Add Film Grain Controls to Face Refinement Mask

Feature Request: Add Film Grain Control Within the Face Refinement Tool

Please consider adding a Film Grain tab or controls directly within the Face Refinement OFX tool, allowing users to apply grain only to the internally generated face matte.

Why this matters:

Currently, applying grain specifically to the face area requires a complicated workaround because the face matte produced by the tool is internal and not output as a usable alpha channel. To isolate grain to the face:
• Users must duplicate the Face Refinement node.
• Enable “Show Mask.”
• Route the matte through multiple nodes and manually invert it in the Key tab.
• Use this setup to limit grain to the facial area.

This process:
• Consumes more processing power.
• Requires redundant tracking.
• Slows down workflows significantly.

Proposed Benefit:

Adding native film grain control within the Face Refinement effect would:
• Greatly streamline the workflow.
• Ensure grain is automatically and accurately masked to the face matte.
• Help blend facial enhancements more naturally into grainy or filmic footage.
• Save time and reduce the need for heavy node structures and redundant calculations.

This small addition would go a long way in making Face Refinement more seamless and professional, especially for high-end grading and beauty work.

I'm puzzled as to why you would want to add grain only to faces. Can you give us an example?

Note it is possible to render the Magic Mask as a file and bring it back in as an External Matte.

Hi Marc,

My raw footage typically has a bit of natural film grain that I like to preserve. However, after applying the Face Refinement tool, the grain gets smoothed out, making the face look overly processed and disconnected from the rest of the shot.

Adding film grain back just to the face makes a huge difference—it helps the refinement blend seamlessly with the surrounding footage. Unfortunately, applying grain globally doesn’t work, as it doubles the grain everywhere else while leaving the face still looking artificial.

A dedicated grain option within the Face Refinement tool would be a valuable improvement, especially for professionals aiming for subtle, integrated results.

My raw footage typically has a bit of natural film grain that I like to preserve. However, after applying the Face Refinement tool, the grain gets smoothed out, making the face look overly processed and disconnected from the rest of the shot.

What if you added grain after Face Refinement? I tend to add it near the end of the node tree, but I concede that everybody works differently.

My raw footage typically has a bit of natural film grain that I like to preserve. However, after applying the Face Refinement tool, the grain gets smoothed out, making the face look overly processed and disconnected from the rest of the shot.

What if you added grain after Face Refinement? I tend to add it near the end of the node tree, but I concede that everybody works differently.

Marc, he want to re-add grain only to the affected areas, not to the whole image.

+1 for me

Marc, he want to re-add grain only to the affected areas, not to the whole image.
+1 for me

So he's saying if he smooths the skin details it also smooths out the grain? I never push Face Refinement that hard that I see it remove texture from the image, but there's always the chance I'm not looking for it. I'm usually chasing 9 other problems that are more vexing.

So he's saying if he smooths the skin details it also smooths out the grain? I never push Face Refinement that hard that I see it remove texture from the image, but there's always the chance I'm not looking for it. I'm usually chasing 9 other problems that are more vexing.

Even though as a general rule it's not recommended, sometimes you do have to push it that hard. And sometimes you even push it comically hard for creative intent. And it's in those situations that having the ability to add back grain to the affected areas is an absolute must.

+1

Even though as a general rule it's not recommended, sometimes you do have to push it that hard. And sometimes you even push it comically hard for creative intent. And it's in those situations that having the ability to add back grain to the affected areas is an absolute must.

Then the question becomes, "how do we match artificial Resolve grain to noise in the original camera?" I'd argue that's tougher than it sounds, unless you're working with actual film in the original.

In VFX, they very definitely work hard at adding noise to any digital composites, because (obviously) if the comped image had no noise, but everything around it did, then it would really stand out as "false." I know VFX artists who have been doing that for at least 25 years, so it's been a thing for a long time.

It is possible to generate an external matte with Fade Refinement, so that would most likely be my go-to method if somebody complained about this.

Hi Marc, thanks for your thoughtful responses and questions.

I could add grain to everything at the end, but that doubles it on the non-face areas—I prefer the original grain there. I could also remove all grain first, apply Face Refinement, then reapply grain, but that’s a lot of steps and processing.

Matching the original grain exactly isn’t critical—just getting close makes a big difference compared to having no grain on the face after heavy refinement.

I did find a workaround in the forum (see setup below), but it would be ideal if grain were integrated directly into the Face Refinement FX—similar to Beauty FX—with the option to affect only the face mask. Right now, Beauty FX has grain controls, though I’m not sure if they apply only to skin tones or the full image.

This is the setup for adding grain to the face mask only.

Add-Grain-To-Face-Refine.png (115.89 KiB) Viewed 643 times

+1 it is simple
you're adding softness, you should be able to easily re-add grain as well. The Beauty OFX got grain a few years ago. The Face Refinement OFX should get it too.

Another way to tackle this issue in development would be to pass the alpha matte of the face through the alpha output of the node by default. I was surprised to see that it did not do that as implemented. If implemented, then a duplicate facemask with an alpha matte visible checked would not be necessary.

Another way to tackle this issue in development would be to pass the alpha matte of the face through the alpha output of the node by default. I was surprised to see that it did not do that as implemented. If implemented, then a duplicate facemask with an alpha matte visible checked would not be necessary.

I previously made a feature request for the Face Refinement tool to allow you to pipe out mattes for each of the isolation parameters:

viewtopic.php?f=33&t=206375