Introduction
How often do you encounter actors with problematic skin in your video footage?
Whether it’s a fashion shoot or an interview, age or weight doesn’t matter—every skin has its natural imperfections, and we want to offer a universal solution to this problem.
To apply the plugin, drag it from the “Library” window to the node of your footage in the “Nodes” window.
Voila! You have retouched your footage. That was quick, wasn’t it? All the problematic areas are gone, and the skin is smooth and clear, as if there were never any blemishes at all.
Troubleshooting
Okay, we’ve talked about the favorable scenario, now let’s address potential errors.
In some cases, you might notice skin flickering in areas where pimples were covered by the plugin.
This happens because the plugin redraws each frame, and we see differences between frames, which can significantly ruin the beautiful picture in motion, although it will look fine in stills.
Let’s move on to the plugin properties and pay attention to the “Smooth mode” parameter, which controls how the frames processed by the plugin are blended.
Make sure you use “Two last frames” or “Infinite impulse response” for better results.
If switching the frame blending parameter doesn’t solve the problem significantly, you need to go to the “Key” window.
There, you will see the plugin’s processing mask, essentially showing where and how the plugin paints over the skin.
We are interested in the “Gain” parameter in the “Key output” line. Reduce its value by 1/3 or 1/4 to completely smooth out the frame.
Using Node Cache
Don’t forget to use “Node Cache,” this function will greatly simplify your life! If we press the playback button, the result is likely to be unimpressive, as the plugin is demanding on GPU resources. Under such conditions, normal viewing and playback are impossible, so let’s fix it!
Click on the “Playback” menu item. In the drop-down list, select “Render Cache” and set it to “User.”
Now let’s set the parameters for the node. Right-click on the node with the plugin. Select the “Node Cache” menu item and switch it to “On.”
The node number will turn red, and a render bar will appear above the footage of the node. Once it fills up with blue, the footage is ready to work with, and playback will be smooth.
To continue working on the footage further, create another node and continue working in it without affecting the playback.