recreate-thumbnails

To swap faces in YouTube thumbnails while preserving the layout, this Skill detects the original face pose, matches a reference photo by yaw and pitch, and uses Gemini image generation to rebuild the 16:9 thumbnail with the substituted face.

You do not need a local image file to recreate a thumbnail; you can use a YouTube link to download the thumbnail directly, or you can provide a local image file as the base for face swapping and layout recreation.

Pose matching works by estimating the yaw and pitch of the face in the original thumbnail using MediaPipe, then prioritizing your reference photos that match that exact angle, ensuring the generated face aligns naturally with the original layout.

Yes, you can change text, background colors, and layout details after generating a new thumbnail by running iterative edit passes, which apply follow-up style and background modifications to the recreated 16:9 output.

The best way to personalize YouTube thumbnails with your own face is to provide multiple reference photos, allowing the pose estimation and reference matching system to select the best angle for a natural layout-preserving substitution.

A misaligned face in a generated thumbnail usually happens when the reference photo's angle differs significantly from the original, which is why matching yaw and pitch through pose estimation is required for consistent results.