HeyGen Photo Avatar (Avatar IV) API

Turn a single photo into a talking presenter with HeyGen's Avatar IV engine. Pass a photo URL + script and HeyGen animates the face with natural motion — no pre-training required. Control motion via a prompt and expressiveness level.

$0.084/s on Varosity credits ($0.080/s with your own key). Clips up to 300s with native audio.

Try HeyGen Photo Avatar (Avatar IV) Get an API key

no heygen account needed · no subscription · failed renders never billed

Best for

animate ANY photo as the speaker
Avatar IV motion engine
motion prompt + expressiveness control

Trade-offs

needs a clear front-facing photo
less consistent than a trained Digital Twin

Call it from your code

One Varosity key works for every model. Video renders are async — the response has a jobId; poll GET /api/v1/jobs/{jobId} until status is "succeeded", then read outputUrl.

curl -X POST https://varosity.ai/api/v1/video/generate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $VAROSITY_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "prompt": "cinematic aerial of a coastal road at golden hour, slow push-in",
    "modelId": "heygen-photo-avatar",
    "aspectRatio": "16:9",
    "durationSec": 5
  }'

Or ask your agent

Connect Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client to https://varosity.ai/api/mcp with your key, then say:

"Use Varosity with heygen-photo-avatar to make a 5-second clip of …"

Agent setup guide