Zoom now introduced a variety of new virtual avatars that would enable users to join meetings as different animals and copy their emotions in Memoji-style. Users can join their next meeting as a rabbit, fox, dog, or another type of animal, using its new virtual avatars that replaces a user with a virtual character. The firm states that the feature, which is included in the Zoom 5.10 update, will only let you become an animal at launch, but new avatar options will be added in the future.
Zoom’s New Virtual Avatars Can Bring Fun to Team-Building Meetings
Zoom considers the new virtual avatars to be useful for a lot of different scenarios — in its press release, it mentions showing up with an avatar filter on could “bring some fun to your team-building meetings” or help pediatricians appear less intimidating to young children. There’s also the thought that it could help relieve Zoom fatigue.
Read more: Zoom’s Zero Click Vulnerability Can Expose Personal User Data
At least one study has revealed that constantly looking at yourself to make sure you’re presentable and responding properly is part of what makes being in video calls all day so tiring. If your Zoom box is displaying a giraffe that’s reflecting your facial expressions, that’s a lot more challenging to scrutinize than your actual face. To turn on new virtual avatars, Zoom instructs users to click the ^ button next to the Start / Stop Video button, then click Choose Video Filter.
Avatars Can Also Show Up Wearing a Hoodie or a T-Shirt
Then, select the animal you want to show up as from the Avatars tab — apparently, you can even choose whether your avatar will be wearing a hoodie or T-shirt (it’d just be immersion-breaking if you showed up as a fox not suitably dressed for the weather). You can also optionally choose to always apply the new virtual avatars whenever you join a meeting.
Source: The Verge
