Image Studio — How to Use
A canvas-centred AI image generation workspace. This guide explains every control, shortcut, and workflow so you can create professional images without guessing.
The prompt bar floats above the status bar, spanning the width of the canvas. The 🎬 clapperboard icon on the left is a visual reminder that your words are the "script" the model follows.
| Element | What it does |
|---|---|
| Text area | Type your image description here. The bar expands as you type. Maximum 1000 characters — the counter below shows how many you've used. |
| Character counter | Shows used / 1000. Keep prompts under 800 characters for best results with DALL-E 3. |
| ✦ AI prompt writer | See the next section for full details. |
| Generate button | Submits your prompt with all current settings (model, style, ratio, etc.) and starts generation. |
The AI prompt writer button solves the hardest part of image generation: knowing what to write. Most people know roughly what they want but don't know how to phrase it in a way the model understands.
The prompt is streamed character by character into the text area so you can watch it being written in real time. The button is disabled while streaming to prevent duplicate calls.
| Control | What it does | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Model | DALL·E 3 produces higher quality, more prompt-accurate images. DALL·E 2 is faster and cheaper but lower quality. | DALL·E 3 for most uses |
| Aspect Ratio | Sets the image dimensions. 1:1 is square (best for product shots), 16:9 is landscape (best for scenes, banners), 9:16 is portrait (best for phone wallpapers, social stories). | 1:1 for products, 16:9 for scenes |
| Quality | Standard is faster and uses fewer credits. HD adds a second pass for finer detail and sharper textures — especially noticeable in faces, fabric, and complex backgrounds. Only available on DALL·E 3. | HD for final exports |
| Inference Steps | How many refinement passes the model runs. Higher = more detail but slower. Range: 10–100. Has no effect on DALL·E 3/2 (these are cloud models with fixed step counts) — useful when local models are added. | 30 (default) |
| CFG Scale | How strictly the model follows your prompt. Low values give more creative freedom; high values are more literal. Range: 1–20. | 7–8 for balanced results |
| Seed | A number that determines the random starting point for generation. Using the same seed with the same prompt will produce very similar images, useful for iterating on a specific composition. Click 🎲 for a random seed, or leave blank for fully random. | Blank for variety, fixed for iteration |
| Batch | How many images to generate at once. 1 = single image. 2 or 4 = multiple images loaded into the variation strip below the canvas so you can compare and pick the best one. Uses credits proportionally. | 1 for speed, 4 for exploring options |
The six style chips translate a visual aesthetic into technical prompt keywords automatically. Click a chip to apply it — the active chip has an amber border. The selected style's technical keywords are appended to your prompt at generation time; you don't need to write them yourself.
| Style | Technical keywords added | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Photorealistic | (none — your prompt is used as-is) | Product photos, portraits, nature, architecture |
| Cinematic | cinematic film still, anamorphic lens, film grain, color graded, letterbox | Dramatic scenes, storytelling, moody landscapes |
| Illustration | digital illustration, flat design, vibrant colors, clean linework, vector art | Character art, children's books, app icons, social media |
| Oil Painting | oil painting on canvas, impasto texture, expressive brushstrokes, chiaroscuro | Fine-art style portraits, still life, landscapes |
| Minimal | minimalist composition, generous negative space, clean geometry, Swiss graphic design | Brand imagery, editorial, logo concepts, covers |
| Surrealist | surrealist dreamscape, impossible geometry, melting forms, hyperrealistic fantasy | Album covers, concept art, fantasy, abstract imagery |
These two rows of pills fine-tune the atmosphere of your image independently of the style preset. Only one pill per row can be active at a time.
Studio — softbox, professional product photography look
Dramatic — deep shadows, rim lighting, chiaroscuro contrast
Neon — cyberpunk glow, fluorescent reflections
Golden hr — warm backlight, sun flare, bokeh highlights
Warm — amber and golden tones
Cool — blue-silver, desaturated feel
Vivid — high saturation, punchy contrast
Muted — film-fade, soft desaturated palette
Mono — black and white, high-contrast monochrome
The negative prompt field (bottom of the right panel) lets you tell the model what not to include. Anything you type here will be avoided.
Common things to add:
blurry, low quality, watermark, text, signature, distorted, extra fingers,
bad anatomy, ugly, cropped, out of frame, duplicate, overexposed, underexposed
The canvas is the centre of the studio. Before generation it shows a placeholder. After generation your image fills the canvas and is the sole focus of the interface.
Hover over the canvas to reveal four tools in the top-right corner:
| Icon | Action |
|---|---|
| ✏️ Inpaint | Toggle inpaint editing mode (see below) |
| ⤢ Fullscreen | Open the image full-screen in a new tab |
| ⬇ Download | Download the current image as PNG |
| 📤 Export | Open the export presets panel (platform-sized exports) |
Inpaint mode lets you paint over an area of the generated image and regenerate only that region — leaving the rest of the image intact.
The strip below the canvas holds up to 4 variation thumbnails (V1–V4). When you generate with Batch set to 2 or 4, all images are placed here side by side.
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Switch between variations | Click any thumbnail — the selected image appears on the main canvas |
| Generate variations of current image | Click the Variations button on the right of the strip. This re-runs the current prompt with Batch=4 to produce 4 alternatives |
| Export a specific variation | Click its thumbnail (it becomes the active canvas image), then use Download or the Export panel |
Right-click anywhere on a generated image to open a context menu with every available action in one place.
| Menu item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Download HD | Save the full-resolution image as PNG (⌘S) |
| Copy to clipboard | Copy the image to your clipboard for pasting into other apps (⌘C) |
| Share link | Copy the image URL, or use the native share sheet on mobile |
| Open fullscreen | View the image in a new browser tab at full size (F) |
| Edit (inpaint) | Enter inpaint mode to paint and regenerate specific areas |
| Generate more like this | Re-run the current prompt with the same settings to get another version |
| Save to library | Adds the image to the History panel in the right sidebar |
| Delete | Remove the image from the canvas and clear the variation strip (Del) |
Click the 📤 Export button (canvas hover tools, top-right) or the Export ↗ button in the variation strip to open the export panel.
Platform presets — one click to resize and download at the exact dimensions required by each platform:
| Preset | Dimensions | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| 🛍 Shopify Product | 800 × 800 px | Shopify product listings |
| 📸 Instagram Post | 1080 × 1080 px | Instagram feed posts |
| 📦 Amazon Main | 2000 × 2000 px | Amazon main product image |
| 🐦 Twitter Card | 1200 × 675 px | Twitter/X link cards and headers |
| 💼 LinkedIn Banner | 1584 × 396 px | LinkedIn company/personal banner |
Format buttons — export the image at its original size in your chosen format:
| Format | Best for |
|---|---|
| PNG | Maximum quality, no compression — best for print or further editing |
| JPG | Smaller file size — best for web pages, email, social media |
| WebP | Modern web format — best quality-to-size ratio for websites |
The History grid at the bottom of the right panel stores your last 12 generated images in your browser's local storage — they persist between sessions without needing an account.
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| View a past image | Click any thumbnail — it reloads onto the canvas and restores the prompt |
| Save manually | Right-click the canvas → Save to library |
| Clear history | Click the Clear link next to the History label |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| ⌘ ↵ / Ctrl ↵ | Generate image (works from inside the prompt bar) |
| ⌘ S / Ctrl S | Download the current image as PNG |
| F | Open image fullscreen in new tab |
| Del | Delete the current image from the canvas |
| Esc | Close any open modal, menu, or panel |
| Right-click on image | Open context menu with all actions |
Shortcuts work when the prompt bar is not focused (except ⌘↵/Ctrl↵ which works from inside the prompt bar).
The thin bar at the very bottom of the screen shows a live summary of all active settings so you always know exactly what will be generated before you click Generate.
| Item | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ● Ready | Green dot = system is idle and ready. Turns into a spinner during generation. |
| Model | The currently selected AI model (e.g. DALL·E 3) |
| Size | The actual pixel dimensions that will be sent to the API (after ratio mapping) |
| Style | The currently active style preset |
| Quality | Standard or HD |
| Est. cost | Approximate credits this generation will use, based on model + quality + batch size |
| Credits | Your current credit balance |
| Setting combination | Estimated credits |
|---|---|
| DALL·E 3 · Standard · 1024×1024 · Batch 1 | ~2 credits |
| DALL·E 3 · HD · 1024×1024 · Batch 1 | ~4 credits |
| DALL·E 3 · Standard · 1792×1024 or 1024×1792 · Batch 1 | ~3 credits |
| DALL·E 3 · HD · non-square · Batch 1 | ~5 credits |
| Any setting · Batch 4 | 4× the single-image cost |
Credits are deducted from your account balance after each successful generation. If your balance reaches zero, new generations are blocked until credits are added. Sign in to persist your credit balance across devices.