Frequency separation is a sound way to smooth skin without flattening it. Split the image into a color layer and a detail layer, blur the color, keep the detail, and the pores stay put. aescripts' Skin Retouch brings that split into After Effects as a single action. For one five-second beauty shot, that is quick. For a long interview or a stack of clips, the layers are the job, and the job grows with every clip.
Skin Retouch is free, and it is an After Effects script. It gives you the frequency separation layers to edit yourself. VanityFilter is a standalone app for Windows and Apple Silicon Mac. It smooths skin inside a mask for each face and writes a file you can edit with, so you do not keep a layer stack for every clip.
What Skin Retouch does
The Skin Retouch product page describes frequency separation applied as one action in After Effects. A high-pass layer keeps the skin detail. The low-frequency layer holds the color and tone, and only that layer gets blurred. Because both layers are normal After Effects layers, you can paint on either one. The page shows wrinkles removed with a clone stamp on the detail layer, which keeps the tone underneath untouched.
The page lists the script as free, shows a $0.00 price, and gives After Effects compatibility from CS5 through 2026. Its version history shows a 1.0.003 release dated May 8, 2020. Check the product page for the current build before you install it.
Where the layer stack slows down
A layer stack is a good tool, but it means building that stack for every clip. Three things come up on real projects.
Every clip gets its own composition
Each source clip needs its own composition with the duplicated layers, the blur, the detail layer and any masks. Ten clips means ten stacks to keep in sync. Change the blur on one and the others stay as they were, unless you copy the change across by hand.
The round trip out of Premiere
If your timeline lives in Premiere Pro, the clip has to travel to After Effects and back. Dynamic Link keeps the clip connected, but the composition still renders inside After Effects before the result returns to the timeline. Long timelines feel that first.
The blur covers the whole layer
The page describes a blur on the skin layers, not a way to find faces. Keeping the effect off eyes, lips, hair and clothing usually means masks. When the subject turns or moves, those masks have to follow them, and a shot with a head turn is where hand-placed masks start to drift.
What VanityFilter does instead
VanityFilter does not ask you to build the layers. It is a standalone app for 64-bit Windows 10 (1809 or later), Windows 11 and Apple Silicon Macs on macOS 14 or later. You give it the clip file. It detects up to five faces per frame, including some turned and profile heads, builds a mask for each face, and smooths skin inside those masks. Eyes, lips, hair and clothing stay as they were shot. The video is processed on your computer and never uploaded.
The output is a new file. You can export H.264 MP4 or ProRes 422 HQ MOV at the source frame size, with the source audio re-encoded for the output format. You can also export an optional grayscale mask video and a settings sidecar. The app runs batches, and the included command-line tool does too. Your timeline never carries a stack of smoothing layers, because the smoothing is already in the file.
VanityFilter is built for a different job. If you already work in After Effects and want to paint on the detail layer by hand, Skin Retouch is free and it does exactly that. VanityFilter is for the case where you want the pass done once, to the file, before the edit.
Two ways to use the result in an editor
Workflow A: the clean file. Process the clips, export ProRes 422 HQ, and edit with the finished footage. The timeline holds no smoothing effects, so playback stays light. This is the route for a backlog of interviews.
Workflow B: the grayscale matte. Export the mask video and load it as a luma track matte over an adjustment layer. The matte tells the editor where the skin is, so you can drive a color or sharpening change from it. The skin mask matte guide walks through the steps in Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve. For the frequency separation method itself, see our frequency separation guide for video.
aescripts Skin Retouch vs. VanityFilter
| Question | aescripts Skin Retouch | VanityFilter |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, $0.00 on the product page | $9.95 USD for a 30-day demo with every feature; one-time license $29.95 USD on sale, regularly $49 |
| Runs in | After Effects (compatibility list on the product page) | Standalone app for Windows and Apple Silicon Mac |
| How you control it | You edit the high-pass and blur layers yourself | The app builds a mask for each detected face; you pick the level in the app |
| Face detection | Not described on the product page | Up to five faces per frame, including some turned and profile heads |
| Layer stacks in your project | One stack per composition | None; the processed file goes into your timeline |
| Batch processing | Not described on the product page | Yes, in the app and through the command-line tool |
| Output | Your After Effects composition | H.264 MP4 or ProRes 422 HQ MOV, plus an optional mask matte and settings sidecar |
Frequently asked questions
Do I need After Effects to smooth skin in video?
Not with VanityFilter. It is a standalone app for 64-bit Windows and Apple Silicon Mac. It reads the clip file, processes it and writes a new file. Skin Retouch is an After Effects script, so it needs After Effects. Its product page lists compatibility from CS5 through 2026.
How does frequency separation in video differ from photo retouching?
A photo gives you one still to split into a detail layer and a color layer. Video needs the same split to hold on every frame, and the layers have to follow the subject as they move. Skin Retouch makes the split a one-click action on layers you can still edit by hand. VanityFilter applies its smoothing inside a mask for each detected face, so you do not build or maintain a layer stack.
Can VanityFilter export a track matte for After Effects?
It can export an optional grayscale mask video with a settings sidecar. That file is a matte, not a layer stack. Load it as a luma track matte in Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve, and the mask matte guide walks through the steps. The matte does not change the skin itself, so you choose what it drives.
Want to see the difference on your own footage? The 30-day demo license is $9.95 USD and includes every feature. Our features page lists the controls, and the download page has the installer and its SHA-256.