For the case when one dislikes the sharp edge of the blurring, I made a script that layers different stages of blurring so that the edge is not sharp and it looks like this:
Instead of this:
It is a python script:
#!/usr/bin/env python3
import os,stat
def blur_softly(matrix,video_in="video_to_be_blurred.mp4",video_out=""):
if video_out == "":
video_out = video_in[:-4] + "_blurred" + video_in[-4:]
s0 = "ffmpeg -i " + video_in + " -filter_complex \\\n\"[0:v]null[v_int0]; \\\n"
s1 = ''
a = 0
for m in matrix:
blur = m[6]
multiple = m[7]
width = m[0]+blur*multiple*2
height = m[1]+blur*multiple*2
x_cord = m[2]-blur*multiple
y_cord = m[3]-blur*multiple
timein = m[4]
timeout = m[5]
step = m[8]
margin = m[9]
for i in range(blur):
ii = multiple*i
s0 = s0 + "[v_int0]crop="+str(width-2*ii+(margin//2)*2)+":"+str(height-2*ii+(margin//2)*2)+":"+str(x_cord+ii-margin//2)+":"+str(y_cord+ii-margin//2) + \
",boxblur="+str((i+1)*step)+":enable='between(t,"+str(timein)+","+str(timeout)+ \
")',crop="+str(width-2*ii)+ ":"+str(height-2*ii)+":"+str(margin//2)+":"+str(margin//2)+ "[blur_int" + str(i+1+a)+"]; \\\n"
s1 = s1 + "[v_int"+ str(i+a) +"][blur_int"+str(i+a+1)+"]overlay="+str(x_cord+ii)+":"+str(y_cord+ii)+":enable='between(t,"+str(timein)+","+str(timeout)+ ")'[v_int"+str(i+a+1)+"]; \\\n"
a += i+1
s = s0 + s1 + "[v_int"+str(a)+"]null[with_subtitles]\" \\\n-map \"[with_subtitles]\" -map 0:a -c:v libx264 -c:a copy -crf 17 -preset slow -y "+video_out+"\n"
print(s)
file_object = open('blur.sh', 'w')
file_object.write(s)
file_object.close()
st = os.stat('blur.sh')
os.chmod('blur.sh', st.st_mode | stat.S_IXUSR | stat.S_IXGRP | stat.S_IXOTH)
#w,h,x,y,timein,timeout,blur,multiple,step,margin
matrix = [[729,70,599,499,14.96,16.40,25,1,1,90],]
blur_softly(matrix,video_in="your_video.mp4",video_out="output_video.mp4")
You can change the parameters in the last and penultimate lines, the last two parametres between quatation marks are path to your video and output video (assuming they are placed in the working directory). In the penultimate line:
- the first two numbers indicate the size of the initial area to which maximum blur will be applied,
- the second two indicate the x and y coordinates thereof (top left corner),
- the third two indicate the times in seconds when the blurring should be applied,
- "25" in this example indicates that there will be 25 boxes applied on top of each other)
- the next "1" indicates that bigger boxes with less blurr should be just one pixel wider than their predecessors
- the second "1" indicates that blurring should increase by one until until maximum of 25 (from above)
- "30" indicates the margin that is taken into consideration for applying the blur, so increasing this makes the blur respect more of its surrounding. Increasing this value also solves error texted like
Invalid chroma radius value 21, must be >= 0 and <= 20
By running it, one should get an output like the following (it gets written to a filethat can be run and printed on the output that can be copypasted and run):
ffmpeg -i video_to_be_blurred.mp4 -filter_complex \
"[0:v]null[v_int0]; \
[v_int0]crop=869:210:529:429,boxblur=1:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=779:120:45:45[blur_int1]; \
[v_int0]crop=867:208:530:430,boxblur=2:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=777:118:45:45[blur_int2]; \
[v_int0]crop=865:206:531:431,boxblur=3:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=775:116:45:45[blur_int3]; \
[v_int0]crop=863:204:532:432,boxblur=4:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=773:114:45:45[blur_int4]; \
[v_int0]crop=861:202:533:433,boxblur=5:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=771:112:45:45[blur_int5]; \
[v_int0]crop=859:200:534:434,boxblur=6:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=769:110:45:45[blur_int6]; \
[v_int0]crop=857:198:535:435,boxblur=7:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=767:108:45:45[blur_int7]; \
[v_int0]crop=855:196:536:436,boxblur=8:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=765:106:45:45[blur_int8]; \
[v_int0]crop=853:194:537:437,boxblur=9:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=763:104:45:45[blur_int9]; \
[v_int0]crop=851:192:538:438,boxblur=10:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=761:102:45:45[blur_int10]; \
