So for this tutorial, we will be using OBS studio it is popularly used for meetings, streaming and conferences. It is FOSS, cross-platform streaming software. But the first problem we tackle in Linux is there is no official availability of virtual cam for OBS studio. So we are using Video4linux(V4L). V4L is a collection of device drivers and an API for supporting realtime video capture for Linux systems.

We will start by installing the OBS studio installing using apt package manager. There are still other options like using snap and building from source code but still, this is easier IMHO.

Apt is available for ubuntu and distros based on ubuntu. Still downloading from scratch wouldn’t be an issue as it can easily be done from->

OTHER OS:

https://obsproject.com/wiki/install-instructions

FOR UBUNTU:

sudo apt install obs-studio

After successfull installation of OBS studio we instal our plugin.

sudo apt install v4l2loopback-dkms

And next we will create an output sink with this simple command

sudo modprobe v4l2loopback devices=1 video_nr=10 card_label="OBS Cam" exclusive_caps=1

sudo apt install qtbase5-dev

git clone --recursive https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio.git

git clone https://github.com/CatxFish/obs-v4l2sink.git

cd obs-v4l2sink

mkdir build && cd build

cmake -DLIBOBS_INCLUDE_DIR="../../obs-studio/libobs" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr ..

make -j4

sudo make install

launch obs with the terminal command

obs

or

obs-studio

Create some scenes and feed the input of your choice

Next we will Video4linux to sink to our newly created /dev/video10

Now we just go to our webcam record 10 minutes video(or whatever clip to feed we want). And feed it into our OBS studio.

make sure in the setting you have OBS cam enabled

And now going to our favourite video calling platform settings we just go and select our camera as OBS cam. And then simply now switch scenes in OBS studio and enjoy your mic drop moment! :)

Now instead of using your regular webcam you even have the option to feed your mobile phone camera via any IP cam mobile app.
why let go your 20mp camera go to waste with multiple lenses and what not!

• install an IP cam app on your mobile phone and make sure your desktop and mobile phone are on the same network

• now in obs studio select http feed option and then start the webcam feed in OBS studio

For Windows:

Just install OBS studio on and install OBS virtualcam
this is the latest at the time the tutorial was created

https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/obs-virtualcam.949/