New character, same scene

An AI character swap replaces an entire person in an image or a video with someone else. It goes further than a face swap. The face, the hair, the build and the outfit all come from your character, while the location, the lighting, the pose and the camera framing come from the original. The result looks as if your character was there when the shot was taken.

Mage has two apps for it. Character Swap works on photos: you give it the original image and an image of the character, and it replaces the person while preserving the scene. Video Character Swap does the same for a clip, applying the new character to every frame while keeping the original motion, camera and background, and it keeps the clip's original audio by default.

If only the face should change and the rest of the person should stay, a face swap is the better tool. Character swap is for when the whole person changes: a different body, a different outfit, a different character entirely, dropped into a shot you already like.

These three tools sound alike and do different jobs. Character swap replaces the entire person. Face swap keeps the original person's body, outfit and hair and changes only the identity in the face. Outfit swap keeps the person and changes only what they wear.

Pick by what should survive. If the original body and clothes matter, use the AI face swap. If the person should stay and only the look should change, use the AI clothes changer. If nothing of the original person should remain, use character swap. Video follows the same split: video face swap for the face, Video Character Swap for the whole person.

The character image does most of the work. A sharp, evenly lit image where the whole character is visible gives the model their face, build and outfit to copy. A cropped close-up leaves it to invent the body, and heavy shadows or sunglasses hide the details it needs.

Match the framing when you can. A full-length character image suits a full-length original. If the original is a seated, waist-up shot, a waist-up character image transfers more faithfully than a small figure in a wide photo. And if the character will appear in many shots, save them once in Characters so every swap starts from the same reference.

• Use a sharp, evenly lit character image with the face fully visible.
• Show the outfit you want carried over; the swap copies what it can see.
• Match the framing: full body for full body, waist-up for waist-up.
• Run the same swap on two models and keep the better take.
• For a series, save the character once and reuse it.

Video Character Swap takes one video and one character image. It runs on Lemon by default, at 480p and 4 seconds, and you can switch to Cherry, Cherry Mini, Cherry Pro, Cherry 2 Pro, Plum, Plum Max or Berry. Each model accepts a different source length. Cherry 2 Pro takes clips from 4 to 30 seconds, and its output follows the input's length and aspect ratio. Cherry, Cherry Mini, Cherry Pro and Plum take 2 to 15 seconds, and Lemon takes 1 to 15.

Steady footage swaps best. A clip where the person is clearly visible, not tiny in the frame or hidden behind others, gives the model one consistent subject to replace. Before it generates, the app asks you to confirm that you have permission to use the people and voices in the content. Harmful deepfakes are forbidden, and so is swapping a real person who has not agreed to it.