The model's face changed between frames
A model in FLAM is a collage of several views, and the collage is what holds a face across a set. Drift almost always traces to a thin collage, a second collage, or a reference in the wrong order.
A model is a collage, and the collage is what holds the face. Several views of the same person on one sheet, attached as the last reference on every develop. There is no identity adapter and no face-matching pass — if a face drifts, the collage or the reference order is why.
The three causes, in the order they actually occur
1. The collage is too thin
One headshot gives the house nothing to work from the moment the pose turns. What holds is a model-digitals sheet: front, three-quarter, full profile and the back of the head, in consistent light, without heavy retouching.
If you brought your own model and the set drifts on the turns, this is almost always it. Re-upload with the missing angles and develop again.
2. There are two collages in the same develop
Two identity references weaken both — the house is being told to hold two people. One model per develop. If you are composing a set with two people in frame, that is a different problem and worth a ticket rather than a second collage.
3. The references are in the wrong order
References are a sequence, not a bag. The order is:
- inspiration and base
- the pieces
- the model, last
The studio sends them in that order for you. If you are driving the house through the API, you are responsible for the order, and getting it wrong is the most common cause of drift in an integration that was fine in the browser.
How to check whether a set actually held
Lay the frames out together and look at the group. Consistency is a property of the set, so it cannot be judged one frame at a time — a frame that looks fine alone can be the odd one out.
Three tells, in this order:
- the jaw and hairline in the three-quarter turns
- the shoulder line under the garment
- the direction of the light
What holds a whole set together
Beyond the face: the locked frame. One developed image you approve, which every later frame inherits. That is what makes a set read as one shoot rather than forty attempts, and it does more work than any other single choice in the studio.
Related
- Models — casting, buying, and bringing your own
- The Lookbook — where the frame is locked
- A packshot came back wrong
A develop failed — what happened to my tokens
Nothing. Tokens are held before a develop and only spent when a frame lands. A failure closes the hold and the balance returns — and a run that half-worked charges for the half that worked.
A packshot came back wrong
Four things go wrong and each has a different fix — the ground, the presentation, the garment's own colour, and the iron. Work out which one it is before you develop again.