Integrate a live camera feed into your presentation with cameo in PowerPoint

(Originally published on February 8, 2022 by Rolly Seth)

 

Hey there, Insiders! My name is Rolly Seth and I'm a Program Manager on the Office Graphics team, which works to bring the next generation of graphics capabilities to Office. I'm excited to let you know that you can now integrate live camera feeds directly into your slides with the cameo feature in PowerPoint for Windows.

 

Live camera feeds in PowerPoint

 

Cameo in PowerPoint enables you to seamlessly embed live camera feeds into your slides as part of your presentation. You can use this feature to create a more immersive experience for your audience. It can also help you be more prepared for your live presentation (such as presenting in Teams).

 

Cameo gives you full control of live camera feeds in PowerPoint. Just like any other image, you can move, resize, crop, and apply transitions or styles to the camera feed. You can also use Designer in PowerPoint to enhance the look of your slides that use cameo.

 

How it works

Ready to add live camera feeds to your PowerPoint presentations?

 

1. Open a new or existing presentation in PowerPoint.
2. To insert a live camera feed into your current slide, select Insert > Cameo.

   Insert > Cameo menu on PowerPoint ribbon

3. To turn the camera on and off, simply click on the camera object (you can also use the Preview button on the Camera tab).

   Turn live camera feed on

   Turn live camera feed off

4. To change the source of the camera feed, click the down arrow on the Preview button (found on the Camera tab) and select the option you want.

   Select camera feed source for cameo on the PowerPoint ribbon

5. After you’ve inserted cameo into your slide(s), go to Slide Show/Presenter view to preview your presentation.

   Presenter view using cameo live camera feed in PowerPoint

 

Known issues

• Camera on/off settings are not currently enabled in PowerPoint Slide Show & Presenter View.
• Virtual cameras are not currently supported.

 

Scenarios to try

• On the Camera tab, select different camera shapes and styles.

  Camera tab in PowerPoint showing different camera styles

• Apply different types of transitions to your live camera feeds, such as Morph.
• Select Design > Design Ideas to choose from different slide designs.

  Apply Design Ideas

• Experiment with placing content in front of or behind the camera feed.

  Slide with content overlaying cameo

 

Tips and tricks

Only one app at a time can access the camera on your computer.

 

Requirements

To use this feature:

 

• You must have an integrated camera or an external camera connected to your computer.
• You must have granted camera permissions to PowerPoint in your computer's privacy settings.

  Camera privacy settings option on Windows

  Give PowerPoint camera access in Windows settings

 

Coming soon

Be on the lookout for the cameo feature in the following places:

 

• PowerPoint for Mac
• PowerPoint Live in Teams
• The Record Slideshow feature in PowerPoint for Windows

 

Availability

We will be rolling this feature out to Office Insiders running Beta Channel Version 2202 (Build 14922.10000) or later.

 

Features are released over some time to ensure things are working smoothly. We highlight features that you may not have because they’re slowly releasing to larger numbers of Insiders. Sometimes we remove elements to further improve them based on your feedback. Though this is rare, we also reserve the option to pull a feature entirely out of the product, even if you, as an Insider, have had the opportunity to try it.

 

Feedback

We hope you love this feature! To submit feedback about it, just click Help > Feedback in Excel.

---

Learn about the Microsoft 365 Insider program and sign up for the Microsoft 365 Insider newsletter to get the latest information about Insider features in your inbox once a month!