → Studio.
- Your code: type it under Promos and the card reads Use code YOURCODE at checkout. If it is your PulseTech partner code, Studio also shows your sign-ups, how many are still subscribed, and what you have earned.
- A short PulseCAD spotlight.
Your community can switch member codes and the PulseCAD spotlight off.
Twitch¶
Connect Twitch in Studio to get predictions and highlight markers:
- Click Connect Twitch. Studio shows a short code.
- Go to twitch.tv/activate, enter the code and approve. Studio updates by itself.
Twitch asks you to reconnect every 30 days; Studio shows when.
- Predictions open when a call is attached (Reckless driver: how does it end? Arrest, Citation, Warning), lock when the call goes Priority 1 or after two minutes, and settle from the disposition you enter in the CAD. A call that ends any other way (for example GOA) cancels the prediction and Twitch refunds the points. Twitch only lets Affiliates and Partners run predictions.
- Markers drop on Priority 1 calls, panics and arrests while you are live, so the VOD is ready to clip.
Who's live¶
When your stream starts, OBS tells the overlay, and your community sees you under Live now on its hub, with what you are doing in the CAD and a link to your channel. Add your channel links in Studio under Your channels. The status shown follows your privacy settings: a restricted call reads On a call.
Communities can also post go-live and end-of-watch messages to Discord; see Discord Integration.
For community admins: Admin → Studio¶
Set the most any member's overlay may show while they are on your terminals: all settings in the Privacy table, blacked-out call types, whether members may show their own promo code or the PulseCAD spotlight, and whether the community ticker runs. Add your Discord or website link and one line for the invite card all members' overlays rotate, and optionally publish an official look (brand color, accent, corners and a department patch) members can apply in one click.