Swapping a face in a 12-second clip: manual steps vs one request
What changing a face in a short clip involves when you do it yourself, and what Sume's beta face-swap request replaces. Fields, limits and the cost ceiling.

With Sume you replace a face in a short clip with one request: POST /v1/models/sume/avatar-face-swap/v1.0/runs with an avatar_handle, a public HTTPS video_url and a quality. The beta is meant for source videos of roughly 4 to 15 seconds with usable audio (Face swap (Beta)).
That is a description of the shape of the work, not a verdict on doing it manually. Here is what each route asks of you.
Side by side
| Step | Doing it yourself | Sume face swap (beta) |
|---|---|---|
| The new face | Source a consistent set of face images | A ready Avatar 1.0 handle you made once |
| The clip | Keep the project file and original footage | A public HTTPS URL to the source video |
| Quality knob | Your own tooling settings | Required quality: standard, plus or max |
| Tracking and audio | You handle both | The source clip needs usable audio |
| Result | A file you export | A video_url under media.sume.com when ready |
The request
quality has no default in this beta; leaving it out is an error. The endpoint takes no prompt, transcript, duration, aspect ratio or provider fields.
curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/models/sume/avatar-face-swap/v1.0/runs \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Idempotency-Key: swap-001" \
-d '{
"avatar_handle": "reference_presenter",
"video_url": "https://example.com/source-12s.mp4",
"quality": "plus"
}'Cost ceiling
The beta reserves the maximum source length (15 s) at the Avatar Video no-product tier rate, so this is the most one swap can hold.
| Quality | Rate per s | 15 s ceiling |
|---|---|---|
| standard | $0.184 | $2.76 |
| plus | $0.245 | $3.675 |
| max | $0.55 | $8.25 |
Reading the result
Poll /v1/jobs/{id}/status, then use resource_status as the primary readiness signal and job_status while polling. A completed resource exposes a video_url under media.sume.com.
Sources
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Written by Sume