Wondershare Filmora is one of a famous simple video editor that offers at least basic features of video editing.
You probably want to censor or blur something on the video that shouldn’t be seen by the viewer, for instances, face, object, secret information, and anything that considered to be a privacy concern.
The good news is, Filmora has a feature to produce a pixelated/blur-like filter that can be applied to the specific area and selected scene.
In this tutorial, I’m using a sample footage video from Pixabay that available for free here. You might want to use it first for the learning purpose.
The following tutorial is based on Filmora 8.7.0. You can check your Filmora version by clicking Help → About.
If you are using an older version of the software, the interface may not accurate as of the illustration I attached below. Hence, consider updating your Filmora first to get new features and easily follow this guide.
I provide both video and text-based tutorial, feel free to choose between them as you like.
Contents
How to blur face on Filmora
A short guide to blur face/object on Wondershare Filmora:
- Run Filmora and choose Full Feature Mode
- Import the video and drag it onto the timeline
- On the clip that you want to blur, right-click and select Power Tool
- Select Mosaic and check Apply Mosaic to the clip
- Choose the face or object to be pixelated and click OK
A complete guide to blur face/object on Wondershare Filmora:
1. Run Filmora software from your computer device, choose the Full Feature Mode.
Creating blur or pixelated effect on the specific object also available on the trial version.
2. Then, import your desired video into the Filmora and drag it onto video timeline. In case you just want to blur face that appears on the specific scene, split the scene from the overall video body by right-clicking and Split (CTRL+B).
3. If the scene located in the middle of the video, you also need to split the end of the desired scene as well. Simply by pressing right-click and Split (CTRL+B).
4. Now, on the selected scene, right-click on it and select Power Tool or press keyboard shortcut CTRL+P.
5. The program will show you a Power Tool window like this. Click the Mosaic option.
6. Next, check the Apply Mosaic to the clip, click Add, and select the area you want to cover. The pixel density of Mosaic can be adjusted from 1 to 100 percent (see the red rectangular symbol below). After finished, click OK.
7. The result should look like this. Please ensure that you pick the right pixel density to hide the object or face properly, that way no one can recognize him or her.
To be fair, this tutorial isn’t relevant for an object that moves dynamically or has certain camera angles.
When the camera move, you need to blur the face on the separated clip, frame by frame. Luckily, Filmora gives another option that similar to face-tracking technology, so it can pixelate any face automatically on the frame.
Check out the tutorial below.
How to blur moving face on Filmora
A short guide to blur moving face on Wondershare Filmora:
- Launch Filmora on your PC
- Import the video and drag it onto the timeline
- Right-click on the desired scene and select Power Tool
- Check Apply Face Off to the clip and choose the blur mode
- Click OK to confirm
A complete guide to blur moving face on Wondershare Filmora:
Similar to the previous method, I’m going to use Power Tool feature. Import the video to Filmora and drag it onto the video timeline. You can choose a specific scene by splitting it from the main video I’ve mentioned the ways before.
1. Right-click on the selected scene, select Power Tool (CTRL+P)
2. Click on the Face Off menu.
3. Check the Apply Face Off to the clip and click OK when done.
(You are also able to choose some visualizations, such as traditional pixelated blur and cartoon-silly face.)
The Face Off will detect any face that appears on the frame. Unfortunately, all faces will be covered by the pixelated layer, no matter if it’s was your face or other people faces. Furthermore, the detection capability seemingly not really great since it tends to fail when looking down or up.
To be clear, Filmora isn’t an advanced video editor. All features that come with it are designed to be easily understood by a large number of people. In this context, censoring face or a particular object was not a key ability of Filmora. Instead, the developer behind it focusing on a basic feature that commonly used for a personal video.
Any free video editor to blur moving object?
I didn’t find any free video editor that capable of blurring a face or moving object precisely.
However, many blogs and forum that I’ve visited suggest Filmora is the most recommended video editor for doing that job. It sounds contradicting to me since the Face Off feature is lack of customization and has a poor face tracking system.
Meanwhile, the best software to blur face comes from Adobe ecosystem, notably Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere. Both have an accurate motion tracking capability to allow you to apply some changes, including filter, animation, visual effects, and much more. Sure, the price tag of both system is much higher than Filmora, but the result is worth it.
So, the conclusion is pretty simple: Filmora is currently the best simple video editor that has a blur face option. But for several scenarios, you must edit each scene one by one to get a neat result.
It takes more time than an advanced video editor, but that is the “hidden cost” of less expensive software.