HeyGen Edit Look: retouching an AI avatar, and the Sume route

Sume's avatar docs do not describe a retouch step for an existing avatar. To change how an avatar looks, retouch your reference photo and create a new avatar from it with a new avatar_handle, then use that handle on later videos. HeyGen's Edit Look does this in place, per its August 2026 update.

What does HeyGen's Edit Look do?

HeyGen describes it as "Post-hoc retouching for existing avatars: clear blemishes, even out skin, soften fine lines, enhance makeup", and says Edit Look "applies at the avatar level, so every video you generate from that avatar inherits the fix". All of this is from HeyGen's own page.

Can I retouch an existing Sume avatar?

The avatar docs show three creation inputs (prompt, props traits and photo) and read routes for listing and fetching avatars. They show no edit or update route for an avatar that already exists, so this post does not claim one.

How do I make a retouched version?

Retouch the photo in whatever editor you use, host it at a public HTTPS URL, and create a second avatar. Localhost, private-network, non-HTTPS and non-image URLs are rejected before generation.

curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/avatar-1.0/generate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: avatar-retouched-001" \
  -d '{
    "avatar_handle": "presenter_retouched",
    "input": {
      "type": "photo",
      "image_url": "https://example.com/presenter-retouched.png"
    }
  }'

What changes for my old videos?

Nothing: finished videos stay as they were, and future ones use whichever avatar_handle you pass.