I am about to show you how to de-age anyone and make them look 10 years younger in DaVinci Resolve in just one minute. If you have a client that you’re making a video for and they want you to airbrush them a bit and make them look younger, that used to require a ton of work. Now, you can do it with a single effect in DaVinci Resolve.

Before we dive in, if you want to master your editing workflow, make sure to check out my Edit Videos Like A Pro Guide. It’s a free resource that will help you level up your videos fast.

The New Face Age Transformer

First, open up DaVinci Resolve. You’ll want to be finished with the editing phase of your video before applying this because it requires a significant amount of computer processing power. Applying it to the exact clips you need at the end of your workflow will keep your playback from slowing down too much.

Head over to the Color Page and create a new node. Open the Effects panel in the top right and search for “face.” This will bring up the Face Age transformer. Drag that onto your node. To get started, click Detect Faces in Frame. This will place a tracking box around any faces in the shot. If you have multiple people, you can simply click the specific face you want to work on.

Once the face is selected, click the Double Arrow icon to track the face forward and backward. This ensures the effect stays locked on your subject as they move around the frame.

De-Aging Your Subject

Under the Age Shift settings, you’ll see an Age Offset slider. This is where the magic happens. By default, it might set the age to 30, but you can adjust the base age to match your subject. To make someone look younger, move the offset to a negative number like -10 or -20. Just like that, wrinkles are softened and the skin looks much younger. It’s honestly wild how well this works.

You can even go the other way and make someone look older if the story requires it. You can even keyframe this effect. If you want a shot like in Lord of the Rings where a character transforms in real-time, you can now do that with a few clicks.

While this tool is incredible for touch-ups, keep in mind that if you are doing heavy color grading or using LUTs, you’ll want to make sure your node structure is organized so your skin tones stay natural.

Limitations to Watch Out For

There are two main things to keep in mind. First, don’t go too extreme. If you try to make a 60-year-old look like a 20-year-old, the AI will over-soften the face and make them look a bit like a weird baby. It’s best to keep the adjustments subtle for the most realistic results.

Second, this effect only applies to the face, not the hair. If your subject has gray or thinning hair, the AI won’t change that. It only removes wrinkles and smooths skin textures.

Smoothing Out Your Playback

Because this is a heavy AI effect, your playback might stutter. To fix this, go to the Playback menu at the top, select Render Cache, and set it to Smart. Wait for the red bar on your timeline to turn blue, and you’ll be able to watch your results in real-time without any lag.

If you feel the effect is a little too “digital,” use the Global Blend slider. This acts as a master opacity for the effect, allowing you to dial it back until it looks perfectly natural.

For more tips on how to use the latest tools in Resolve, check out my other DaVinci Resolve tutorials on the blog!