They know you are stuck in the infinite loop of pandemic life when you can no longer muster the excitement to change your goofy virtual zoom background. I’ve been overusing Zoom’s standard space image for a while – but imagine my surprise when I switched it the other day and found that the app now has a bunch of more virtual backgrounds and effects that anyone can try out.
To access it, make sure you have updated Zoom to the latest version of the app. This should be self-explanatory on your mobile devices. On the desktop, click your profile picture in the upper right corner of the main Zoom window and select Check for updates under the menu.
(While there is no guarantee that upgrading to the latest version of Zoom will provide you with additional functionality, the best possible chance is of keeping track of your updates. And this is good for Zoom security, too. OK, back to fun.)
Start a zoom call and go to the virtual backgrounds feature by clicking the arrow next to your video switch in the lower left corner. Choose “Choose the virtual background” and you should see some new options now – a nice animated beach, as well as a simpler background blur feature. I can’t decide what I like better.
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But we’re barely done. Click on the little one “Studio effects” When you create a link in the lower right corner, a pop-up sidebar will appear where you can assign yourself new eyebrows, a mustache and / or beard, and a lip color. Nice. Who doesn’t want a couple Eugene Levy brows?
Deselect Apply to All Future Meetings so you don’t have to forget to adjust these effects when you move from your friends’ hangout spots to your next work chat on the weekend.
When you’re done there, click on Zooms “Video filter” Option to the right of “Virtual Backgrounds.” There you will find a whole bunch of different filters that you can put on your image, from filters that adjust their color to:
If you find that some of the effects are reversed, don’t forget to turn off Mirror My Video. Otherwise, how do your friends and co-workers know you are confused by their presentation?
While you won’t find the above studio effects or the lovely animated beach in the mobile versions of your Zoom app (at least for now), you should still be able to access filters from your virtual backgrounds menu.
