Is there an API for Virtual Background

Description
I am looking to see if an API or SDK exists that allows you to alter your virtual background while a meeting is running.

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Our APIs do not support these in-meeting changes/configurations at this time.

@alexburke78 I stand corrected… (edited 4/15/2020)

Virtual background is available on iOS, Windows and Mac SDK. Android SDK does not have it since Android Client itself does not have this feature.

It’s a shame, I registered myself as a developer to try to create a way to change virtual-backgrounds using the stream deck of the el gato brand.

There’s no way to change the virtual backgrounds from hotkeys or commands?

Hi @mcariboni, there is no API for this as virtual backgrounds are stored and used on the user’s client, not their user account settings / data.

We understand how this could be helpful! We’re evaluating how and where we can add this to our roadmap.

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@alexburke78, thanks for raising this question!

I’d add a request for an API that changes (virtual) background for participants - by the host, separately per each participant.

Hi @gureku, this is a good idea, but we’ll need to be very careful about the authentication and permission requirements around this.

Yes: allowance per meeting would be ok.

But the potential is way more than just for fun.

Hope that’ll happen, alobg with an API for that. :slight_smile:

Hi @gureku,

We’ll take your request into consideration for a future API release. You can checkout our upcoming API changes page and our Developer roadmap to stay up to date.

Thanks

I found a pretty good solution to my webinars. Using Wirecast you can set your webcam as an input device and create an output Virtual Webcam. So, in zoom I only need select this webcam and I can manage everything that appears on the Webinar.

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Nice solution @mcariboni! :slight_smile:

-Tommy

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I would LOVE an API for virtual backgrounds. I want to write a PC desktop app to help quickly switch backgrounds in Zoom from files on the user’s computer. Currently I use Xsplit Vcam to change backgrounds just because it’s faster/easier than choosing through Zoom, but I would switch back to Zoom virtual backgrounds if I could write my own background switcher app.

All we really need is the ability to pass a filepath to Zoom via an API. Would take much to code.

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Thanks @madmartian for sharing your use case!

Feel free to add this as a feature request here: #feature-requests

-Tommy

I’ve added this to the Feature Requests

Matt

Thanks for contributing @mjt — it’s a great suggestion!

-Will

Could you elaborate? I am curious about what you did. I went to Wirecast and saw it’s a hardware company. When I read this, I thought snap camera. Is that what you have?

No, Wirecast (at least one of their products), is streaming software (like OBS). These programs receive all kinds of multimedia files (music, video, images, text, effects, graphics or signals from webcams or professional cameras) and combine all the material to emit a single video signal that you can use to make live streams on YouTube, Twitch , or in this case Zoom. But since Zoom is not a streaming platform, the method to send that signal to the zoom meeting software is another. In the case of Wirecast this function is called Virtual Camera, this creates an imaginary camera on the computer that is recognized by zoom as a normal webcam. However, OBS is free, very powerful, with a great community behind it, and it also has this feature. However, I don’t know exactly how it works, but I’m sure Google explains how. Good luck with your research!

Thanks for sharing with our community. :slight_smile:

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I also think this would be a great addition as this is a use case I’m hoping to implement but after going through the API documentation I was disappointed that this is not possible :frowning:

So currently use a green, yellow and red light during speeches in our meetings to indicate when to the person giving the speech if they are still doing good with time, they are close to time or the have gone over the given time. But since these meetings have become hybrid where half the audience is on zoom and half in-person, so it is difficult for someone on zoom to see what color light is being displayed. As a work around we have someone on zoom change their zoom backgrounds to match the corresponding color.

My goal was to develop a IOT device, that transmits the current color of the light over the cloud and then triggers the zoom api to change one users zoom background to match the current color of the light as their zoom background.

So hoping that this feature is part of the road map :slight_smile: