Introduction

Lightricks just moved its LTX-2.5 VFX toolkit from "build it yourself in ComfyUI" to "send one API call." Four video-to-video jobs are now production endpoints: Alpha Gen (foreground mattes without a green screen), SDR to HDR, Reframe (outpaint to a new aspect ratio) and Upscale (up to 8K). You can run them today on the LTX API, on fal, through new ComfyUI Partner Nodes, and in Griptape Nodes. These are closed, paid endpoints with commercial use allowed on fal. The open-weight IC-LoRA versions you may already run locally are still there.

This isn't a new generator. It's the cleanup work that happens after you generate: pulling a clean cutout, meeting an HDR delivery spec, and turning one 16:9 master into a 9:16 and a 4:5 without cropping anyone's head off.

What Shipped

The LTX API changelog for November 10 adds two brand-new endpoints, and the launch post bundles them with HDR and Reframe as one VFX lineup:

  • Alpha Gen (Mask Extraction), POST /v2/video-alpha-gen. You send a video and get back a grayscale matte MP4 (white is foreground) plus a ProRes 4444 cutout with straight alpha, ready to composite. It keeps soft edges like hair, and works on up to 3,072 frames (about 2 minutes at 24 fps) and up to 4K
  • SDR to HDR, POST /v2/video-to-video-hdr. It returns a 10-bit HEVC BT.2020/HLG master plus a ZIP of 16-bit half-float OpenEXR frames in ACEScg (default), ACEScct, linear sRGB or ACES2065-1. Clips are short: about 11 s at 1080p, 8 s at 1440p and 3 s at 4K
  • Reframe, POST /v2/video-to-video-reframe. This extends the scene instead of cropping it, into five aspect ratios: 1:1, 4:5, 5:4, 9:16 and 16:9, at 720p or 1080p. An optional placement anchor or rectangle decides where the original sits in the new frame. Inputs can be up to 60 s long
  • Upscale, POST /v2/video-upscale. This takes H.264 or HEVC footage to 1080p, 4K or 8K. It keeps the aspect ratio and the stereo audio, and rounds the frame rate to a whole number. The length cap shrinks as the resolution grows: about 100 s for 1080p, 25 s for 4K and 10 s for 8K at 24 fps

On the ComfyUI side, the core repo merged Partner Nodes PR #17664, which adds AlphaGen, SDR to HDR, Reframe and Upscale nodes. Update ComfyUI and they'll show up next to the other partner nodes, billed with Comfy credits.

Pricing

All four are billed per second of input video. Here are the rates from the LTX pricing page, and fal lists the same per-second numbers:

  • Alpha Gen: $0.10/s up to 1080p, $0.25/s up to 1440p, $1.00/s at 4K. The tier follows the input's short side
  • SDR to HDR: $0.20/s up to 1080p, $0.40/s up to 1440p, $0.80/s up to 4K. LTX says these rates double on January 1, 2027
  • Reframe: $0.10/s at 720p, $0.20/s at 1080p output
  • Upscale: $0.08/s to 1080p, $0.30/s to 4K, $1.20/s to 8K

So a 5-second 1080p clip costs about $0.50 to matte, $1.00 to convert to HDR, and $1.50 to upscale to 4K. That's cheap enough to try on a real client shot before you commit a pipeline to it.

Try It

Here's a minimal Alpha Gen call on the LTX API. Submit the job, then poll the job ID until it completes:

curl -X POST https://api.ltx.io/v2/video-alpha-gen \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $LTX_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"video_uri": "https://example.com/dancer-1080p.mp4"}'

echo "poll the job:"
curl https://api.ltx.io/v2/video-alpha-gen/JOB_ID \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $LTX_API_KEY"

A Reframe request that turns a landscape master into a vertical version, with the original pinned to the top:

{
  "video_uri": "https://example.com/master-16x9.mp4",
  "resolution": "1080x1920",
  "placement": { "anchor": "top" }
}

Plan for big files. LTX says the ProRes cutout runs about 42 MB per second at 1080p and 172 MB per second at 4K, so give your storage bucket room.

Where It Fits

  • Gen-AI clips into real edits: generate with LTX-2.5 or any model, then use Alpha Gen to pull your hero out and drop them onto a new plate or a web hero section
  • Delivery specs: SDR to HDR gives your AI shots EXR frames that can sit in an ACES color-managed grade next to camera footage
  • Social cutdowns: Reframe generates the missing sides of the frame instead of cropping, so one master covers TikTok, Instagram and YouTube
  • Archive and upscale passes: the Upscale endpoint keeps the audio, so you won't need to re-mux

Original Source

Conclusion

Lightricks is betting that the next battleground isn't just who makes the prettiest clip. It's who handles the boring 80% of post-production. Mattes without a green screen, HDR you can actually grade, and reframes that extend the scene instead of cropping it are all things editors do every week. Now they're one HTTP call or one Comfy node away. Run a 5-second test through Alpha Gen and Reframe today. If you want SDR to HDR at scale, try it before the January price jump.

—Aurelia ♡