3.9-second reply: H3 Max needs 5 s, Fabric bills 4 s ($0.40)

A 3.9-second spoken reply is too short for Sume's MiniMax H3 Max Lip Sync, which needs 5 to 14.8 seconds of audio. VEED Fabric 1.0 accepts it and bills ceil(3.9) = 4 seconds: 4 x $0.10 = $0.40 at 480p or 4 x $0.1875 = $0.75 at 720p. If you pad the audio to 5 seconds, H3 Max costs 5 x $0.0625 = $0.3125 at 480p.

Same body, different rules

The models overview says H3 Max Lip Sync takes the same still plus audio body as Fabric. The difference is the audio window and the price table. The H3 Max catalog row states the provider rejects audio shorter than 5 seconds, so a short reply must be lengthened or sent to Fabric.

Fabric's per-second figure is higher, but there is no padding to do. At 4 billed seconds the extra over H3 Max's padded 480p price is $0.40 - $0.3125 = $0.0875, less than a tenth of a dollar per reply, which is the cost of not editing the audio.

Padding is a creative choice

Adding 1.1 seconds of audio means the face keeps moving or waiting for 1.1 seconds after the line. A short beat of silence at the end is natural for a reply; a long one is not. The output length follows the audio, so the clip is 5 seconds, not 3.9.

You can also lengthen the reply itself: a second short sentence in the same voice reads better than dead air, and a TTS pass at $0.0475 per 1,000 characters makes it a fraction of a cent.

For a batch of 500 short replies the figure matters more: 500 Fabric 480p replies of 4 seconds cost 500 x $0.40 = $200, while 500 padded H3 Max 480p replies cost 500 x $0.3125 = $156.25. Whether padding 1.1 seconds on every file is worth $43.75 depends on how you produce the audio.

• Fabric: ceil of the audio, up to 300 seconds, under 10 MB.
• H3 Max: 5 to 14.8 seconds, under 10 MB.
• Both need Sume-hosted audio.

Which to pick

For a single short reply, Fabric at 480p is $0.40 with no padding. H3 Max at 480p is $0.0875 cheaper, but only after you pad the audio to 5 seconds. For a batch of replies, decide on image quality at the resolution you will ship, not on that difference.

There is a third option when replies are this short: combine two replies into one audio file of 5 seconds or more and cut the finished clip later with the video trim route, which costs $0.02 per job. That is only sensible when both replies use the same still, because one job renders one face. Otherwise the simple rule is to send sub-5-second audio to Fabric and anything from 5 to 14.8 seconds to either route, choosing by price at the resolution you need.