Object Blur

Object Blur helps you track, blur and pixelate any faces or objects in your video. It gives you the same features as the Face Blur plug-in, while relying on object tracking rather than face detection.

Object Blur is a great way to conceal faces and objects with footage where automatic face detection fails to produce the expected results.

Using Object Blur in Final Cut Pro

The Object Blur plug-in and its presets are available under both the Effects and the Title browsers. When using Object Blur through the Title layer, please track your objects again any time you reposition the title relative to the clips below.

Compatibility

Object Blur is compatible with Final Cut Pro, Motion, Premiere, After Effects and DaVinci Resolve.

Parameters

Presets

Presets contain a snapshot of your effect configuration. 14 built-in presets are available.

When you save parameter configuration to a file on disk, this file can later be loaded to recreate the same effect configuration. Presets generated in one video application can be used by the same plug-in running in a different video application.

Working with the Presets Menu

Object Tracking

Track

Lets you track up to 8 objects in your video. To learn more about object tracking:

Track

Invert

Off by default.

When enabled, the effect is applied to the area around faces rather than to the faces themselves.

This parameter turns the plug-in from a tool that helps you conceal faces into a vignette filter.

When Invert is on, the plug-in turns from a tool that helps you conceal faces into a vignette filter.

Effect

Effect

The following options are available:

  • Blur (default) — Faces are blurred according to the algorithm you select through the Style parameter.
  • Pixelate — Faces are pixelated.

Style

The following options are available:

  • Standard blur (default) — Applies a common gaussian blur effect to the masked area.
  • Box blur — Applies a blur that produces square features.
  • Disc blur — Applies a blur that produces circular features, similar to out-of-focus parts of an image.

  • Variable blur — Applies a blur whose intensity varies according to the mask, a common technique used to simulate out-of-focus subjects or backgrounds.

    When the Invert parameter is on, Variable blur is not recommended as it may produce unwanted artifacts at the edges of the frame.

Amount

Set to 10% by default.

Controls the size of the blur or pixelation applied to faces.

Exposure

Set to 0 by default. Only values between -1 and 1 are allowed.

Adjusts the brightness of pixels within the selected mask, so that you may brighten or darken faces in addition to applying a blur or pixelation.

Shape

Shape

The following options are available:

  • Oval (default) — Uses an oval shape to limit the effect to any detected faces.
  • Rectangle — Uses a rectangular shape to limit the effect to any detected faces.
  • Custom graphic — Allows you to import a graphics file to use as a mask for the effect. The file should be a black and white image, where white pixels indicate regions the effect should be applied to.

Custom graphic

Reads an image file from the given location.

Supported Image Formats

Lets you select a custom graphic that should be used as the mask for the effect.

This parameter supports all popular image file formats. The file should contain a black and white representation of your mask:

A star-shaped mask
A star-shaped mask

White pixels indicate areas the effect should be applied to:

Example of using the star-shaped mask
Example of using the star-shaped mask

Feather

Set to 0 by default. Only values between -1 and 1 are allowed.

Controls the softness of the current shape. Softness also applies to any custom graphic you may have imported.

Offset X

Set to 0 by default. Only values between -5 and 5 are allowed.

Allows you to offset the shape horizontally, relative to the location and size of each face.

Because the offset is expressed in relative terms, the results remain consistent as the faces move towards or away from the camera.

Offset Y

Set to 0 by default. Only values between -5 and 5 are allowed.

Allows you to offset the shape vertically, relative to the location and size of each face.

Because the offset is expressed in relative terms, the results remain consistent as the faces move towards or away from the camera.

Angle

Set to 0° by default.

Allows you to rotate the mask shape relative to the face.

The natural tilt of each face is automatically detected. This parameter is designed to let you make some corrections when the automatic process has not been able to determine the tilt accurately.

Scale

Set to 1 by default. Only values between 0 and 2 are allowed.

Scales the shape proportionally, relative to the location and size of each face.

Because the scale is expressed in relative terms, the results remain consistent as the faces move towards or away from the camera.

Scale X

Set to 1 by default. Only values between 0 and 2 are allowed.

Scales the shape horizontally, relative to the location and size of each face.

Because the scale is expressed in relative terms, the results remain consistent as the faces move towards or away from the camera.

Scale Y

Set to 1 by default. Only values between 0 and 2 are allowed.

Scales the shape vertically, relative to the location and size of each face.

Because the scale is expressed in relative terms, the results remain consistent as the faces move towards or away from the camera.

Timeline color space

Allows you to match the working color space used by the plugin to the current Timeline color space set for the project and/or individual timelines in DaVinci Resolve.

Matching the Timeline Color Space in DaVinci Resolve

This parameter is neither available nor necessary in Apple and Adobe video apps, since our plugins can be automatically matched to the working color space.