How to optimize your avatar
What to try when an Atmee V2 avatar looks wrong: another take, a small change to the photo, or a livelier voice.
A weak first result doesn't mean the model can't make your avatar. Most of the time the fix is another take, a small change to the photo, or a livelier voice. This page says which fix to try first for what you see. It is for Atmee V2; Avatar 101 lists the photos that animate badly on either model.
Each preview is one take
When Atmee builds an Atmee V2 avatar, it records a short talking clip from your photo, voice and preview line. That clip is one take, and each take comes out a little differently: one can have clear lip movement where another barely moves. So a single bad take is worth one more try before you change anything else. Capturing another take costs no credits.
What you see, and what to try
Start at the left of each row, and move right only when the fix before it didn't help.
| What you see | Try first | Then |
|---|---|---|
| Lips barely move | Another take | A livelier preview line; the photo tips below; a more expressive voice |
| Lips move but out of time | Another take | The photo tips below; a more expressive voice |
| The face warps, or drifts from the person | Another take | The photo tips below, especially facing the camera |
| Artifacts: blur, stray objects, shapes appearing in an empty background | Another take | A different background; a bigger face in the frame |
| Only the head moves, no hand or body gestures | An upper-body photo | - |
| Stiff or jittery movement in a conversation | A different motion setting | Another take |
When one kind of fix didn't help, the cause is usually somewhere else: after a new take or a livelier line, look at the photo and the voice.
A new preview line, photo or voice builds a new version of the avatar, and its first take goes
live by itself. You can switch back to the earlier take. The motion setting (runtimeSeed when you
update the avatar) changes how the avatar moves in each conversation;
it is free and rebuilds nothing.
Photo tips for Atmee V2
- Chest-up or half body works best. A head-only close-up gives no hand or body gestures, and in a very wide shot the face gets small and artifacts grow.
- Zoom in when the face is small, but not closer than chest-up.
- Face the camera. A face turned away tends to distort and drift from the person's look.
- Keep the lips visible. Not closed tight, covered or behind a filter. A slight smile with some teeth showing works well; a wide grin or an open mouth repeats in every frame.
- Avoid a plain white or empty background, and a busy one with other people in it.
- Use even, soft light on the face, and a relaxed, upright posture.
You can retake or crop the photo yourself, or use Atmee's portrait enhance to fix light, blur or resolution. A restyle can change the pose or framing of the same person; see Images.
Voice tips
- An expressive, energetic delivery animates better than flat reading. A quiet or monotone sample is a common reason the lips barely move.
- Record 10 to 60 seconds of one person speaking clearly, with no music or other voices.
You can record a new sample yourself, or design a voice from a description; see Voices.
An AI agent with the atmee plugin coaches you through these fixes as you build: it watches each take and suggests what to try.
Next steps