--- title: "How to reshape facial features with AI Face Reshaper 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 Face Reshaper lets you change facial feature shapes and positions on moving subjects. This guide covers detection, controls, and how to combine it with other face tools for complete face transformations." tags: ["DaVinci Resolve 21","AI Face Reshaper","Facial Features","VFX","Post Production","Face Tracking"] --- ## How does AI Face Reshaper work in DaVinci Resolve 21? DaVinci Resolve 21 AI Face Reshaper lets you change the shape and position of facial features on a moving subject. After detecting and tracking a face in a clip, you can adjust the eyes, nose, mouth, eyebrows, and overall face shape independently using individual parameter controls. Manual fine-tuning controls let you refine the resulting face shape for precise results. The AI Face Reshaper is available as a Resolve FX plugin in the Color page. It uses DaVinci Resolve's Neural Engine to detect facial landmarks, track them across frames, and apply geometric adjustments that maintain natural movement and expression. ## How do you use AI Face Reshaper in DaVinci Resolve 21? Open the Color page on the clip you want to modify. In the Open FX tab, locate "Resolve FX AI Face Reshaper" and drag it onto the clip's node. The controls appear in the Effects panel on the right. Click the "Detect Face" button. Resolve scans the clip for human faces and displays tracking markers on the detected face. If multiple faces are present, a selector lets you choose which face to modify. Once tracking is active, the reshaping controls become available. The controls are organized by facial feature: - **Eyes**: Adjust eye width, height, angle, and spacing. Make eyes wider, narrower, or change their tilt. - **Nose**: Adjust nose width, length, and bridge height. Change the overall shape of the nose. - **Mouth**: Adjust mouth width, height, and smile shape. Modify lip position and curvature. - **Eyebrows**: Adjust brow height, angle, and arch shape. Change the expression and appearance of the brow area. - **Face shape**: Adjust jaw width, cheekbone height, and chin shape. Modify the overall facial structure. Each control has a range slider from negative to positive values. Negative values compress or reduce the feature, while positive values expand or increase it. Subtle adjustments in the range of ±5-15 produce natural-looking changes. Extreme adjustments beyond ±30 may produce stylized or unnatural appearances. ## How does face tracking work for the Reshaper? The AI Face Reshaper uses the same face tracking engine as the Face Age Transformer. It detects 68 facial landmark points and tracks them across every frame. The tracking handles head rotation, expression changes, and partial occlusion with consistent accuracy. The tracking is automatic by default. If the face is visible and well-lit for the majority of the clip, the AI handles tracking without manual intervention. For challenging shots — extreme angles, fast head movements, or inconsistent lighting — you can access the tracking controls to adjust keyframes manually. The tracking data is independent for each Resolve FX face tool. If you apply both Face Reshaper and Face Age Transformer to the same clip, each tool maintains its own tracking data. However, the face detection is shared, so you only need to detect the face once per clip. ## Can you combine Face Reshaper with other face tools in Resolve 21? Yes. The Face Reshaper, Face Age Transformer, and Blemish Removal tools can all be applied to the same clip in a single node tree. The recommended order is: 1. **Face Reshaper** — adjust facial feature geometry first 2. **Face Age Transformer** — modify age-related texture on the reshaped features 3. **AI Blemish Removal** — clean up skin texture on the final face Apply each tool on its own node in the node graph. This keeps the adjustments independent and allows you to bypass or modify any single tool without affecting the others. The Face Reshaper changes the geometry, the Face Age Transformer changes the surface aging, and the Blemish Removal refines the skin texture. Combining all three tools creates a complete face transformation pipeline. For example, to make an actor look like a younger version of themselves with slightly different features: apply Face Reshaper to adjust the jawline and nose, apply Face Age Transformer with a negative age offset to remove wrinkles, and apply Blemish Removal to refine skin texture.
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## What are the best practices for natural-looking face reshaping results? The key to natural-looking results is subtlety. Small adjustments produce convincing results that are difficult to detect as post-production manipulation. Large adjustments become noticeable as artificial. Start with all controls at zero. Make one adjustment at a time and preview the result before moving to the next control. The most common adjustments — slight jaw width reduction, minor eye spacing changes, subtle brow height adjustments — typically use values between ±5 and ±15. Work with the full clip playing rather than a single frame. Facial reshaping that looks correct on one frame may look different when the subject moves or changes expression. Play through the entire clip with the effect enabled to verify consistency. Use the bypass button to compare the reshaped face with the original frequently. If the change is too subtle to notice, you may need to increase the value. If the change is obviously artificial, reduce the value or try a different combination of controls. ## FAQ ### Is AI Face Reshaper available in the free version of DaVinci Resolve 21? No. AI Face Reshaper requires DaVinci Resolve 21 Studio. ### Can I keyframe Face Reshaper parameters? Yes. All reshaping parameters can be keyframed, allowing the effect to change over time within a single clip. ### Does Face Reshaper work on profiles or three-quarter views? The tool works best on front-facing views where both eyes are visible. Extreme profiles may produce less reliable results because fewer facial landmarks are visible. ### Can I apply Face Reshaper to multiple faces in the same clip? Yes. Apply the Reshaper multiple times, each targeting a different face. Use separate nodes for each face to maintain independent control. ### How long does face tracking take for a 30-second clip? Tracking typically processes in 30-60 seconds for a 30-second clip on a system with modern GPU acceleration. Tracking time depends on clip resolution and the number of faces.

Complete face transformation pipeline

Pre-edit with Cutsio, export a clean EDL, and apply Resolve 21 Face Reshaper, Face Age Transformer, and Blemish Removal only to the clips that make the final cut.

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