Google is beginning to roll out a new feature that makes cropping a breeze when video chatting on Meet. Perfect for never getting off center again.
With Google Meet, you can be perfectly represented in just two clicks // Source: Frandroid
The 2020 pandemic will at least have had the benefit of forcing the tech giants to vastly improve their video conferencing tools. Although circumstances have made Google Meet one of the most complete applications in this space, some of its features are still buried a little too deep in the settings. To make cropping and adding background effects easier to access, Google is rolling out a new feature that lets you do it all with just two clicks.
This novelty, currently being announced on the Google Meet desktop interface, is extremely accessible. Instead of digging around in application settings during a call, you’ll soon just need to drag your mouse over your video stream to see contextual commands there. They will be very useful to you.
Google Meet just got even better
In this little dynamic menu, just click on the three little dots that appear, then click “Crop” to have the application automatically focus the video stream back on you. And you can still access the background effects using the same contextual commands by clicking the little stars icon. A side panel will then appear where you can choose the effect that best suits you (more or less pronounced blur, different and varied static or animated backgrounds, etc.).
Source: Google
Although overall this new feature greatly simplifies access to these features, and background effects in particular, it’s still worth noting that auto-crop is only available to some Google Meet users. To use it, you must actually have a Google Workspace account or subscribe to the 2TB (or higher) Google One plan.
It should also be noted that the effectiveness of this cropping largely depends on the quality of the webcam you are using. And for good reason, Google Meet is inherently content that magnifies your video stream to refocus you…which can result in poor image quality if your stream doesn’t have good sharpness to begin with.
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