At Ignite 2022, Microsoft announced the availability of Mesh Avatars private preview in Microsoft Teams. Using Mesh avatars for Teams, you can create custom animated avatars to represent yourself in Teams meetings. After several months of testing, Avatars in Microsoft Teams is finally available in public preview.
Avatars for Microsoft Teams offers an alternative to the current binary option of video or no video. With this availability, Teams users can use customizable avatars and reactions in Teams meetings.
Microsoft Teams Avatars are perfect for:
- Being visually present without turning your camera on.
- Expressing yourself with a range of gestures and reactions.
- Making multiple versions to fit different meetings.
Following update during the private preview phase, Microsoft has made the following improvements:
- To make more realistic avatars, there is a new lighting system. This has improved performance and enhanced the appearance of avatar skin and hair.
- This new version will include a multitude of new customization options, like bhindis and hearing aids.
- If you react using the Teams emoji reactions, your avatar will mimic that reaction with their body. For example, if you utilize the raised hand reaction, your avatar will also raise their hand.
Avatars are not supported in Teams for web, and are supported as view-only in the Teams mobile app. To get started, go to Apps section in Teams and search for and open the Avatars app.
Avatars for Microsoft Teams is expected to be generally available in May this year.
