
Show HN: ZoomerBackgrounds – community-sourced virtual video backgrounds - logane
https://zoomerbackgrounds.com
======
logane
Hi HN, author here! As students facing online instruction, we built
ZoomerBackgrounds to solve firsthand the everyday problems of having subpar
backgrounds and spoke with several friends working in industry about their
background needs. The result is a product we really think you're really going
to love. We had a lot of fun making this over the weekend and hope you all
enjoy :)

For the tech stack we used react on the front end with a Node.js server +
Firebase for persistent storage. This was my first time writing Javascript in
about 5-6 years and it's really neat to see how the ecosystem has matured -
there are even real classes now! We also used the Google Cloud Vision API for
detecting inappropriate images.

On the database side, we found that Firebase Store works really well until it
doesn't -- when you want to do anything that isn't basic reads/writes (e.g.
SQL-like IN queries, query pagination, programmatic queries like sorting by
the HN ranking algorithm ~ points/(time since post)^(1.5)) the workarounds can
get complex and a little weird.

One question we had is around AdSense approval! The Google Adsense approval
team rejected our website for not having enough meaningful content / not
having "valuable inventory" \- it would be great to hear some insight about
how to show Google we are a real website.

Happy to answer any questions here or at logan@mit.edu!

~~~
nrmitchi
I see that you have an option to not include a watermark on downloaded images,
but having watermarks turned on by default (especially since these look like
user uploaded images which I'm assuming you don't actually own) is quite off-
putting.

~~~
logane
Thank you for pointing this out, we will fix it ASAP!

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jameshart
I’m confused why some of these backgrounds are mirrored. You know that when
you see your background in Zoom it’s only flipped for _your_ benefit, right?
It’s sent to others the normal way round...

~~~
anamexis
Good to know, that was never obvious to me.

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atoav
I wonder: does anyone know of a solution which does something similar in a
more software agnostic way? I imagine a software that takes a webcam
manipulates the image and emulates another webcam which one could select then
in every software that supports webcams.

Does such a thing exist?

~~~
dbieber
Yes, you can do this with OBS. The virtual webcam feature can be added as a
plugin. And chroma-keying is a built-in feature. I use a Mac, and I've been
toying with this a bit over the last weeks (e.g.
[https://davidbieber.com/snippets/2020-04-09-exploring-
obs/](https://davidbieber.com/snippets/2020-04-09-exploring-obs/))

~~~
soylentcola
It's super easy...if you have a suitable chromakey backdrop and decent
lighting on it. What I'd love is a plugin that replicates (or at least
approximates) some of the "virtual chromakey" features of Zoom et al.

I don't currently have access to a good chromakey backdrop and it really is
much easier to do it well with a bright green matte screen behind you.

It ain't important, but it would sure be nice!

~~~
HereBeBeasties
For Windows, Snapchat have a standalone virtual cam called Snapcamera
[https://snapcamera.snapchat.com/](https://snapcamera.snapchat.com/)

There are green screen plugins for that. You could chain Snapcamera's virtual
cam output into OBS and use OBS 's chromakey filter to underlay whatever other
content you like. Y I u can then output OBS to another virtual cam output for
use in Zoom or wherever else via the Virtualcam plugin for OBS.

It'd be really nice if someone would make a nice OpenCV virtualcam output so
one could drive all this from a (relatively) simple Python script.

~~~
soylentcola
Oh hey, this worked fairly well. I used one of the Snap fake-greenscreen
filters and fed it to OBS as you suggested. It really does highlight the
limitations of fake-chromakey (edges are fuzzy/flickery) but that's to be
expected without a real, properly lit backdrop.

I won't be using this in any work meetings but it could be fun for calls with
friends.

------
aripickar
This has been my background for as many calls as I can do without it being
unprofessional.
[https://v.redd.it/84tmrvcuqbs41/DASH_480?source=fallback](https://v.redd.it/84tmrvcuqbs41/DASH_480?source=fallback)

~~~
exhilaration
Could you please give us a link to the original video? This looks so familiar
but I can't place it.

~~~
SummerlyMars
Here you go, it's pretty wild:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvrZJ5C_Nwg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvrZJ5C_Nwg)

