Sputnik Digital Effects

VanityFilter

AI skin smoothing for video. One dial to camera-ready.

A complete commercial product. Sputnik Digital Effects engineered the computer-vision pipeline, designed the Windows interface, built the signed release and licensing systems, and shipped the storefront that sells it through Stripe and PayPal.

Visit vanityfilter.com See the technology
VanityFilter desktop application showing an original and smoothed video frame side by side
Facial landmarks 478 points
Faces per frame Up to 5
Export codecs H.264 · ProRes 422 HQ
Processing 100% offline
Current release v3.1.5
01 The software

A face-aware retouch workflow built for video.

VanityFilter 2.8 detects up to five faces, builds a protected skin-only mask for each one, and smooths only the selected people. The result keeps facial detail instead of replacing the face.

The full-bleed preview re-renders as controls move. Strength, skin tolerance, feathering, and texture repair shape the smoothing; dedicated passes brighten skin, matte down shine, and even out redness. Version 2.6 adds experimental blemish healing that rebuilds small acne spots from nearby skin while deliberately preserving isolated moles, freckles, and stubble.

The creator workflow now reaches beyond the filter. Editors can export an exact clip range with source audio, hold Space for the original, target the primary face, ignore small background faces, and move looks between machines with portable preset files. The GUI and CLI share the same engine, including H.264, ProRes 422 HQ, grayscale mask mattes, and settings sidecars.

Released September 10, 2026, version 2.8 adds ear protection when facial landmarks are available and keeps experimental blemish repairs inside the skin mask. It carries forward the Latin American Spanish interface introduced in 2.7, with English and Spanish PDF manuals. Warnings flag detected variable frame rate or inconclusive timing checks. Export remains constant frame rate; convert affected footage first to avoid possible audio drift.

  • Face-aware skin masking
  • Live preview rendering
  • Brighten · shine · redness · blemish passes
  • Range export + source audio
  • Primary-face targeting
  • Portable preset files
  • Premiere track-matte export
VanityFilter adjustment panel with amount, strength, smoothing, and skin sliders over a split original and processed view

The preview browser lets an editor audit exactly what the pipeline sees: the source, the mask it built, the processed result, and a split comparison.

VanityFilter Original: Untouched source frame
Original Untouched source frame
VanityFilter Mask: Skin mask with protected eyes, brows, and lips
Mask Skin mask with protected eyes, brows, and lips
VanityFilter Processed: Smoothed result with texture preserved
Processed Smoothed result with texture preserved
VanityFilter Split: Before and after, side by side
Split Before and after, side by side

Every system on the stack.

VanityFilter is one connected product system: vision research, desktop engineering, signed packaging, cryptographic licensing, dual-rail commerce, and growth infrastructure. Sputnik Digital Effects built and operates every layer.

Sys 01

Computer vision & AI

The core of VanityFilter is a face-aware imaging pipeline that decides, per pixel and per frame, what is skin and what must be protected.

  • MediaPipe Face Landmarker 478-point facial landmarks via the modern Tasks API, tracking up to 5 faces per frame
  • YuNet (ONNX) Fallback face detector that catches turned and profile faces MediaPipe misses
  • Selfie segmentation (TFLite) Multiclass person segmentation used as the skin gate for the mask
  • Experimental blemish healing Context-aware repair of small acne spots while preserving isolated moles, freckles, and stubble
  • OpenCV Edge-preserving bilateral filtering, mask morphology, and all frame I/O
  • NumPy Vectorized per-pixel math across every frame of the video
Sys 02

Desktop application

A native-feeling Windows app with live preview, range exports, per-face targeting, portable presets, and a scriptable CLI twin for batch work.

  • Python 3.11 Application core, processing pipeline, and tooling
  • PySide6 / Qt 6 Dark, icon-rail GUI with floating panels, preview browser, and live view modes
  • FFmpeg + ffprobe Single-pass export pipeline: H.264 MP4 (AAC) or ProRes 422 HQ MOV (PCM) with original audio
  • Creator workflow Frame-accurate In and Out points, hold-Space comparison, drag and drop, and export time estimates
  • Per-face controls Primary-face targeting and a minimum face-size gate keep bystanders out of the effect
  • Portable preset schema Shareable .vfpreset files work in the desktop app and as CLI inputs
  • CLI + tqdm Command-line range export, face selection, presets, and multi-file batch processing
  • pytest 166 tests collected at the v2.6 release commit
Sys 03

Packaging & distribution

One build script turns source into a distributable product: executable, installer, bundled FFmpeg, manual, and license notices.

  • PyInstaller Self-contained onedir build embedding version and publisher metadata
  • Inno Setup LZMA2-compressed Windows installer with Start Menu shortcut and uninstaller
  • Microsoft Artifact Signing The app, CLI, uninstaller, and installer are signed and timestamped by Sputnik Digital LLC
  • Auto-update system Daily background check against a hosted latest.json with an in-app update banner
  • Generated user manual PDF manual rebuilt from source on every release
  • License compliance Bundled third-party notices: Qt LGPL, FFmpeg GPL with source offer, and ML model licenses
Sys 04

Security & licensing

Copy protection with zero activation servers: keys are cryptographically signed offline and verified locally, so the app never phones home.

  • Ed25519 signatures License keys signed with a private key and verified in-app with the bundled public key
  • Python cryptography Signature verification library powering the offline activation flow
  • Key vending workflow Per-customer key issuing tool with optional expiry, kept outside the shipped product
  • EULA + activation dialog End-user license surfaced in the installer and on first run
Sys 05

Website & commerce

vanityfilter.com is the product's storefront: demos, tutorials, checkout, license delivery, and support engineered as one system.

  • PHP + shared includes Component-driven pages with a shared head, nav, footer, and share rail
  • Hand-built CSS design system Custom dark UI with Sora, Instrument Sans, and JetBrains Mono. No frameworks.
  • Stripe + PayPal checkout Card, wallet, Cash App, or PayPal purchase paths for the full license and paid demo
  • Automated fulfillment Payment events feed the license issuing and customer delivery workflow
  • Creator code system Promotion codes work across both payment rails with campaign-level attribution
  • macOS waitlist + support Private signup capture, contact, thank-you, and download delivery flows
Sys 06

Marketing, SEO & growth

The launch is engineered too: structured data for search, tutorial content for intent traffic, and automated creator outreach at scale.

  • Schema.org + SEO structure Structured data, canonical URLs, sitemap, robots, and llms.txt
  • Google Analytics 4 Event-level tracking on checkout and download actions
  • Tutorial blog Workflow guides for Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve targeting search intent
  • Demo video pipeline Adobe Premiere Pro demo edits, before/after galleries, and social-ready cuts
  • Outreach automation Node.js creator-discovery scripts for YouTube and X campaign targeting
02 The website

A storefront built to convert search into licenses.

vanityfilter.com is the product's launchpad: live before-and-after demos, workflow articles, signed downloads, current release notes, and a checkout path that moves from payment to license delivery.

The PHP storefront uses a hand-built design system and two payment rails. Stripe handles cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Cash App; PayPal remains available beside it. Creator promotions work in both systems, and completed payments feed the license fulfillment workflow. Search infrastructure, first-party analytics, a growing tutorial library, and a private macOS waitlist support the product beyond checkout.

  • Product marketing site
  • Stripe + PayPal checkout
  • Creator promotions on both rails
  • Automated license fulfillment
  • Tutorial blog + SEO
  • Signed download + updates
  • macOS waitlist + support
Explore the website case study

Your product could be next.

VanityFilter went from concept to paying customers with one studio handling design, engineering, and launch. If you have a product that needs the same push, open a channel.

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