Thursday, April 27th, 2023 Posted by Jim Thacker

Silhouette 2023 gets new generative AI art tools


Originally posted on 27 April 2023. Scroll down for news of the Silhouette 2023.5 update.

Boris FX has released Silhouette 2023, the latest version of the rotoscoping and paint software.

It’s a sizeable update, integrating generative AI art model Stable Diffusion into Silhouette, making it possible to generate new backgrounds for shots from text prompts, or to use inpainting for object and rig removal.

The release also adds three new tools for manipulating film grain, integrates the Primatte keyer, and adds support for expressions. The integrated versions of Sapphire, Mocha Pro and Particle Illusion all get updates.

Use Stable Diffusion inside Silhouette to generate or touch up backgrounds for shots
The most headline-grabbing change in Silhouette 2023 is the addition of generative AI art tools, with the new Stability node integrating Stability AI’s Stable Diffusion AI model into the software.

That makes it possible to generate images from text prompts directly inside Silhouette, rather than having to generate them online using Stability AI’s DreamStudio web app.

In the video at the top of the story, you can see the new node in use to generate a new backplate for a shot.

However, probably a more practical current use case is to use inpainting – which overwrites part of an image with an AI-generated replacement – for object or rig removal, as shown in this video.

It isn’t free: to use the Stability node, you will need to connect Silhouette to a DreamStudio API key, and generating images consumes credits, although the cost per image is relatively low.

Three new nodes for removing or adding grain back to footage
Silhouette 2023 also features Boris FX’s first homegrown AI tool: the new Denoiser ML node.

Trained on “thousands of frames” of production footage, the node remove unwanted noise from footage while preserving critical features.

There are also two other non-AI-based tools for adding grain back into finished shots.

Regrain samples the source image’s grain and regenerates it, while UltraGrain replicates the grain generated by analogue film and digital cameras, with presets for popular film stocks and camera models.

New Primatte keyer and expression system
Other key changes include a new expression system, shown at 11:30 in the video at the top of the story, which makes it possible to link parameters or perform mathematical operations on parameter values.

It is intended to help users tackle more complex shots without the need for full-blown scripting.

Silhouette also becomes the latest application to integrate Primatte, the GPU-accelerated chroma keying technology used in a wide range of compositing and effects tools.

Updates to the integrated versions of Sapphire, Mocha Pro and Particle Illusion
In addition, effects filter collection Sapphire, planar tracker Mocha Pro and particle generator Particle Illusion – all integrated into the software since Silhouette 2022 – have all been updated.

We covered their new features when the standalone editions were released, so for more details, check out our stories on Sapphire 2023.5, Mocha Pro 2023 and Continuum 2023.


Updated 27 November 2023: Boris FX has released Silhouette 2023.5.

The release updates the AI tools – the Stability node now supports the newer Stable Diffusion XL model – and adds a third machine-learning-based tool, image resizing system UpRes ML.

Price and system requirements
Silhouette 2023.5 is available as a standalone tool for Windows 10+, Linux and macOS 10.15+, and as a plugin for Adobe software like After Effects and OFX-compatible tools like Nuke.

New perpetual licences of the standalone edition and the plugin cost $1,995; the plugin alone costs $1,095.

Read an overview of new features in Silhouette on the product website