[v_int0]crop=849:190:539:439,boxblur=11:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=759:100:45:45[blur_int11]; \
[v_int0]crop=847:188:540:440,boxblur=12:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=757:98:45:45[blur_int12]; \
[v_int0]crop=845:186:541:441,boxblur=13:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=755:96:45:45[blur_int13]; \
[v_int0]crop=843:184:542:442,boxblur=14:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=753:94:45:45[blur_int14]; \
[v_int0]crop=841:182:543:443,boxblur=15:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=751:92:45:45[blur_int15]; \
[v_int0]crop=839:180:544:444,boxblur=16:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=749:90:45:45[blur_int16]; \
[v_int0]crop=837:178:545:445,boxblur=17:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=747:88:45:45[blur_int17]; \
[v_int0]crop=835:176:546:446,boxblur=18:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=745:86:45:45[blur_int18]; \
[v_int0]crop=833:174:547:447,boxblur=19:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=743:84:45:45[blur_int19]; \
[v_int0]crop=831:172:548:448,boxblur=20:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=741:82:45:45[blur_int20]; \
[v_int0]crop=829:170:549:449,boxblur=21:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=739:80:45:45[blur_int21]; \
[v_int0]crop=827:168:550:450,boxblur=22:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=737:78:45:45[blur_int22]; \
[v_int0]crop=825:166:551:451,boxblur=23:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=735:76:45:45[blur_int23]; \
[v_int0]crop=823:164:552:452,boxblur=24:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=733:74:45:45[blur_int24]; \
[v_int0]crop=821:162:553:453,boxblur=25:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)',crop=731:72:45:45[blur_int25]; \
[v_int0][blur_int1]overlay=574:474:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int1]; \
[v_int1][blur_int2]overlay=575:475:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int2]; \
[v_int2][blur_int3]overlay=576:476:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int3]; \
[v_int3][blur_int4]overlay=577:477:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int4]; \
[v_int4][blur_int5]overlay=578:478:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int5]; \
[v_int5][blur_int6]overlay=579:479:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int6]; \
[v_int6][blur_int7]overlay=580:480:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int7]; \
[v_int7][blur_int8]overlay=581:481:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int8]; \
[v_int8][blur_int9]overlay=582:482:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int9]; \
[v_int9][blur_int10]overlay=583:483:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int10]; \
[v_int10][blur_int11]overlay=584:484:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int11]; \
[v_int11][blur_int12]overlay=585:485:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int12]; \
[v_int12][blur_int13]overlay=586:486:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int13]; \
[v_int13][blur_int14]overlay=587:487:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int14]; \
[v_int14][blur_int15]overlay=588:488:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int15]; \
[v_int15][blur_int16]overlay=589:489:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int16]; \
[v_int16][blur_int17]overlay=590:490:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int17]; \
[v_int17][blur_int18]overlay=591:491:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int18]; \
[v_int18][blur_int19]overlay=592:492:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int19]; \
[v_int19][blur_int20]overlay=593:493:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int20]; \
[v_int20][blur_int21]overlay=594:494:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int21]; \
[v_int21][blur_int22]overlay=595:495:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int22]; \
[v_int22][blur_int23]overlay=596:496:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int23]; \
[v_int23][blur_int24]overlay=597:497:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int24]; \
[v_int24][blur_int25]overlay=598:498:enable='between(t,14.96,16.4)'[v_int25]; \
[v_int25]null[with_subtitles]" \
-map "[with_subtitles]" -map 0:a -c:v libx264 -c:a copy -crf 17 -slow preset -y video_to_be_blurred_blurred.mp4