Zoom presented its users with a new pack of animal avatars in the form of emojis that can be used during video calls. Dogs, foxes and rabbits are just some of the new avatars that will be available in the latest app update.
“This new and fun feature makes it easy to inject fun into your meetings and webinars and lighten the mood, whether you’re at home, in the office, or in the classroom!” say the developers of Zoom.
They explain that the avatars are designed to imitate both the movements of the person’s head and their facial expressions to give it the greatest possible realism. They also point out that this function will allow those people who do not want to appear on the screen during a meeting to activate their webcam without the need to show their face.
From Zoom they explain that in order to be able to use the avatar function, the program uses the webcam to detect where the user’s face is and the expressions that it finds performing while speaking.
“Images of your face do not leave your device when you use this feature, and are not stored or sent to Zoom. This feature does not use facial recognition, which means it does not identify who you are. So while the Avatars feature can tell what a face is or isn’t, it doesn’t recognize or distinguish between individual faces.
How use avatars
Users will be able to activate the avatars option both on computers with Windows operating system and iOS. In order to use it, you must have Zoom version 5.10.0 or higher, either on a desktop PC or on a mobile device.
It will also be necessary for the administrator of the room where the user is to have this option activated to be able to use it, otherwise the activation of the avatar will have no effect.
1. The first step to activate the function is to check that the webcam is turned on and the video function is activated in Zoom.
two. In the meeting toolbar, open the video options by selecting the “Stop video” button.
3. Select the option choose virtual background or choose video filter
4. Finally navigate to the Avatars tab and choose your avatar
Although at the moment the only avatars available are in the form of animals, Zoom developers assure that they will soon incorporate new styles of avatars for the enjoyment of their users.
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