Sometimes you may want to blur part of the photo to hide the details. While powerful image editing tools can do the same, it can be difficult to choose the best one for your needs and comfort. Fortunately, Microsoft has made the new Paint 3D capable enough to let you blur part of a picture on your Windows desktop or laptop computer. Sure, it’s a little tricky, and that’s why we’re here to help.
However, similar to its sibling, MS Paint, Paint 3D does not offer a custom blur option. So the process is not simple, but there are several workarounds. You can use Paint 3D to blur screenshots, extra objects or even the background.
Let’s explore various methods to pixelate or blur part of a photo in Paint 3D on Windows 10.
Method 1: Blur with Selection Tool
In this method, you need to select the area you want to blur. Next, you need to reduce its size as much as possible. When this happens, increase the size again to fit the original space. The selected part of the photo will be blurred.
Here are the detailed steps:
Stage 1: Launch Paint 3D on your Windows 10 PC and open the image.
Step 2: Click the Select tool located under the Brushes tab.
Stage 3: Select the part you want to blur. For example, in the image below I want to blur the toy.
Step 4: Using the lower right corner of the selection, drag the selection box inward to reduce its size. Make it very small. But keep in mind that it should be enough for you to be able to resize it.
Click anywhere on the picture. You will see the remaining area turn white.
Step 5: Select the area you are resizing. Make sure you don’t add any white space from the remaining space.
Now instead of reducing the size, use the lower right corner to increase its size to fit the white space.
Step 6: Click anywhere on the picture. Your picture with a blurry part is ready.
Note: You may encounter problems in the beginning. But after a few tries, you will be comfortable with blurring images in Paint 3D. Of course, this method does not result in one of the cleanest output. However, the images should be good enough to be shared via social media or messaging apps.
Method 2: Cover with Similar Area
In this method we will blur part of the picture with pixels from near field. The advantage of this method is that the final image looks less edited (or sticky) compared to the previous method. If you do it carefully, you can easily remove objects and text from your image.
Here are the same steps:
Stage 1: Open your image in Paint 3D.
Step 2: Using the Selection tool, select a small portion on the right or left near the area you want to blur or hide. For example, in the screenshot below I want to hide the text ‘M Voda added you’. I will choose the right area.
Stage 3: Using the middle box of the selection area, drag towards the area you want to hide. You can adjust its size and position with the help of other tiny boxes.
Step 4: Click anywhere to apply. The final image will look like this.
Method 3: Using the Magic Selection Tool
This method uses Paint 3D’s awesome Magic Select tool to blur part of the picture. To do this we first need to select the section using the Magic selection tool and then automatically fill the background using it.
Here are the steps:
Stage 1: Open your image in Paint 3D.
Step 2: Click on the Magic selection tool located under the Brushes option.
Stage 3: A box will appear on your image. Select the area you want to blur using the small selection boxes. For example, I want to blur the monkey in the picture below. Then click Next on the right.
Step 4: If the automatic selection isn’t perfect, narrow the selection using the Add or Remove buttons. Make sure the AutoFill background is selected. Finally, hit Done.
step 5: You will see new icons around the picture you selected.
Press the Delete key on your keyboard. This will remove the desired area and fill it with a blurred background that looks like your real image.
A Careful Stitch
If you want to blur a lot of images, we recommend downloading an image editing tool that offers a dedicated button for that. It’s pretty easy this way. You can try free tools like PhotoScape, GIMP, PicsArt and more. For one-off or casual use, Paint 3D should serve you well.
Next: Want to make a free logo? Check how to create logo in Windows using Paint 3D from the next link.
