When the world's workforce was pushed to go remote due to the Covid-19 pandemic, apps like Zoom and Google Meet became staples in our daily lives. That means a lot of us have to be camera ready every day, which, let's be honest, working from home can lead to a bit of laissez-faire regarding personal appearance. And if you have a child participating in remote learning, which means your kids also have to be presentable, the danger of not putting your best face forward becomes a serious reality.
Due to the rapid mass need for daily video conferencing, Zoom has been continually updating its conferencing interface's abilities to meet the needs of users. One of the first changes was giving users the ability to change their backgrounds. It's a feature that comes in handy if you don't wish others to see all your children's toys strewn about or get distracted by your collection of trinkets from your last vacation.
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Zoom also recently updated the host's ability to remove and block notorious Zoom bombers from entering meetings or unruly members of your conferences. The latest Zoom update now comes with Studio Effects that allows users to add a variety of eyebrows, facial hair, and lip color to their video feed, in a sense prettying things up or adding a bit of pizzazz and even humor to your video conferences.
The adding of make-up effects to Zoom is a bit questionable as nobody really wants to come face to face with clown-faced co-workers first thing in the morning. It could also bring the added benefit of knowing you can "fix your face" without fixing your face beforehand.
To use Zoom's Studio Effects, you go to the gear icon and click on it to enter the settings menu when logged in to the Zoom desktop app. First up, click on the Background and Filters tab from the list of options on the left and locate the Studio Effects (Beta) at the bottom right and click it. Once clicked, a new window will open on the right that will give you options to change your eyebrows, mustache & beard, and lip color.
Although this is all fun, please be sure to remember to leave the option unchecked that reads “Apply to all future meetings” just in case you're not ready to share your updated look with colleagues.
