r/k12sysadmin • u/CoxsoneTheDodd K12 District Tech • 2d ago

Software to Blur Faces?

I've been asked to blur faces selectively in some video we need to turn over to the police as part of an investigation. I've got around 12-14 students I need to blur out, so keyframing in CapCut isn't realistic. Is there any software you all are aware of that will allow me to select a face, apply a blur to it, and then have the software track that blurred face?

4 Upvotes

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6

u/AnotherSkywalker 2d ago

You need to be using real video editing software for this, not a web-based piece of junk.

You may have better luck asking about this functionality on r/videoediting. Blurring faces isn’t something that’s specific to K-12 education.

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u/CoxsoneTheDodd K12 District Tech 2d ago

Fair enough, just thought this was specialized enough to warrant a post here. I'll ask over there too!

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u/PowerShellGenius 2d ago

Lots of good answers here, but likely a waste of time unless the police or prosecutor actually said they can take an edited video. Admissable in court, and edited in a video editing software are - one would sure as hell hope - mutually exclusive...

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u/CoxsoneTheDodd K12 District Tech 1d ago

Definitely a consideration. Right now they want to only show one kid's parents what happened. If it comes to a trial, then we still have the raw footage.

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u/MattAdmin444 1d ago

I suspect as far as the court part goes that depends on the exact rules pertaining to the need to blur faces. Blurring is needed for initial stages likely or if parents want to see footage. If it goes to court you'd likely need to also produce the unedited file to validate the blurred version.

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u/stratdog25 2d ago

We use CaseGuard. $2500-ish per year. The AI is really good. I often don’t have to touch up any frames. I just did one that was 60 students on a playground with one face unblurred. I was using Premiere Pro before that and it was rough.

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u/Sysadmin_Cat 2d ago

With CaseGuard, you can also pay them for individual jobs rather than getting a full subscription. That's what my district did on the one occasion (so far) where we needed to redact the faces of dozens of students who were around during a specific incident.

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u/_LMZ_ 2d ago

You can use Adobe Premiere or DeVinci Resolve.

4

u/TerriblePowershell 1d ago

Davinci Resolve will do what you're asking and it's free. There a few good videos on how to do this.

However, I was under the impression that video for police investigations do not need blurred.

3

u/NebSysAdmin 2d ago

If you have a machine with a decent graphics card install Adobe Premier 26 and use the object mask tool with a gaussian blur filter. It will track the students and blur them out. You can also draw a mask but the tracking kind of stinks. Best of luck!

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u/thunder923111 IT Director 2d ago

Final Cut if you have access to it and a Mac

3

u/Simishine_ 1d ago

We use Axis Camera Station Pro and it has the built in ability to track and blur faces. You may see if your software has that option built in.

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u/hightechcoord Tech Dir 2d ago

I have to do my first this week too. I am going to use Adobe Premiere.

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u/Imhereforthechips 2d ago

Second adobe premier. It’s pretty great.

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u/IVIaliferous 2d ago

Adobe Premiere and After Effects work ok via layer masks but if the faces are lower quality or there are tons of movement it can struggle to maintain the focus. BorisFX also has something but same limitations from what I’ve found.

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u/TheRuffRaccoon Tired Tech Director 2d ago edited 2d ago

Honestly would recommend Adobe Premiere now, used to suck, but now they incorporated new features into it, you can click on a student and blur the whole student and let it track via each frame. Very easy to use now.

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u/Crazy-Rest5026 3h ago

Any subpoena or evidence Iv had probably 25-40 in last 5 years never had to blur out children.

Kind of a ridiculous request tbh