Guide
How to use SwapCam
4 min read · Updated
Before you start
If you have not installed it yet, work through the installation guide first — it takes a few minutes and covers the one step people reliably get wrong. Everything below assumes SwapCam is loaded and visible in Chrome’s extensions list.
The workflow
Open Chrome
SwapCam runs inside Chrome as an extension, so the browser has to be running for the transformed camera to exist at all. There is no background service and no desktop application — close Chrome and the camera source goes with it.
Open your video-call website
Open the site you intend to use in a Chrome tab. Doing this before you enable the transformation means the page enumerates available cameras while SwapCam is ready, which saves a reload later.
Click the SwapCam extension
Open SwapCam from Chrome’s toolbar. If you do not see it, check the extensions puzzle-piece menu — Chrome hides new extensions there by default, and you can pin SwapCam to the toolbar from that menu.
Choose your source face
Pick the face you want applied to your camera feed. This is the one creative decision in the sequence; everything else is plumbing.
Use a face you have permission to use. Applying the likeness of a real person who has not agreed to it is the line between experimentation and impersonation.
Enable camera transformation
Turn the transformation on and watch the preview. Give it a moment — it needs a short warm-up before the result settles — and confirm the face is tracking properly as you move before you go any further.
Select SwapCam as your camera source
In the video application’s own settings, choose SwapCam from the camera list. This is a separate step from enabling the transformation: SwapCam makes the transformed feed available, and the application still has to be told to use it.
If SwapCam is not in the list, the camera selection guide covers where the setting lives and what to check when it is missing.
Check the preview, then join
Look at the application’s own self-preview before joining. It is the last point at which you can fix something without an audience, and it catches nearly everything.
Getting a better result
- Light your face from the front. A window or lamp behind you throws your face into shadow, which is the hardest case for tracking.
- Put the camera near eye level. Steep angles distort the face more than the transformation handles gracefully.
- Give the machine room. Real-time transformation is continuous work. Closing heavy tabs and applications is the cheapest improvement available.
Enable it before the call, not during
When it goes wrong
A missing camera option, a black preview, a camera already in use, or a feed that stutters — all four are common, and all four have straightforward fixes in the troubleshooting guide.