Boris FX releases Silhouette 2025
Boris FX has begun its 2025 updates to Silhouette, its roto and paint software.
Silhouette 2025 adds new AI tools for refining mattes, generating depth maps and fixing glitches in video, and a new 3D Scene node for importing scenes with tracked 3D cameras.
A VFX-industry standard tool for rotoscoping and roto paint work
First released 20 years ago, and acquired by Boris FX in 2019, Silhouette is a rotoscoping and paint tool.
The software is widely used in production for movie and broadcast visual effects, winning both a Scientific and Technical Academy Award and Engineering Emmy Award in 2019.
As well as the original standalone edition, Silhouette is available as a plugin, making the toolset available inside Adobe software and OFX-compatible apps like Nuke and DaVinci Resolve.
New AI tools for refining mattes, generating depth maps, and fixing glitches
Silhouette 2025 introduces new AI-based features for automating common tasks.
The 2024 releases added an AI-based matte workflow, with the Mask ML node automatically generating a mask for a significant object – like a person or animal – in a frame of video, and Matte Assist ML propagating it throughout the rest of the footage.
They are now joined by Matte Refine ML, a new node for processing hard-edge mattes into “natural, detailed selections”, creating better results when isolating hair or fur.
In addition, new Depth Map ML and Frame Fixer ML tools generate depth maps from footage, and semi-automatically fix artifacts like scratches, camera flashes, or dropped frames.
You can read more about them in our story on Continuum 2025.5, Silhouette’s sibling tool.
New 3D Scene node lets users work with tracked 3D cameras
Other new features in Silhouette 2025 include the new 3D environment.
The 3D Scene node makes it possible to load a scene with a tracked 3D camera in FBX or Alembic format, or to perform a 3D track using Mocha Pro or SynthEyes.
It is then possible to place cards in 3D space and paint directly on them in the viewer, while a new Unproject/Reproject node allows for fuller composites.
Other new features
When using a PowerMesh from Silhouette’s Mocha module to track deforming organic surfaces, it is now possible to paint on undistorted frames using a new PowerMesh Morph node.
In addition, it is now possible to merge custom node setups into a single Compound node, which can be reused between projects or shared with collaborators.
Prices up since the previous release
The price of the software has also risen since Silhouette 2024.5, although the increases aren’t as large as with some of Boris FX’s other recent product updates.
For the standalone edition, the price of perpetual licenses rise by $200, to $2,195. Subscriptions rise by $15/month, to $165/month, or by $80/year, to $875/year.
For the plugin edition, the price of perpetual licenses rise by $100, to $1,195. Subscriptions rise by $3/month, to $103/month, or by $50/year, to $545/year.
Price and system requirements
Silhouette 2025 is available as a standalone tool for Windows 10+, Linux and macOS 12.0+, and as a plugin for Adobe software and OFX-compatible tools like Nuke.
Perpetual licences of the standalone cost $2,195; the plugin costs $1,195. Rental costs $165/month or $875/year for the standalone; $103/month or $545/year for the plugin.
Read a list of new features in Silhouette 2025 on Boris FX’s blog
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