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Reallusion FaceFilter for Windows

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The Bottom Line

FaceFilter is designed to quickly transform facial expressions in a number of ways--from confident and sexy to mean, sad, sleepy, or tender. It can even do silly, comic effects, but it's most useful for creating a subtle change to the overall mood of an image. Portrait photographers, especially, could find this useful, though the 3 megapixel limit could be a hindrance.

Pros

  • Easy to learn and use.
  • Inexpensive.
  • Good documentation via electronic help.

Cons

  • Works best if face is looking forward (not in profile) and is not partially obscured.
  • Sad faces look more realistic than happy faces; smiles don't curve upward very much.
  • Only changes expressions and facial proportions; can't erase wrinkles, whiten teeth, smooth skin.

Description

  • FaceFilter is stand-alone software to change facial expressions of people in your digital photos.
  • Four step process: select face, fit facial mask, select and adjust expression, export image.
  • Select: Open image, select face, rotate, and adjust contrast, brightness, hue, and saturation.
  • Opens JPEG, BMP, or GIF files. Limited to 3 megapixels in standard version.
  • Fit Mask: Place 4 primary markers then adjust 8 secondary markers to plot the eyes, lips & eyebrows.
  • Select Expression: Choose from over 50 'attractive' or 'fun' templates or adjust manually.
  • Manually adjust head proportion and shape, plus scale, rotate and move eyes, brows, lips and nose.
  • Export: Compare original to edited, save as JPEG, BMP, or GIF, or copy to clipboard.
  • For Windows 98/2000/NT/Me/XP. A 7-day trial download is available with watermarked output.

Guide Review - Reallusion FaceFilter for Windows

FaceFilter is designed to quickly turn your frown upside-down, as well as transform facial expressions in a number of ways--from confident and sexy to mean, sad, sleepy, or tender. The software is extemely easy to learn and use, but it does have some limitations. You can modify the size, angle, and position of eyes and eyebrows (individual or as a pair), noses, and mouths. You can adjust color and tone globally, but I would have liked it to have more advanced controls for enhancing skin tones, as well as features for smoothing skin, erasing blemishes, and so on. The image modifications are realistic and fairly subtle, but you can also crank up the expression strength for silly, comic effects.

I was not too impressed with the smile results. The corners of the mouth just barely turn up, and it only works well on original subjects with closed mouth expressions. But overall, it does effectively lend a different feel to the mood of the modified image, even when only subtle changes are made. If you work with a lot of portrait photos--particularly promotional portraits--the software could be very useful. However, the three megapixel limitation could be a significant detriment to its professional utility. The help file mentions an advanced version for processing up to 6 megapixel files, but this version does not appear to be available on their Web site.

"You're so vain..." Suddenly I can't seem to get that song out of my head! I wonder why...

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