Google announced the launch of a new Custom Blurring tool for YouTube that lets video creators blur anything in a video that they wish. In the past, they’ve offered the ability to blur all faces, but this takes the technology further and makes it more useful.
The tool comes as a new Enhancements feature on the desktop versions of YouTube. It lets you blur any object in a video, even if it’s moving.
Just choose the video you want to edit, and select Custom Blurring within the Blurring Effects tab in the Enhancements tool. Then, draw a box around what you want to blur.
“Whether you want to blur sensitive information such as a license plate or cover up a wardrobe malfunction without reshooting an entire scene, the new Custom Blurring tool will let you blur objects throughout your video, right within YouTube,” says YouTube privacy lead Amanda Conway.
“The Custom Blurring tool will automatically blur that object as it moves throughout the video, using our new innovative technology that can analyze the motion of any video on the fly,” explains Conway. “At any time, you can move the blurred area, resize it and choose when the blur starts and stops. There is also a “Lock” option to blur something that doesn’t move at all. When you’re done making edits you can either save the changes as part of the same video or save a new copy, which also gives you the option to delete the original video.”
The feature should go a long way toward keeping videos out of privacy trouble.
Image via YouTube