Virtual Background

The Virtual Background feature allows you to display an image or video as your background during a Zoom meeting, which can provide you with more privacy or a consistent and professional look for a presentation.

Sign in to the Zoom web portal at www.conferzoom.org.

1. In the navigation menu, click Settings.
2. In the Meeting tab, navigate to Virtual Background and verify the setting is enabled.

Change Virtual Background on Desktop

1. Sign in to the Zoom desktop client.
2. Click your profile picture in the top right corner, then click Settings.
3. Select Backgrounds & Filters.
4. Check I have a green screen if you have a physical green screen set up. You can then click on your video to select the correct color for the green screen.
5. Click on an image or video to select the desired virtual background.
6. (Optional) Add your own image by clicking  and choosing if you want to upload an image or a video.
   
   If you see that some virtual background features are unavailable to select, check prerequisites to use the feature. Zoom article links available at end of this article.

Selecting virtual background during a meeting

1. Start meeting. 
2. Click the up arrow button next to Start Video/Stop Video in your meeting controls.
3. Desktop client will open, select your virtual background.

Troubleshooting Virtual Background issues

If you are experiencing issues with Virtual Background, try the following troubleshooting tips:

• If you do not have the Virtual Background tab in your desktop client settings after enabling it, sign out of the client, sign back in again, and check the settings again.
• Manually pick the background color to ensure the correct color is selected. This option is only available after you click an image and have I have a green screen selected. Click the color selector box and the virtual background will disappear temporarily, so that you can click on the color in your background that you want to replace with the virtual background. Zoom will automatically make a best guess as to which color should be replaced, but sometimes there are too many choices to accurately guess the correct one. This is why sometimes the virtual background will cover some of your face, as the color it selected was too close to your own skin tone. 
• Ensure that the background is a solid color with minimal shadows. Also, ensure the background is uniform in lighting. A 3-point lighting setup is ideal.
• Ensure that your green screen color does not match your shirt, hair, or eye color.
• If you are using VDI, some plugins do not support virtual backgrounds and less powerful thin client machines may also be unable to support the feature. Support for additional VDI platforms is in development and customers should check with their sales representative for updates.

Immersive View

Recreate the feel of your class or conference room by placing up to 25 video participants onto a single virtual background. Participants are automatically placed onto provided scenes and the host can adjust the arrangements as needed. The host can also use their own custom background for a unique scene. While this does not require use of the Virtual Background feature, it does work best when everyone has this functionality. 

Starting Immersive View

1. Start a meeting or webinar as the host.
2. In the top-right corner, click View.
3. Click Immersive.
4. Select one of the following options for placing participants into the scene:
   
   • Automatically: This will include as many participants as possible in the scene you select. Participants can be swapped out and arranged during the immersive scene.
   • Manually: You will add or remove participants as you wish. If more than are allowed for a particular scene are selected, extras will be removed.
5. Select the scene you would like to use. Each scene designates the max number of predefined places for attendees.
6. Click Start to begin the Immersive View.

Changing Immersive View   

1. In the top-right corner, click View.
2. Click Change Immersive View.
3. Select the new scene and check participant assignments.
4. Click Start to launch the new scene.

Using a custom Immersive View   

1. In the top-right corner, click View.
2. Click Change Immersive View.
3. Click the plus icon to add a custom background.
4. In the file selection dialog, find and select the image you want to use.
5. Click Open.
6. Click Start to launch the new scene.
7. Click and drag participant videos down onto the scene, adjusting their size as needed.

Moving and Adjusting Participants

When the immersive view begins, as many participants’/panelists’ videos as that scene allows by default (or fewer) will be placed in the predefined locations.

When predefined locations are filled, not every participant is selected for the scene, or attendees arrive late, extra participants are placed above the immersive scene. The host can leave these videos above the scene, can click and drag the video down to an empty location, or click and drag the video to replace someone else. Videos dropped near a predefined location will snap to that location and that scene’s size for each video.   

To resize a video

1. Click on the video participant to see a thin, blue box outlining their video panel.
2. Click and drag the participant to a location in the scene.
3. Click and drag one of the corners of the box to resize their video.

When screen sharing, the Immersive View ends and is replaced by the shared screen. When sharing stops, the Immersive View begins again with the same positions as before.

Currently, only local recording of Immersive Views is supported. When in Immersive View, only the immersive scene will be captured, while other video thumbnails will not be recorded. Cloud Recordings just appear as Gallery or Speaker layout, depending on cloud recording settings.

For complete information regarding virtual background including prerequisites to use the feature, go to https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/210707503-Virtual-background.

For complete information regarding blurred background including prerequisites to use the feature, go to https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360061468611.

For complete information regarding adjusting your video layout during a virtual meeting including prerequisites to use the feature, go to https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362323-Adjusting-your-video-layout-during-a-virtual-meeting.