Close-ups and 4K

What changes for big faces

FaceTweak’s AI redraws faces at 512 × 512 pixels. In a 4K close-up, the face square might be three times that size. Stretching the redraw to fit would make the face look soft next to the crisp detail around it.

So for big faces, FaceTweak works differently. It keeps your real, photographed skin, with all its pores and fine texture, and gently reshapes it to match your edit. The pixels you see are your footage, just moved. Only where the edit reveals something the camera never saw, such as teeth in a mouth you’ve opened or more of an eye, does FaceTweak draw new pixels. It then sharpens those with a detail enhancer so they match the skin around them.

All of this happens automatically, and the default settings suit most shots. The controls are in the UHD Detail section, which starts closed. (UHD stands for Ultra HD, the TV name for 4K.)

When does it switch on?

UHD Detail ReprojectionOff · Auto · Always · default Auto

• Auto switches the close-up treatment on when the face square is bigger than 512 pixels. Between 512 and 576 pixels it fades in gradually, so a face that grows during a push-in doesn’t change suddenly. Smaller faces aren’t affected at all.
• Always uses the close-up treatment at any face size. Try it if you prefer the look of real skin even on a smaller face.
• Off always uses the standard redraw.

The close-up treatment is used for the full-quality frame. While you drag a slider you’ll see the quicker standard preview, and the real-skin result appears when the frame settles.

Fine-tuning the result

UHD Detail Reprojection Blend0 to 1 · default 1

How much of the real fine skin texture to keep. At 1, all of it. Turn it down if the texture looks noisy or seems to crawl. The face keeps its new shape either way: this only affects the fine detail on top.

UHD Detail Temporal DenoiseOff · Standard · Strong · Robust · default Standard

Calms grain and noise in the kept skin texture by comparing it with the frames either side, following the face as it moves.

• Standard is subtle.
• Strong compares with two frames on each side.
• Robust also ignores a neighbouring frame that doesn’t agree with the others, such as a frame where a hand passes or the eyes blink.

Generated Feature DetailOff · Real-ESRGAN · GFPGAN + Real-ESRGAN · default Real-ESRGAN

Sharpens the newly drawn parts of the eyes and mouth so they match the real skin around them. Real-ESRGAN and GFPGAN are the names of the AI detail enhancers it uses. Your photographed skin is never sent through them.

• Real-ESRGAN adds crisp detail. It’s the right choice for most shots.
• GFPGAN + Real-ESRGAN also restores the drawn face before sharpening it. It can look cleaner, but it uses more memory and can change the look of the eyes or teeth.
• Off skips the enhancer. The drawn parts are then softer.

Mouth PixelsAutomatic · Warp Source Only · default Automatic

Automatic mixes real and drawn pixels for the mouth. Warp Source Only reshapes only the real, photographed mouth, with no drawn appearance at all.

Warp Source Only works best when the footage already contains what the edit needs, such as a closed-mouth smile. If your edit opens the mouth wider than it was filmed, the real lips are kept and only the newly revealed teeth and inside of the mouth are drawn, behind a soft join.

Eye PixelsAutomatic · Warp Source Only · default Automatic

The same choice for the eyes. Warp Source Only suits small eyeline changes. It can’t create parts of the eye or eyelid that weren’t filmed, so a big change may look incomplete; switch back to Automatic if it does.

Detail Statusread-only

Shows whether the detail enhancers are installed and working. It’s hidden while Generated Feature Detail is Off.

A good way to work

1. Start with the defaults and make your adjustment as usual.
2. Let the frame settle and look closely. Zoom the viewer to 100% to judge texture.
3. Noisy or crawling texture? Set UHD Detail Temporal Denoise to Strong or Robust, or turn down UHD Detail Reprojection Blend.
4. Eyes or mouth look painted or smoother than the skin? Try Warp Source Only for that feature.
5. Shape wobbles in playback? Use Mouth or Eye Motion Smoothing from Smoothing over time. Detail Consistency there also steadies the sharpened detail on close-ups.
6. Moving shot? Set Motion Blur to Invented Detail so the drawn parts carry the same blur as the footage.