Setting Up a Virtual Camera for Zoom Calls

have you ever been on a zoom call and suddenly someone puts up a graphic like maybe they show their name at the bottom of their screen or they show their logo or some other kind of visual effect and you think how did you do that well often we think maybe it's really expensive or really complicated but actually it is neither of those things and in today's video i'm going to show you all about how you can use a virtual camera to take your zoom calls to the next level whether you are running a full-blown workshop or you're just leading a department meeting this is the type of simple software that you can add to your presentation that really does make an impact now if we have not met my name is kat and i help you to create professional and engaging online presentations and i'm really excited about today's topic because i love using the virtual cam and i think that is the type of thing that really stands out and makes an impression and it's actually a great teaching tool so in this video i'm going to share a few different things including how to make graphics like this sidebar but we'll also talk about why would you use one and what is the virtual camera i'll show you a couple of demonstrations and share some tips and also some important things that you do need to know before you get started for the first time with a virtual camera but the other thing i have to share which is really exciting is that i have created a pdf that has all of the steps to get started hooking up your virtual camera into your zoom call but i've also decided to include nine free graphics that you can use and download and get started right away so you don't have to waste any time creating the visuals you'll already have something you can start working with so you can test the virtual camera right away so you can get that in the link below so let's get started so first and foremost what is a virtual camera well essentially instead of choosing your main camera source to come into zoom you're actually going to select a virtual camera which comes from a software on your computer so you'll be able to set up all the graphics and scenes the way that you want and then you bring that into the zoom call now why would you want to use one well first of all i think that it really does help draw attention when something is moving across the screen or showing up or disappearing people pay attention and sometimes with zoo calls our attention can wander so this can help keep your audience attentive to what you are speaking about but also it really helps drive points home and something i find really important is that not everyone is an auditory learner meaning sometimes people are visual learners so having something on the screen that complements and really reinforces what you're trying to say i think is really important to capture multiple types of learning but the other thing is that it kind of looks cool and i think it actually makes your your presentations look more professional more polished and also more organized like you really have planned out the way that you are going to run your zoom call so for all of those reasons i think it's great to use a virtual cam okay so when it comes to using a virtual camera you're going to need a streaming software now there are more than what i have shown here however these are some of the main ones that you might find when it comes to streaming software you do need to download these to your computer meaning there are streaming programs that are actually web-based but those won't work for a virtual camera you need something that's actually installed directly on your local computer the computer that you will use for your zoom calls you want those two in the same place because they're going to connect with each other for the purpose of today's video i am only going to focus on the top two so the first one that you see is obs or open broadcasting software this is free to download and it is available on both mac and pc so this is a great option to get started very low barrier to entry there is a little bit of learning curve but i have created a video that shows you exactly how to set up your scenes so you can load your graphics in advance and in this video i will actually show you how to set up your virtual camera now the other one on the top level is what we call ecamm live that is what i use and what i love and it is for mac users only and it is a paid software and you do need the pro plan in order to use the virtual camera but if you are regularly facilitating and you are a mac user this is definitely something you should consider i find it well worth the investment for all of the features and also it's really really user friendly so i'm actually going to show you how you set up your virtual camera using the two examples so you'll see ecamm live which is what i regularly use for my virtual cam but i'm also going to show you an example of obs because it is readily available and it is free and you can use it on both a mac and pc so for those of you who are using ecamm to bring a virtual camera into zoom let's get you started so the first thing you want to make sure is that you have ecam live loaded and open so we want to make sure that we've launched ecamm live and that we've spent a little bit of time getting our scenes just right so in this example i'm going to show four different scenes and if you do not know how to do this you can check out my video on how to set up your scenes in ecamm to get ready for the virtual camera in that video i set up a main slide which is just me i have a title slide where i say what today's meeting is about i have my agenda slide where everyone can see what we're going to talk about in the zoom call and finally i have set up a screen share where i can share a browser and speak to it so i have me and the browser both there so those are the four things that i've decided to include in the virtual camera so before you actually launch zoom you want to make sure that ecamm has the virtual camera turned on so on output you want to go over and check virtual cam and make sure that it is on now you do have to have the pro plan of ecamm live in order to get the virtual camera but that will ensure that you can have this feature if you don't see it when you open zoom you want to come here and make sure that it is toggled to on now we want to make sure that we open zoom but have the right camera so when it comes to a video i always start my zoom calls without actually being on camera i want to decide when that camera turns on but also i want to make sure that i'm choosing the right camera so beside the start video is this little chevron you can open it and make sure that you've selected the right camera and this is where you should see your virtual camera so you can see that ecamm live virtual cam is an option and it is selected so now when i turn on my video the exact feed from ecamm is coming in to my zoom call so that means when it is time to share the title it will show up in my zoom call when i share the agenda everyone will see this in my zoom window and finally when i have my screen share this is where i would recommend that people have the zoom set to speaker view