~~~
canadianwriter
Is this guy serious? Listening to the lyrics has hardcore African Child
vibes.... or is this just parody?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-YCZr0epts&t=84s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-YCZr0epts&t=84s)

~~~
moojd
Kirin J Callinan and Alex Cameron both like to invent characters and then
write songs from the character's perspective as sincerely as possible.
Sometimes the characters they are playing are just exaggerated version of
themselves. They write 'serious' songs with elements irony and sometimes this
means the songs fall closer to the 'parody' end of the spectrum.

I think their best attempt at this was Alex Cameron's album 'Forced
Witness'[0]. Alex imagines what a Marlon Brando obsessed, porn addicted loner
from the 80s would look like in 2017 with access to the internet. It manages
to achieve biting satire and great song writing without devolving into simple
parody.

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU01Rix_l2w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU01Rix_l2w)
\- The lyrics of this album are very NSFW .. read the pitchfork review if you
want to know what you're getting in to:
[https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/alex-cameron-forced-
wit...](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/alex-cameron-forced-witness)

------
devNoise
Here are some Archer backgrounds you could use for Zoom:
[https://twitter.com/archerfxx/status/1250472698049785856?s=2...](https://twitter.com/archerfxx/status/1250472698049785856?s=20)

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alpb
Also: [https://unsplash.com/collections/1887152/zoom-
backgrounds](https://unsplash.com/collections/1887152/zoom-backgrounds) is
pretty decent

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tiborsaas
I don't recommend these ones :)

[https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&sxsrf=ALeKk01RY08kocv...](https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&sxsrf=ALeKk01RY08kocvtpLMbKjtrOzoB_QJuGQ%3A1587140343993&source=hp&biw=1440&bih=788&ei=99aZXs_sOcHzkwXb3K7oCw&q=optical+illusions)

------
andrewdb
[https://pixabay.com/videos/](https://pixabay.com/videos/) has some great
background videos

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herbstein
Microsoft Teams also supports custom backgrounds - adding instructions for how
to use them seems like an obvious value-add

------
Animats
There's a commercial service for this.[1] Those are backgrounds specifically
intended for green screen use, and look reasonably convincing.

[1] [https://videogrowthlab.com](https://videogrowthlab.com)

------
jameslk
I'm afraid this will be quickly overrun by trolls. Hopefully you are prepared
to moderate.

~~~
jamespullar
There's already enough questionable images up there that I don't feel
comfortable sharing this with my company.

------
qznc
"This is fine" is an awesome idea. Now I'm sad we have to use Skype at work.

~~~
chrisnblum
Using OBS and v4l2loopback I have been able to get the zoom background
replacement in all messenger applications (green screen needed)

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anotherevan
I've just taken to having something interesting on the wall behind me. I
started with the classic, "This is a velociraptor-free workplace."

Currently I have a sign that says, "Will code for toilet paper."

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dr_kiszonka
Very nice! I am on a phone. Are all of these backgrounds static (not
animated)?

~~~
dangwu
Yeah, I’m really confused. The title says video backgrounds but they all seem
to be static images.

~~~
dr_kiszonka
Maybe OP meant to write "virtual video _conferencing_ backgrounds."

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outworlder
If folks want to use video backgrounds, there is a simple way, if your source
is on youtube.

youtube-dl <video>

In many cases these days, it will yield a mp4 file that you can plug directly
into Zoom. Sometimes it will download in other formats, you might need to
convert.

~~~
deeblering4
`youtube-dl -f mp4 $url` will ensure the output is always mp4

------
rhcom2
Flying toasters with toast [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gD-
JnD1DCo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gD-JnD1DCo)

------
qppo
I'm looking for a subtle way to give my coworkers a chuckle without being too
distracting, I think it'd be funny to take a picture of my current background
and then change it every day but I can't think of a decent way to do it
without looking like a nut job.

~~~
anamexis
Someone I know recorded a video of the normal view from their camera, and at
some point they walk in, pretend to notice that they are walking in on a video
conference, and slink out.

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chadlavi
FYI none of those images show if you have adblockers on

~~~
jamespullar
They show fine for me using uBlock Origin

~~~
t-writescode
uBlock, Privacy Badger, DuckDuckGo Essentials and a PiHole and can still see
the images.

------
lpman
There also some at
[https://funnyzoombackgrounds.com/](https://funnyzoombackgrounds.com/)

------
srich36
UI looks great and the entire product looks really well done. As a fellow
student in a ton of zoom classes I’ll be sure to recommend to others!

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samwyse
Needs tags! For example, names of people and TV shows, indoor/outdoor,
skyline/landscape, etc.

------
anamexis
An option to mirror the backgrounds would be very useful. Some of them are
mirrored, and some of them aren't.

------
backgrounds
There are a bunch of these like MeetingBackground.com and
zoomvirtualbackgrounds.com

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duxup
I wonder what percentage of folks use video.

Where I work almost nobody turns on their camera ;)

~~~
tiborsaas
It's 90% for us with a headcount about 2100+

~~~
duxup
I wonder if the size / formality of the company / likelihood of someone being
in the meeting that you don't see often has an influence.

~~~
t-writescode
My company of approx 200 mostly use face cameras, too. It's one of the steps
in place to help increase connectivity during this time when we can't
physically interact.

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j45
This is nice but the logo is too big.

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iddqd
You plan on supporting videos as well?

~~~
tonypeng
We're definitely considering it!

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pentae
Pack it up everyone, the casting couch wins

------
eeZah7Ux
How about improving FLOSS platforms instead?

~~~
dang
Please don't do this here. In addition to being tedious it's against the Show
HN rules:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html).

