--- title: "How to remove blemishes with AI in DaVinci Resolve 21" author: "Cutsio Team" date: "2026-05-15" lastmod: "2026-05-15" category: "DaVinci Resolve Advanced Workflows" excerpt: "DaVinci Resolve 21 AI Blemish Removal reduces skin imperfections while retaining natural texture. This guide covers setup, strength controls, and how to apply it efficiently on pre-edited timelines." tags: ["DaVinci Resolve 21","AI Blemish Removal","Skin Retouching","Beauty Workflow","Color Page","Post Production"] --- ## How do you remove blemishes with AI in DaVinci Resolve 21? DaVinci Resolve 21 AI Blemish Removal reduces the appearance of superficial skin imperfections such as acne, discoloration, spots, and pores while retaining the natural texture of the skin. A strength slider lets you adjust the intensity from subtle refinement to full smoothness, making it suitable for beauty content, close-up interviews, and commercial work. ![AI Blemish Removal](https://images.blackmagicdesign.com/images/products/davinciresolve/whatsnew/ai/blemish@2x.jpg?_v=1775106162) The tool is available as a Resolve FX plugin in the Color page. It uses DaVinci Resolve's Neural Engine to analyze skin texture, identify imperfections, and smooth them selectively without blurring the entire face. Unlike traditional blur-based skin smoothing that reduces overall detail, the AI Blemish Removal tool preserves edges, hair, and natural skin texture while targeting only the specific imperfections. ## How do you use AI Blemish Removal in DaVinci Resolve 21? Open the Color page on the clip you want to refine. In the Open FX tab, locate "Resolve FX AI Blemish Removal" and drag it onto the clip's node. The controls appear in the Effects panel on the right. The primary control is the Strength slider, ranging from 0 to 100. At low values around 10-20, the tool subtly reduces the appearance of minor imperfections while retaining full skin texture. At medium values around 30-50, it visibly reduces acne, spots, and discoloration while keeping pores and skin detail intact. At high values above 70, it produces a smoother appearance that approaches a soft-focus beauty look. The tool works best on close-up and medium shots where the subject's face occupies a significant portion of the frame. For wide shots where the face is small, the effect is minimal because the imperfections are already less visible at that scale. Applying the tool to wide shots wastes processing resources without providing noticeable improvement. ## When should you use AI Blemish Removal vs traditional skin smoothing? | Scenario | Recommended tool | Reason | |---|---|---| | Acne or temporary blemishes | AI Blemish Removal | Targets specific spots without blurring | | General skin texture smoothing | AI Blemish Removal | Retains pore detail | | Wrinkle reduction | AI Face Age Transformer | Designed for age-related features | | Heavy soft-focus beauty look | Traditional blur + mask | Full control over blur amount | | Quick fix for social media clips | AI Blemish Removal | Fast, one-slider adjustment | The AI Blemish Removal tool is best used as a selective effect. Apply it only to clips where close-up visibility makes skin imperfections noticeable. For a 10-minute interview with a mix of wide, medium, and close-up shots, apply it only to the close-up clips. This saves processing time and avoids unnecessary smoothing on shots where the effect would be invisible. ## How do you combine AI Blemish Removal with other Color page tools? The Blemish Removal tool integrates into your existing node tree like any Resolve FX plugin. The most common placement is early in the node chain, before primary color correction. Applying it before the grade ensures that the blemish removal processes the most neutral image data, producing cleaner results. For more control, use a power window or Magic Mask to restrict the Blemish Removal to specific areas of the face. Place the Blemish Removal on its own node, create a power window around the face or the specific area that needs treatment, and invert the window if needed. This prevents the tool from processing non-skin areas like hair, clothing, or the background, which can introduce unwanted smoothing artifacts. For a complete beauty grade, combine Blemish Removal with subtle color correction on a separate node — warming skin tones, adding a slight glow, or adjusting saturation. The Blemish Removal handles the texture while your grade handles the color.
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Apply skin refinement only where it matters

Pre-edit your interview footage in Cutsio first. Find and isolate the close-up shots, remove retakes and silence, and export a clean EDL. Then apply Blemish Removal only to the close-ups in Resolve 21.

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## How do you optimize the blemish removal workflow for interview and beauty content? For interview-based content with multiple close-up shots of the same subject, the efficient approach is to grade one reference clip first and then apply the same settings to all similar clips. Start by identifying the close-up clips in your timeline. In Cutsio, use the transcript to find sections where the subject is speaking in close-up or medium close-up. Highlight those sections and export them. In DaVinci Resolve 21, grade one representative close-up clip with the Blemish Removal settings that work best. Copy the node tree and paste it onto all other close-up clips. The consistent lighting and skin visibility across interview shots means the same settings typically translate well. For beauty and cosmetic content, consider creating a dedicated Blemish Removal preset. Set up a node with your preferred Blemish Removal strength, add a subtle color correction node for skin tone warmth, and save it as a Power Grade. This preset can be applied to any project with one click. ## Does AI Blemish Removal work on all skin types and tones? The AI model is trained on a diverse range of skin types and tones. The tool performs consistently across different skin tones because it analyzes skin texture at a granular level rather than relying on color-based detection. The Strength slider provides the same range of effect regardless of skin tone. The main variable is resolution and lighting. Higher-resolution footage with good, even lighting produces the best results because the Neural Engine has more detail to work with. Footage with heavy grain, extreme low light, or aggressive compression may produce less consistent results because the imperfections are harder to distinguish from the noise in the image. ## FAQ ### Is AI Blemish Removal available in the free version of DaVinci Resolve 21? No. AI Blemish Removal requires DaVinci Resolve 21 Studio. It is not available in the free version. ### Can I use Blemish Removal on areas other than faces? The tool is optimized for facial skin. It can be applied to other skin areas like hands or arms, but the results may vary because the AI model is trained primarily on facial skin texture. ### Does Blemish Removal work on video with heavy film grain? The tool works best on clean footage. Heavy film grain or digital noise can interfere with the AI's ability to distinguish between skin texture and noise. Applying noise reduction before Blemish Removal can improve results. ### Can I keyframe the Strength parameter? Yes. The Strength parameter can be keyframed, allowing the blemish removal to increase or decrease within a single clip. This is useful for shots where the subject moves from shadow to light, changing the visibility of imperfections. ### How long does Blemish Removal take to process a 10-second clip? Processing time depends on the clip resolution and the number of faces being analyzed. A 10-second 4K close-up typically processes in 5-15 seconds on a system with modern GPU acceleration.

Pre-edit, select close-ups, refine skin

Use Cutsio to find and isolate close-up shots from your interview footage, export a clean EDL to DaVinci Resolve 21, and apply AI Blemish Removal only where it makes a visible difference.

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No credit card required. 60 minutes of free processing.