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When sitting in daily long google meets meetings the thought struck me if there is a way to record a video that I could loop as my avatar. This way I could make biceps-curls while it looks as if I am sitting staring on my computer?! Not just nice for me to be able to exercise during meetings, also nice for my girlfriend who would get a ripped nerd as BF.

Does anyone have an idea of where I should start to look in to this? All the googling I have tried to find a starting point have rendered nothing as it is getting mixed up with kind of "How to use video in a google meeting"

All help is appreciated!

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    Be sure to look around and make sure you're not in a sitcom before you do this. Otherwise your plan will end with some kind of hilarious comeuppance.
    – Michael Seifert
    Commented Nov 3, 2020 at 18:18
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    Please consider adopting a more varied exercise routine. Failing to balance high amount of curls with antagonist work may lead to significant problems from muscle imbalances.
    – nanofarad
    Commented Nov 3, 2020 at 19:15
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    What is your plan if you have to actually say something?
    – Qwertie
    Commented Nov 3, 2020 at 22:12
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    Recommended reading & watching...? How I prerecorded myself in video meetings for a week
    – Andrew T.
    Commented Nov 4, 2020 at 5:37
  • Take a still image with your webcam, print it, and hang it in front of the camera just-right ? This might be easier if you had an external camera, not the embedded forehead one. Or more seriously - just turn your camera off in the meeting software.
    – Criggie
    Commented Nov 9, 2020 at 12:20

2 Answers 2

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I would suggest installing OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) from this web site:

https://obsproject.com/

It allows you to create content in a variety of ways, including green screens, etc. In your case it is just a simply video you want playing.

If you have the very latest version of OBS a virtual camera plugin is included with the software. If you have an older version, you can download and install the same OBS Virtual Cam plugin from here:

https://github.com/johnboiles/obs-mac-virtualcam

When installed you'll have a VirtualCam option in the Tools menu in OBS, where you can start a virtual camera.

Finally in Google Meet select the virtual camera as your camera. Now the output from OBS is transmitted to meeting partners in Google Meet - and from OBS you can control whether the video is a pre-recorded file, your actual web camera, or something entirely else (like a still photo or similar).

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    haha yes! It works, this is so awesome! Thank you. (Also my GF says thanks!)
    – Brainmaniac
    Commented Nov 3, 2020 at 10:51
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    Just curious, but doesnt OBS include a virtual camera? If yes, what does this project add?
    – CeePlusPlus
    Commented Nov 3, 2020 at 23:00
  • As far as I know, OBS doesn't include a virtual camera?
    – jksoegaard
    Commented Nov 3, 2020 at 23:14
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    @jksoegaard it does from recent release. I believe the project you mentioned has been merged in as part of the distribution in latest 26 version.
    – Alexey Kamenskiy
    Commented Nov 4, 2020 at 0:15
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    Ah yes I see that plug-in was merged into the main project just 4 days ago. Doesn’t really change the answer as such though, if you’re running that new version that has the plug-in installed by default, you don’t need to install it of course... the rest is the same.
    – jksoegaard
    Commented Nov 4, 2020 at 1:05
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Not a direct answer, since I don't know GoogleMeet, but if you're using Zoom or WebEx, just record yourself through your webcam then use that video as your virtual background. Just be sure to make the video long enough so it loops well.

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