Want to make your next quarterly Zoom review a little more interesting? Want to exasperate your colleagues with virtual bare hands? If so, why not turn yourself into a spooky, living cartoon, using Snapchat's desktop app?
We've talked about the Snap Camera app before because it's fun, free, and easy to use. But Snap seems to have updated it recently with its mobile app's cartoon filter, which is worth checking out on its own. The filter turns you into a generic DreamWorks/Pixar creation and is surprisingly smooth. Its ability to capture your full range of expressions is a bit limited (it can't quite do a good DreamWorks Face, for example) but access via the desktop app means you can now use the filter on your next Zoom call, which is both silly and fun.
Image:I/O Means
To do this, you'll first need to download and install the Snap Camera app from here (you'll need to give it access to your microphone and camera, and be running Windows 10 or macOS 10.13 or a later version). Then start the app, start Zoom and make Snap Camera your camera input. To do this on a Mac, click "Preferences"> "Video" in the top menu. If you're using a PC, click the gear icon in the top right of the app, then select "Video". Then, in the drop-down menu labeled "Camera", select "Instant Camera" rather than your current entry.
Next, navigate to the Snap Camera app itself and select your filter of choice from the carousel below the camera feed. This one is called "Cartoon Style". Click on it and you should be good to go. A little tip:you can click on the video or create a custom hotkey (set under the video stream) to switch between different cartoon styles. Enjoy!
