Overview
Using an avatar in a video adds a human element that helps engage viewers more effectively. You can choose from a library of ready-made (stock) avatars or create a custom avatar to represent someone in your company. A custom avatar is both time- and cost-effective, as it removes the need to prepare and film people each time a human presence is required in a video.
Once added to a scene, the avatar reads the content of the narration placeholder. You can show the avatar throughout the video, or reserve it for the first and last scenes to add a human touch at the beginning and end. Additionally, after an avatar is added to a scene, its voice can be used to narrate other scenes in the video.
An avatar can be placed directly on the scene background or positioned on top of a media asset, where it behaves like an overlay. The examples below illustrate the available avatar placement options:
Limitations
| 1. | Personalized narrations — using either personalization tokens or audience messaging — are not currently supported. In scenes that include personalized narration, the avatar narrates the fallback narration instead. |
| 2. | An avatar cannot be added to a video that uses a human recorded voice. |
Avatar Types
The SundaySky platform offers two types of avatars: stock and custom.
| 1. |
Stock Stock avatars are created from video footage of human actors who have given consent for their likeness and voice to be used in SundaySky videos. Each stock avatar has a distinct appearance and voice that are permanently linked. As a result, a stock avatar can use only its original voice, which cannot be changed. |
| 2. |
Custom Custom avatars are created from video footage that you provide of yourself or others in your organization. Using AI technology, this footage is used to generate a realistic, human-like avatar. Creating a custom avatar also automatically generates a voice clone. As with stock avatars, a custom avatar can use only the voice of the person who was filmed and cannot be switched to a different voice. The custom avatar feature — both creation and usage — is initially being released as a beta. |
AI Usage Credits for Avatar Animation
When first added to a scene, an avatar is static. You can animate an avatar at two points:
- When previewing the video in the Studio
- When approving the video on the Video Page. A video must be approved before it can be shared. Because animation is an inherent part of an avatar, a video can be shared only after the avatar is animated.
Animating the avatar consumes AI usage credits. Up to 5 seconds of avatar animation in a scene uses 70 AI usage credits. If the animation exceeds 5 seconds (for example, 6 or 7 seconds), an additional 70 AI usage credits are consumed, as animation is calculated in 5-second blocks.
Your current balance of AI usage credits is displayed at the top of the Avatar Library. In the example below, the balance is 19,670 credits.
Here are the key points to know about animating an avatar in a scene and the AI usage credits it consumes:
| 1. | AI usage credits are consumed based on the length of the scene, not on the amount of time the avatar speaks within the scene. |
| 2. | AI usage credits are consumed in the same way for both stock avatars and custom avatars. Credit usage is based on the length of the scene and does not vary by avatar type. |
| 3. | To avoid using credits unnecessarily, we strongly recommend animating the avatar only after the narration for the scene is finalized and no further edits are expected. Once an avatar is animated, any changes to the narration or pronunciation will require re-animating the avatar, consuming additional credits. If you are sharing the video for review, it's best to send it with static avatars and animate them only after the video has received final approval. |
| 4. | Before animating an avatar, the platform displays an estimated number of AI usage credits that will be consumed. After the animation is completed, the exact number of credits used is shown. The final amount may vary slightly from the estimate. |
| 5. | If you animate an avatar in a scene while previewing, you won't need to use additional AI usage credits to animate that same scene again when approving the video. This applies only if no changes were made to the narration, pronunciation, or the avatar selected for the scene. |
| 6. | If you change the narration, pronunciation, or replace the avatar after it has already been animated in a scene, additional AI usage credits are deducted to update the avatar. |
| 7. | When previewing a video, you can choose to animate one scene, multiple scenes, or all scenes. In contrast, when approving the video for sharing, all unanimated avatars are animated automatically, and the relevant AI usage credits are deducted from your balance. |
| 8. | If an avatar in a scene has already been animated and the video is then duplicated, no additional AI usage credits are required to animate the avatar in the duplicated video. This applies only if no changes are made to the narration, pronunciation, or the avatar selected for the scene. Example: In Video A, the avatar "Gloria" says hello and welcome in Scene 1. Video A is duplicated, creating Video B. In Video B, if no changes are made to Scene 1, the avatar remains animated and no AI usage credits are consumed. |
Custom Avatar Credits
Creating a custom avatar consumes a custom avatar credit, rather than AI usage credits. Each credit allows you to create one custom avatar that can then be used in your videos. Your available credits are displayed in the Custom tab of the Avatar Library. In the example below, the balance of 9 credits allows the creation of 9 custom avatars.
Here are the key points to know about custom avatar credits:
| 1. | Once a custom avatar credit is used to create an avatar, it cannot be refunded. |
| 2. | The custom avatar creation process can take several hours. Once a user in your account initiates the process, one custom avatar credit is considered consumed, even while the creation is still in progress. This is important to keep in mind when only one credit remains and multiple users are working concurrently. The custom avatar credit balance, however, decreases only when the avatar is ready for use. |