The virtual background feature is one of the most loved features offered by Zoom. With it, you are allowed to swap out your real life background with an image or video while you are streaming with co-workers, family members, or friends. To use it, you will need to get a green screen. How do you add a green screen on Zoom?
1. Start a new meeting
In order to test your green screen before showing it to the others, you can just simply start a new meeting by yourself. It is recommended to allow you to find the perfect background that can surprise your friends on the next call.
2. Open the video settings of Zoom
Then, it is time for you to access your green screen in your meeting. There is a menu that shows up when you click on the arrow. This one is located beside the video icon at the bottom left. In this menu, please click on Video Settings. Once you have opened it, choose Virtual Background which can be found in the left sidebar menu. In this step, you are allowed to change your background.
For those who do not have the device that does not meet the requirements to use the virtual background, then the green screen feature should be automatically chosen at the bottom of the window.
3. Choose your green screen color
If there is no green screen, but you want to try this and get the background that has the same color, then this information is for you. It is the most essential part of the green screen with Zoom to work well. For instance, you can change the red sheet that you currently have behind to cover your wall with a green screen because the whole effect would be easier and it works better if the actual green screen is used.
After setting the background as best as you can, the next thing that you will have to do is to choose the color picker in the bottom right of the camera display and click on the color that takes up the most of the background. In order to get a better result, you are encouraged to try clicking in different areas of the same color.
The most interesting thing is that you are allowed to be creative. Feel free to get creative in different ways. If you wear all black clothes, you might want to use the color picker to choose your clothes and make yourself look like a floating head.
4. Add custom Zoom background
There is a small plus button located at the right side of the text saying Choose Virtual Background. It can be used if you want to add your own custom image to Zoom. All that you should be done is to click on it and it will immediately browse your computer to find and import an image that you want as a background. That’s all the thing that you should know to add a custom green screen image to your Zoom calls.
A lot of people have been working from home due to Covid-19 pandemic. Aside from working at home, people are also forced to not go school and to not hangout with friends and meeting relatives. In this kind of situation, everyone is looking for something that can connect them to the other people. Zoom is one of the most favorite platforms that is usually used to meet with outside people. It is really rising in popularity for meetings, online classes, presentations, and so on. However, some people might be a bit tired of having the same old home office background.
The good news is that Zoom provides a feature called a virtual background. By using this one, you will be able to change your background with any custom image that you want. A green screen is required so that Zoom can detect the difference between you and your background. You can place yourself at the top of Everest or on the beach in Maldives. Feel free to use your wild mind.
Prerequisites:
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- Windows: 4.6.0 (1193.1215) or higher
- macOS: 4.6.0 (1696.1216) or higher
- A physical green screen
Recommended setup:
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- If you want to get the best virtual background effect, using a solid color background is suggested, preferably green.
- You can get a better virtual background with higher quality cameras.
- Please use uniform lighting and color.
- Avoid wearing clothes that have the same color as the virtual background.
Background image:
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- Adding your own virtual backgrounds has no restrictions, but you are recommended to crop the image to match the aspect ratio of your camera before uploading it. For instance, if you set the camera to 16:9, the image of 1280 by 720 pixels or 1920 by 1080 pixels works best.
- For those who are not sure about the camera aspect ratio, you can use a background image with a minimum resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels.
- Feel free to browse some of the virtual backgrounds that have been collected by Zoom or use these sources for the other royalty free images such as Unsplash, Pexels, and Pixabay.
Background video:
The format of the video should be MP4 or MOV file with a minimum resolution of 480 by 360 pixels or 360p and a maximum resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p).
Aside from green, some people prefer to use a blue one. The reason is because it can change your hair and some other issues that are mostly related to the hair. Actually, using a blue background is great as long as you do not wear a dark blue shirt and you are not using a blue background.
The case might be different for everyone so go on if you want to add a green screen on Zoom. If you face the same case as the one who switched to the blue background, then do not hesitate to also do the same.
AUTHOR BIO
On my daily job, I am a software engineer, programmer & computer technician. My passion is assembling PC hardware, studying Operating System and all things related to computers technology. I also love to make short films for YouTube as a producer. More at about me…
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