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.

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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

Face swap workflow comparison, from the beta docs
StepDoing it yourselfSume face swap (beta)
The new faceSource a consistent set of face imagesA ready Avatar 1.0 handle you made once
The clipKeep the project file and original footageA public HTTPS URL to the source video
Quality knobYour own tooling settingsRequired quality: standard, plus or max
Tracking and audioYou handle bothThe source clip needs usable audio
ResultA file you exportA 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.

Sume rates, read 2026-10-08
QualityRate per s15 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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