Swap me in vs Copy the moves: which mode should you use?

Before every video, SynthGen AI asks one question: Swap me in or Copy the moves? Both give you a video of yourself doing what the original person did. They get there in opposite ways, and the right choice depends on what you want to keep.

The one-line difference

• Swap me in keeps their world and puts you in it.
• Copy the moves keeps your world and gives you their moves.

Swap me in

Swap me in keeps everything about the original video except the person. The room, the stage, the street, the lighting, the camera moves and the sound stay as they were. The person is replaced with you, rebuilt from your photo.

Under the hood it runs Wan 2.2 Animate in replacement mode, a model from Alibaba’s Tongyi Lab. It reads the original person’s body pose and facial expression in every frame, then draws your character into the scene in that pose. A relighting step matches you to the light in the original, so you look like you were filmed there.

Use it when:

• The location is part of the joke or the trend
• The camera moves, zooms or spins and you want to keep that energy
• You do not have a good full-body photo, only a clear portrait

Copy the moves

Copy the moves starts from your photo instead. Your photo becomes the first frame: your outfit, your background, your light. The AI then animates you through the exact motion, timing and gestures of the original video, with the original sound.

It runs Kling motion control, the motion transfer model from Kuaishou’s Kling team. It follows one character through one continuous shot, and the output matches the length of the original clip.

Use it when:

• You want to look exactly like you do in your photo, outfit included
• The original background does not matter, or you prefer your own
• It is a dance or a challenge where the moves are the whole point

Side by side

	Swap me in	Copy the moves
Scene and background	From the original video	From your photo
Lighting	Original, with you relit to match	From your photo
Your outfit	Taken from your photo, fitted into the scene	Exactly as in your photo
Best photo	A clear portrait or upper body shot	A full-body photo, arms visible
AI model	Wan 2.2 Animate (replacement)	Kling motion control
Sound	Original	Original

How to choose in five seconds

Ask yourself one question: would the video still be funny or impressive somewhere else?

• If no, because the place is the point, use Swap me in.
• If yes, because the moves are the point, use Copy the moves.

Still unsure? Both modes cost the same per second, so make both and keep the one you like. Whichever you choose, the clip matters as much as the mode. Read how to pick the right video and photo before you spend credits on a tricky one.