inference-sh/talking-head-production

Talking Head Production

Create talking head videos with AI avatars and lipsync via inference.sh CLI.

Quick Start

Requires inference.sh CLI (belt). Install instructions

belt login

# Generate dialogue audio
belt app run falai/dia-tts --input '{
  "prompt": "[S1] Welcome to our product tour. Today I will show you three features that will save you hours every week."
}'

# Create talking head video with OmniHuman
belt app run bytedance/omnihuman-1-5 --input '{
  "image": "path/to/portrait.png",
  "audio": "path/to/dialogue.mp3"
}'

Portrait Requirements

The source portrait image is critical. Poor portraits = poor video output.

Must Have

| Requirement | Why | Spec | |------------|-----|------| | Center-framed | Avatar needs face in predictable position | Face centered in frame | | Head and shoulders | Body visible for natural gestures | Crop below chest | | Eyes to camera | Creates connection with viewer | Direct frontal gaze | | Neutral expression | Starting point for animation | Slight smile OK, not laughing/frowning | | Clear face | Model needs to detect features | No sunglasses, heavy shadows, or obstructions | | High resolution | Detail preservation | Min 512x512 face region, ideally 1024x1024+ |

Background

| Type | When to Use | |------|-------------| | Solid color | Professional, clean, easy to composite | | Soft bokeh | Natural, lifestyle feel | | Office/studio | Business context | | Transparent (via bg removal) | Compositing into other scenes |

# Generate a professional portrait background
belt app run falai/flux-dev-lora --input '{
  "prompt": "professional headshot photograph of a friendly business person, soft studio lighting, clean grey background, head and shoulders, direct eye contact, neutral pleasant expression, high quality portrait photography"
}'

# Or remove background from existing portrait
belt app run <bg-removal-app> --input '{
  "image": "path/to/portrait-with-background.png"
}'

Audio Quality

Audio quality directly impacts lipsync accuracy. Clean audio = accurate lip movement.

Requirements

| Parameter | Target | Why | |-----------|--------|-----| | Background noise | None/minimal | Noise confuses lipsync timing | | Volume | Consistent throughout | Prevents sync drift | | Sample rate | 44.1kHz or 48kHz | Standard quality | | Format | MP3 128kbps+ or WAV | Compatible with all tools |

Generating Audio

# Simple narration
belt app run falai/dia-tts --input '{
  "prompt": "[S1] Hi there! I am excited to share something with you today. We have been working on a feature that our users have been requesting for months... and it is finally here."
}'

# With emotion and pacing
belt app run falai/dia-tts --input '{
  "prompt": "[S1] You know what is frustrating? Spending hours on tasks that should take minutes. (sighs) We have all been there. But what if I told you... there is a better way?"
}'

Model Selection

| Model | App ID | Best For | Max Duration | |-------|--------|----------|-------------| | OmniHuman 1.5 | bytedance/omnihuman-1-5 | Multi-character, gestures, high quality | ~30s per clip | | OmniHuman 1.0 | bytedance/omnihuman-1-0 | Single character, simpler | ~30s per clip | | PixVerse Lipsync | falai/pixverse-lipsync | Quick lipsync on existing video | Short clips | | Fabric | falai/fabric-1-0 | Cloth/fabric animation on portraits | Short clips |

Production Workflows

Basic: Portrait + Audio -> Video

# 1. Generate or prepare audio
belt app run falai/dia-tts --input '{
  "prompt": "[S1] Your narration script here."
}'

# 2. Generate talking head
belt app run bytedance/omnihuman-1-5 --input '{
  "image": "portrait.png",
  "audio": "narration.mp3"
}'

With Captions

# 1-2. Same as above

# 3. Add captions to the talking head video
belt app run infsh/caption-videos --input '{
  "video": "talking-head.mp4",
  "caption_file": "captions.srt"
}'

Long-Form (Stitched Clips)

For content longer than 30 seconds, split into segments:

# Generate audio segments
belt app run falai/dia-tts --input '{"prompt": "[S1] Segment one script."}' --no-wait
belt app run falai/dia-tts --input '{"prompt": "[S1] Segment two script."}' --no-wait
belt app run falai/dia-tts --input '{"prompt": "[S1] Segment three script."}' --no-wait

# Generate talking head for each segment (same portrait for consistency)
belt app run bytedance/omnihuman-1-5 --input '{"image": "portrait.png", "audio": "segment1.mp3"}' --no-wait
belt app run bytedance/omnihuman-1-5 --input '{"image": "portrait.png", "audio": "segment2.mp3"}' --no-wait
belt app run bytedance/omnihuman-1-5 --input '{"image": "portrait.png", "audio": "segment3.mp3"}' --no-wait

# Merge all segments
belt app run infsh/media-merger --input '{
  "media": ["segment1.mp4", "segment2.mp4", "segment3.mp4"]
}'

Multi-Character Conversation

OmniHuman 1.5 supports up to 2 characters:

# 1. Generate dialogue with two speakers
belt app run falai/dia-tts --input '{
  "prompt": "[S1] So tell me about the new feature. [S2] Sure! We built a dashboard that shows real-time analytics. [S1] That sounds great. How long did it take? [S2] About two weeks from concept to launch."
}'

# 2. Create video with two characters
belt app run bytedance/omnihuman-1-5 --input '{
  "image": "two-person-portrait.png",
  "audio": "dialogue.mp3"
}'

Framing Guidelines

┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│          Headroom (minimal)     │
│  ┌───────────────────────────┐  │
│  │                           │  │
│  │     ● ─ ─ Eyes at 1/3 ─ ─│─ │ ← Eyes at top 1/3 line
│  │    /|\                    │  │
│  │     |   Head & shoulders  │  │
│  │    / \  visible           │  │
│  │                           │  │
│  └───────────────────────────┘  │
│       Crop below chest          │
└─────────────────────────────────┘

Common Mistakes

| Mistake | Problem | Fix | |---------|---------|-----| | Low-res portrait | Blurry face, poor lipsync | Use 1024x1024+ face region | | Profile/side angle | Lipsync can't track mouth well | Use frontal or near-frontal | | Noisy audio | Lipsync drifts, looks unnatural | Record clean or use TTS | | Too-long clips | Quality degrades after 30s | Split into segments, stitch | | Sunglasses/obstruction | Face features hidden | Clear face required | | Inconsistent lighting | Uncanny when animated | Even, soft lighting | | No captions | Loses silent/mobile viewers | Always add captions |

Related Skills

npx skills add inference-sh/skills@ai-avatar-video
npx skills add inference-sh/skills@ai-video-generation
npx skills add inference-sh/skills@text-to-speech

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