Redacting scenes

2025-06-24Last updated

You can use scene redaction to keep specific subjects visible in a video while simultaneously redacting the surrounding environment.

What you should know

  • When scene redaction is enabled, the entire visual area in the video is redacted. From there, you can reveal selected areas by applying masks to them.
    Example:
    If a crowded concert venue needs to share footage of a specific person suspected of theft, and there are too many other people and sensitive details in the scene to use traditional redaction, they can use scene redaction to obscure uninvolved individuals shown in the video. The resultant redacted video then only displays the person of interest.
  • When scene redaction is enabled, only the blur redaction effect is available. The black box redaction effect cannot be used with scene redaction.

Procedure

  1. From a case, navigate to the file you want to redact, click More () in the Files, and then click Trim and Redact.
    Tip:
    You can also start a redaction from the File page or from the Evidence preview window when previewing evidence in a case.
    The Trim video window opens.
To trim a video file:
  1. (Optional) Move your cursor over the start or end of the file timeline and drag the its borders to fit your desired time range or adjust the From and To time values.
    The video trimming window showing the video timeline being dragged to trim the video.
  2. Click Continue.
    The Video editor page opens.
  3. In the Mask video section, turn on the Scene redaction option.
    The scene redaction toggle turned on.
    The entire scene shown in the video is redacted.
To show a visual area in the scene manually:
  1. In the Mask video section, click New mask ().
    A mask covering an area in the video appears. When scene redaction is applied, masks reveal areas within an otherwise redacted video.
  2. To resize the mask, use your mouse at the lower-right corner of the masking box.
    The mask window showing the corner of the window that can be used to expand the window.
  3. If the person or object you must redact is moving in the video scene, you can adjust the mask location using the tracking tool, as follows:
    1. In the Masking pane, increase or decrease the Tracking speed.
      You can select values in the range 0.1x to 10x.
    2. Next to the masking box on the video preview, click and hold the tracking button ().
      The mask window showing the option to move the mask while playing the video.
    3. As the video plays, move the masking box to keep the mask covering the person's face, the object, and so on.
    4. When the mask is no longer required on the video, release the tracking button ().
  4. To change the duration of the mask, adjust the start and end points of the mask in the timeline.
    The video timeline showing the option to extend the mask time length.
    Tip:
    You can also adjust the start and end points by dragging the timeline bar to a specific point in the video and clicking Start mask at current time () or End mask at current time ().
  5. (Optional) Modify your masks if required.
    1. Click New mask () to create more masks.
    2. Click delete () to remove any masks that you no longer require.
  6. Click Create video to generate the redacted file.
    1. (Optional) Click View details to track the progress.
      The Creating redacted video notification showing the new file name and case the file was saved to.
    2. (Optional) Click Back to projects to close the progress dialog while redaction continues in the background.
  7. After the redacted video is created, choose one of the following:
    • Save the redacted video to an existing case.
    • Save the redacted video to a new case.
  8. (Optional) To save the redacted video to an existing case.
    1. Enter a case ID or name in the Search field or click the menu to see a list.
      The redacted video showing the continue editing or save options.
    2. (Optional) To check that you have the correct case click View case ().
    3. (Optional) Click Continue editing to return to the video editor and make more changes.
    4. Click Save to create a redacted copy of the video file.
      The video saved notification showing the new file name and case the file was saved to.
      Tip:
      Click View file to change the file name before closing the dialog, so that others can easily find the file.
    5. Click Close.
  9. (Optional) To save the redacted video to a new case. For example, when you want to share redacted evidence with someone who must not have access to the original case.
    1. Click Create a case.
      The redacted video showing the continue editing or save options.
    2. Enter a name for the new case.
    3. Select a department from the Department list.
    4. (Optional) Click Cancel to return to the previous dialog panel.
    5. (Optional) Click Continue editing to return to the video editor and make more changes.
    6. Click Save to create a redacted copy of the video file.
      The Video saved notification showing the new file name and case the file was saved to.
      Tip:
      Click View file to change the file name before closing the dialog, so that others can easily find the file.
    7. Click Close.
  10. (Optional) Click Continue editing to return to the video editor and make more changes.
  11. (Optional) From the video editor, click View created video to return to the redacted video.
The redacted video is saved as a separate video file.

Example

Figure 1. Scene redaction in progress in the video editor
Figure 2. A scene-redacted video shown in the video player

After you finish

Before sharing the case with third parties or guests, restrict access to the original file by changing the access policy for the file.