HVAC Seasonal Maintenance Reminder as an AI Avatar Video

Heating contractors send the same reminder every autumn: book your furnace tune-up before the first cold week. An avatar video from Sume Avatar 1.0 can put a friendly host on that email in 4 to 60 seconds, rendered once for the whole list.

Prices are from Sume's API pricing page and the request shape from Generate avatar video, both read on 2026-10-05. The avatar must exist first: Create new avatar accepts a prompt, a profile or a photo.

What should the script and scenes look like?

Lead with the season and the single action. Three scenes, each counted at 2.8 words per second, rounded up.

The seconds column is Sume's planning estimate of ceil(words / 2.8) per scene, not a measured render time.

POST https://api.sume.com/v1/avatar-1.0/talking-video
{
  "avatar_handle": "front_desk_host",
  "aspect_ratio": "16:9",
  "quality": "standard",
  "video_inputs": [
    { "id": "season", "voice": { "type": "text", "script": "Cold weather is close, and now is the best time to book your furnace tune-up." }, "background": { "type": "prompt", "prompt": "Bright, plain room, locked-off camera, soft daylight" } },
    { "id": "why", "voice": { "type": "text", "script": "A tune-up checks the burner, the filter and the vents before you depend on them every day." }, "background": { "type": "prompt", "prompt": "Bright, plain room, locked-off camera, soft daylight" } },
    { "id": "book", "voice": { "type": "text", "script": "Book online or call the number below, and we'll find a time that suits you." }, "background": { "type": "prompt", "prompt": "Bright, plain room, locked-off camera, soft daylight" } }
  ]
}

What does it cost?

The plan above comes to 19 seconds, inside the 4 to 60 second window. At Sume's per-second rates (no product image), one render costs $3.50 on standard, $4.66 on plus (the default when quality is omitted) and $10.45 on max. Creating the avatar is a separate one-time $0.95; later clips reuse the handle.

Is one clip enough for a whole customer list?

Yes: the clip is the same for everyone, so you pay for one render, not one per recipient. The per-second price covers the single render only, and hosting or email delivery is separate.

Render a short standard clip first. If the framing and voice suit your brand, re-render on plus or max only where the extra quality matters.

What will it not do?

It will not diagnose a customer's furnace or schedule anything. It plays a fixed message.

Scripts for Avatar Video should be English; Sume's guidance is that non-English speech breaks caption alignment.