We recently introduced the ability to collaborate with friends and family over audio and video. This is a quick guide to help you get up and running with audio and video-based collaborations.

 

Design Collaboration

1. To start a Design Collaboration, you will need to enter the designtool for a design either on the Zazzle Marketplace or on Zazzle Create.
   
   
2. Once you are in the designtool, click on the “Invite Friends” button in the top right corner of the screen. You will want to enter the email addresses of the people you would like to invite to your collaboration. Alternatively, you can click on the “Start a public collaboration link” to start the design collaboration.
   
   
3. Your friends’ avatars will display in the designtool title bar when they join the collaboration
   

Starting a Video Chat

1. To start a video chat in the collaboration, simply click on the video button in the top right corner and click “Continue”
   
   
2. If you have never joined a Video Chat on Zazzle before, we will prompt you to provide us with access to your video and microphone so you can participate in the chat. You will need to click “Allow” on this permissions dialog. This dialog will look slightly different based on the web browser you are using.
   
   
   
   
3. Before joining the chat, you will want to check your Chat Settings to ensure your Camera and Microphone are properly configured. You will be able to turn your camera and microphone on or off as well as control the audio sources.

     4. You can select your camera and microphone source by clicking on the dropdown and selecting        which sources you’d like to use.

 

  5. Your video will display in the Video tab of the Chat window once you join the video chat. Your friends’ video streams will also appear in the window if they’ve successfully joined the chat.

Controlling your video and microphone

 

1. You can hover over your video stream in the Video Chat to display toggles turn enable and disable your video and microphone.
   
   

      2. When your camera is off, you will see a Black screen with an avatar. You can confirm your camera is off by checking if the video button is red with a white strike through.

      3. To leave the video chat, you can click on the (Phone) button when hovering over your video or clicking on the Video Button and Selecting “Leave Video Chat”

 

Troubleshooting Video Chat

1. I do not see my video camera as an option in the Camera Dropdown on the Chat Settings dialog.
   
   
1. If you are using an external webcam, check to see if your webcam cables are connected to your computer. 
2. If using an older, external web cam, you may want to try swapping cables if you think your cables are defective. You may also want to try swapping USB ports
3. If you are using an external webcam, also make sure it is properly installed with the correct drivers and webcam software
4. If you recently installed your webcam, you may need to restart your browser and / or computer.
   
   
2. I do not see my microphone as an option in the Microphone Dropdown on the Chat Settings dialog.
   
   
1. If you are using an external, wired microphone, check to see if your cables are connected to your computer and the device is powered on
2. If you are using a wireless or bluetooth microphone, check to see if your bluetooth headset is fully powered properly connected to your computer
3. If using a bluetooth headset, you may want to disconnect and re-pair the bluetooth headset to your computer. Separately, you may want to turn off your computer’s Bluetooth feature and turn it back on.

 

1. I do not see participants in my video chat
1. Check your internet settings. Make sure you are connected to the internet
2. Ensure you see a “Video” tab in the Chat window. If you do not see a video tab, you are not connected to the video chat
3. If you do see a “Video” tab in the Chat window, it is possible your friends haven’t joined the video chat yet

 

1. My video camera stream is completely black and / or my microphone is muted
1. If using an external webcam, check your cable connections
2. Make sure you do not have anything covering your webcam lens
3. It’s possible your camera stream is turned off. Try to toggle your video stream by clicking on the Video button (it should not be red)
4. It is possible 3rd party webcam software is blocking access to your camera. You may want to turn the 3rd party camera software off or ensure it is configured correctly with your webcam.
5. It is possible you did not properly grant Zazzle permissions to your microphone and / or webcam. To grant Zazzle permissions to your microphone or webcam, you will need to go into your browser’s privacy or security settings and ensure that you’ve granted Zazzle access to these devices.

It is also possible you are on an older, unsupported web browser. Consider upgrading to a newer web browser version