instead of gallery view so they can see the whole window but this way you can share something from your computer without having to do the zoom share screen option so that's a really great feature and one of the reasons that i really like this is that as long as people have it set to speaker view i can toggle between these scenes and have all of this set up and don't have to worry about doing any kind of screen share so this is how you get your virtual camera loaded into your zoom call now a tip is when you have these open if they're on the same page you can just drag your zoom meeting and kind of cover your face and then you can just toggle between these you don't have to see two of you so that's my recommendation when you've got these both showing now when it comes to bringing a virtual camera into zoom it is just the camera so just like you would select your camera for zoom that's what you're doing for audio you are going to choose whichever microphone you want to use you do not have to bring your audio through your streaming software you can just choose that mic directly from zoom and use that microphone if you are using obs as your software to use the virtual camera you will want to make sure that you have your obs software open and that you have your scenes loaded now if you don't know how to do this you can watch my video where i show you how to set up scenes in obs to get ready for the virtual camera and that is where i show you how to create your title slide an agenda slide and also a screen share slide and we want to make sure that these are all ready to go before you launch your zoom call now the other thing you need to make sure is that you have the virtual camera started so under controls it'll say start virtual camera when you click that then it'll say stop virtual camera so that's how you know that it is on and it is ready to come in to your zoom call i have my zoom window opened beside obs and i want to just make sure before i turn on my camera that it's the right one so you can see that i have obs virtual camera selected so i am good to go now when i start my video you can see that it's the same feed so over in obs when i switch the scene to title to agenda or to screen share that these all show up in my zoom call with ecamm i usually like to cover my preview window with my zoom meeting but with obs there's a challenge with that because once you start to toggle between your scenes now obs is on top and zoom is actually hidden so you don't necessarily want to do that but you can position however you like so that you can see the zoom meeting you can see those interactions but then you also can control those different scenes really easily so that's something you should be aware of if you are using obs as your primary software for the virtual camera now if your virtual camera is not on this is what happens you will just see an obs logo and you will not see your virtual camera so if that happens that is your cue to go over here to the control and make sure that you have start virtual camera running so now you know how to set up your virtual camera in ecamm live or in obs and you can see how simple it is to bring in graphics into your zoom call there are a few tips though i want you to know so the first tip start simple don't go overboard in your first meeting and throw everything at it just practice using one or two things that's the best way to start and really ease into it because you are going to be navigating two things at one time now the other thing is i really want you to keep your audience in mind because you do not want to overdo it you don't want to come in and just because you can look fancy doesn't necessarily mean you should so you really want to think about what are the key points what am i really trying to drive home what should i put on the screen and what shouldn't i you just don't want to go overboard so really start thinking about the audience the person in the call what are you hoping that they get out of it how are you trying to leverage these graphics instead of just trying to show off which let's be honest when you first start using it it's pretty exciting and you want to show all the bells and whistles but that is not what your audience necessarily needs and finally practice because you are going to be flipping between your different scenes in that streaming software and bring it into zoom but you're also on a zoom call so you need to be able to navigate your zoom call and be able to switch through scenes so that's why starting simple but also practicing in advance are two really important parts there are some important things you need to know about the virtual camera so the first and i think most important thing is that it does demand more from your computer meaning there's more processing power that's required to run a zoom call and the streaming software at the same time if your computer does not have a lot of ram or processing power it might struggle you might find that your fan is starting to run or your computer is starting to get loud and that is a sign that your computer is working really hard and it's not actually great for the computer to have the fan going all of the time so if your computer is not strong enough this may not be a viable option for you you can test different streaming softwares maybe try a few ecammlive has a 14-day trial so you could always download that one give it a try and then you don't have any risk with the financial obligation but something like obs you can easily download and get started right away and just see does this take a toll and you want to make sure that you are practicing so run an actual meeting keeping your computer going for a little bit longer than you normally would to see does it kick in later because you wouldn't want to just suddenly be surprised and then get thrown off if your computer is by chance overheating now that being said i don't want to discourage you from trying because it really is a valuable tool and it can be something that can enhance your presentations and help your audience so let me know in the comments if you've given this a try especially if you are brand new were you able to get it set up and how are you liking using the virtual cam and don't forget to grab the download of the pdf of getting set up with your virtual cam into zoom and you can grab your nine free graphics so that you don't have to worry about wasting any time just get started get set up and if you have found this video useful and you want more tips on creating more professional and engaging online presentations i encourage you to like this video subscribe and hit the bell to be notified when a new one is out

Channel: Cat Mulvihill

Views: 15,126

Keywords: add graphics to zoom meeting, add graphics to zoom webinar, add graphics to zoom video, virtual camera for zoom meetings, virtual camera for zoom mac, virtual camera for zoom windows 10, add virtual camera to zoom, add virtual camera mac, zoom presentation tips, virtual camera, virtual cam, virtual camera for obs, virtual camera with Ecamm, ecamm live for mac, ecamm live zoom, cat mulvihill

Id: 53G2kEBqAlM

Length: 14min 20sec (860 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 05 2021