AI generation & credits
Generate images with AI models straight onto your canvas as editable layers — and understand exactly how pay-per-use credits work.
AI generation is built into the canvas: type a prompt in the box at the bottom of the editor, pick a model, and the result lands in your document as a new layer — maskable, blendable, transformable and undoable like anything else. There is no separate gallery to manage; your layer stack is the gallery.
Generating an image
- Click the prompt box at the bottom of the editor and describe what you want.
- Pick a model from the model chip — the picker shows each model's strengths and its credit cost up front, before you commit.
- Optionally set an aspect ratio (1:1, 6:4, 16:10, 4:6, 10:16) and attach reference images for image-to-image work — the Nano Banana family accepts up to two references.
- Hit Generate. The result appears as a new layer above your current one, and in the History panel like any other edit.
Two power moves:
- Compare mode runs the same prompt through up to 4 models at once — each result is its own layer, so keep the take you like and delete the rest. One model failing doesn't cancel the others.
- Batch generates up to 4 variations per model in one go.
The models
PhotoFresco currently offers Google's image-generation family via managed serving:
| Model | Good for |
|---|---|
| Nano Banana | Fast, inexpensive drafts and iterations |
| Nano Banana 2 | Better prompt following and detail at a similar cost |
| Nano Banana Pro | The highest quality — typography, complex scenes, fine control |
Exact per-image credit costs are shown on each model in the picker; heavier models cost more.
Why AI costs money (and nothing else does)
Everything else in PhotoFresco runs on your machine, which is why it can be free. AI generation is the one feature that runs on rented server GPUs, which cost real money per image — so it's the one feature that's metered. There is no markup trickery beyond that principle: you buy credits, generation spends them, and the price of every generation is visible before you run it. Help ▸ How PhotoFresco Works in the editor explains the same model.
- No subscription — credits are one-time purchases that don't expire on a clock.
- No free allowance — server GPU time is never free for us, so we don't pretend it is; there are no "3 free generations" that quietly convert into a subscription.
- Sign-in is required only for AI — credits need an account to live in. Everything else works signed out, forever.
Buying credits
Credit packs are one-time payments (from the in-editor Buy Credits dialog):
| Pack | Price |
|---|---|
| 500 credits | $9 |
| 1,500 credits | $22 |
| 5,000 credits | $58 |
If a generation would cost more credits than you have, you'll get a clear insufficient-credits message rather than a surprise charge.
Credits are separate from ad-free — the $8/month subscription that removes ads and adds the cloud drive. It auto-renews until you cancel (cancel anytime from your account, effective at the end of the paid period). Credits themselves are never a subscription, and neither purchase is required to use the editor.
Privacy notes for AI
Local editing never touches the network — but AI generation, by nature, does: your prompt and any reference images you attach are sent to the generation service to produce the image. If a project is under NDA, keep its pixels out of AI references and the rest of the editor remains fully local. See the FAQ for the broader privacy model.
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