Vacation rental check-in video: an avatar host with silence beats

To make a vacation rental check-in video with an avatar host, send ordered video_inputs to POST /v1/avatar-1.0/talking-video: spoken scenes for the steps, voice.type: "silence" beats where a guest would look at the lockbox or the thermostat, and the same background in every scene. Total length must land in the 4 to 60 second window.

Current execution supports one avatar per final video and expects every scene background to resolve to one shared scene. Source: Avatar videos, read 2026-10-04.

Scene plan

Each scene has an id, a voice and a background. A spoken scene is type: "text" with exactly one of script or input_text and a duration. A silence beat needs duration and no script.

Request

The total, 6 + 8 + 3 + 7 + 8, is 32 seconds, inside the 4 to 60 window. Set aspect_ratio to 16:9 for a listing page, since the default is 9:16. Choose the standard tier for a draft.

curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/avatar-1.0/talking-video \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: checkin-video-001" \
  -d '{
    "avatar_handle": "host_maria",
    "aspect_ratio": "16:9",
    "quality": "standard",
    "video_inputs": [
      { "id": "welcome", "voice": { "type": "text", "script": "Welcome! I am Maria. Here is how check-in works.", "duration": 6 },
        "background": { "type": "prompt", "prompt": "Bright entryway of a beach cottage" } },
      { "id": "lockbox", "voice": { "type": "text", "script": "The lockbox is by the front door. Your code is in your booking message.", "duration": 8 },
        "background": { "type": "prompt", "prompt": "Bright entryway of a beach cottage" } },
      { "id": "pause-lockbox", "voice": { "type": "silence", "duration": 3 },
        "background": { "type": "prompt", "prompt": "Bright entryway of a beach cottage" } },
      { "id": "wifi", "voice": { "type": "text", "script": "Wi-Fi details are on the fridge.", "duration": 7 },
        "background": { "type": "prompt", "prompt": "Bright entryway of a beach cottage" } },
      { "id": "checkout", "voice": { "type": "text", "script": "At checkout, lock the door and leave the key in the box. Enjoy your stay.", "duration": 8 },
        "background": { "type": "prompt", "prompt": "Bright entryway of a beach cottage" } }
    ]
  }\

Keep secrets out

An avatar host is not a person who will meet the guest, so say so in the listing text. Keep the codes and addresses out of the video itself, because the video lives longer than the stay.

Preview and captions

To approve the first frame before paying for a render, use Avatar video previews with the same body, and call generate-video when the still looks right. Inline captions on talking-video are not billed separately and apply to videos of up to 60 seconds.