Thoughts

UFO Pipeline Session 6 Summary (2026-03-18): Phase 1.5 Grey proof of concept, major progress. LORA TRAINING: Trained Grey custom LoRA on fal.ai ($1.76, 58 training images from Krea base poses + Gemini outfit variants). Trigger word: grey_kael. Generated 4 test scenes (desert-landing, mib-alley, lab-examination, pope-ceremony) using Grey LoRA + HRDFLS style LoRA stack. Character identity and 2D art style hold across all scenes and outfits. HAILUO VIDEO A/B TEST: Tested two approaches via fal.ai. (A) Image-to-video using Flux-generated stills as first frame: works well, minor face/body morphing on camera pans but acceptable for b-roll. (B) Subject reference with portrait: fails completely with 2D illustrated characters ("Unprocessable Entity"). Pipeline decision locked: all Hailuo usage will be image-to-video with Flux-composed first frames. Best for slow camera moves and atmospheric shots where character is mostly stationary. Complex body motion (walking, turning) causes morphing. ELEVENLABS VOICE: Set up API (Creator plan). Designed Grey's voice via Voice Design v3 ("Soft, quiet male voice with an otherworldly calm. Slightly breathy, unnervingly gentle."). Generated 9 previews, Dave picked winner. Voice saved as "Grey (Kael)", permanent voice ID: mTnkD8SvErH27JUwwM1J. Test voiceover clip generated at characters/voices/grey_test_voiceover.mp3. HEDRA BLOCKED: Basic tier ($15/mo) doesn't include API access, needs Creator tier ($30/mo) minimum. Web app also returning "failed to fetch" errors (service issue). hedra-node SDK v0.1.2 is outdated, points to deprecated mercury.dev.dream-ai.com instead of production api.hedra.com/web-app/public. SDK env var expects X_API_KEY not HEDRA_API_KEY. Hedra test deferred until service stabilizes and tier is upgraded. KEY DECISIONS: Hailuo subject reference is dead for this project (2D art incompatible). Visual pipeline structure: Flux generates composed stills with LoRA (character identity baked in), Hailuo animates them (subtle motion only), Hedra handles talking head lip-sync (pending validation). Dave swapped grey_default_front.png portrait to a cleaner version for Hedra input. REMAINING PHASE 1.5: Hedra talking head test, sample script, Whisper timestamps, b-roll generation, Remotion assembly.