Generate and edit an image from chat
Describe the picture in chat, let it open in the Image editor, then keep editing it by message.
✦ Course · Intermediate
Create and edit images in the Image editor
Generate a picture from chat, steer AI edits with markers, retouch spots, crop and adjust it, blend and mask layers, work on a 16-bit TIFF and export for the web.
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By the end you will have a retouched launch banner with a masked texture layer, a TIFF exported at 32-bit precision and a fingerprint recorded for sign-off.
Generate images and direct AI edits Retouch spots, then layer and mask in 16/32-bit Export and fingerprint the final file
6 min
Point AI edits at the right spot with markers
Drop numbered markers on the picture, then say in chat what should change at each number.
Clean up spots with the retouch brushes
Paint out a dust speck with Heal and cover a scuff with Clone stamp, one stroke at a time.
Crop, resize and set the look
Cut the picture to the shape it will be used at, then tune light and colour in the Adjust tab.
Stack layers and paint a mask
Blend a texture over the photo in the 16/32-bit workspace, then hide it where it shouldn't show.
Set exposure and gamma on a 16-bit TIFF
Bring a high bit-depth TIFF into a new tab, adjust it in floating point and export it at 32-bit precision.
Export for the web and record a fingerprint
Download the formats each channel needs, then record the canvas fingerprint with the sign-off.
What each lesson covers
The course, lesson by lesson.
Generate and edit an image from chat
Describe the picture in chat, let it open in the Image editor, then keep editing it by message.
This course uses the Image editor in the desktop workspace on a computer. Click the Image chip in an empty chat, which starts your message with Make an image of, or type /image, then describe the subject, the setting, the light and the framing. Oppermind generates the picture and opens it in the Image editor. It chooses the composition and the small details itself, so expect to ask for changes. While the pane is open, the composer carries an editing chip with the image's name, and your next message edits this picture instead of making a new one. Rotate and Flip horizontal on the toolbar are exact, while the same request in chat redraws the picture with AI. Use the pane's own controls for filters and sliders too, because the chat route for those reloads the image and loses anything you haven't saved. When the editor can't make a requested change, the reply says This change could not be applied in the editor: and gives the reason.
Practice. Click the Image chip and describe a product shot for something you sell. When it opens, ask for one change with the editing chip showing, save with Ctrl+S, then find the picture again under Open.
Make an image of a matte green can of Saltbush cold brew on a timber bench outside a Fremantle cafe, late afternoon sun, a glass of cold brew over ice beside it, wide framing.
Point AI edits at the right spot with markers
Drop numbered markers on the picture, then say in chat what should change at each number.
Mark the spot when a change belongs to one part of the picture. Point, Circle, Rectangle and Freeform, below the line in the left rail, drop numbered green markers and open the Annotations tab. With the editing chip showing, say in chat what should change at each number, such as remove the price sticker at marker 1. Oppermind sends the picture with each marker's number, type and position and swaps in its result. Name the object too, in case a marker's position is read slightly off. Put the whole request in your message, because text typed in a marker's What should change here? box doesn't always reach the edit. Marquee and Lasso selections don't limit where an AI edit lands. AI working… Cancel shows while it runs. Compare before / after lays the original over the left half, and Undo steps back. The AI effects in the More menu, such as Blur background, need a higher plan. Without one, the pane shows Prompt unavailable. Try again. and nothing changes.
Practice. Drop a Point on something to remove and a Rectangle where something should be added. Ask in chat for both changes by marker number, check the result with Compare before / after, then press Clear all before your next request.
Drop a Point marker on the price sticker and a Rectangle marker on the bench beside the glass. Then type: Remove the price sticker at marker 1 and add a few coffee beans on the bench at marker 2.
Clean up spots with the retouch brushes
Paint out a dust speck with Heal and cover a scuff with Clone stamp, one stroke at a time.
Retouch tools on the toolbar holds Heal, Clone stamp, Blur, Sharpen, Smudge, Dodge, Burn and Red-eye. Blur and Sharpen act on the whole picture in one click. The rest are brushes, drawn as a ring on the image, with a size that starts at 24px. Press [ or ] to shrink or grow it, and hold Shift for bigger steps. Heal blends a spot into the pixels around it, which suits dust and small marks. Clone stamp copies texture from elsewhere, so Alt-click the clean area first, then paint over the flaw. Dodge lightens and Burn darkens where you paint, Smudge pushes colour along the stroke, and Red-eye takes the red out of pupils you paint over. Each stroke becomes one step in the History tab, such as Heal stroke, and Undo takes strokes back one at a time. The first stroke paints the current filter and slider look into the pixels and resets them, so retouch before you set the look.
Practice. Pick Heal and dab out a small mark. Switch to Clone stamp, Alt-click clean texture beside a larger flaw and paint over it, then press Undo once and check which step left the History tab.
Choose Retouch tools, then Heal, and click once on the dust speck on the can. Then choose Clone stamp, Alt-click the clean timber to the left of the scuff on the bench, press ] a few times and paint along the scuff.
Crop, resize and set the look
Cut the picture to the shape it will be used at, then tune light and colour in the Adjust tab.
Shape the picture for where it is going before you fine-tune the look. Crop on the toolbar lays a frame with eight handles and thirds lines over the image and shows its size in pixels as you drag. Hold Shift on a corner to keep the shape, then press Apply crop or Enter, or Esc to back out. Resize sets an exact width and height, with Lock aspect ratio ticked, and Rotate turns the picture 90 degrees clockwise. For the look, open the Adjust tab on the right and click along a slider's track to set Exposure, Shadows, Temp, Vibrance and the rest. The ↺ beside a section resets it. Filters / presets holds 24 looks, from B&W to Golden hour, and AutoTune suggests settings for the kind of scene it detects. The look stays live after you save, so you can change it later. Vignette and Grain only show in the editor and are left out of every exported file.
Practice. Crop your picture to a wide banner and check the size readout. Set Shadows and Vibrance by clicking along their tracks, try two filters from Filters / presets, then use ↺ to put the Light section back.
Choose Crop, drag the handles until the readout shows 1024 × 536 px and press Enter. Open Resize, keep Lock aspect ratio ticked and set Width to 1200. In the Adjust tab, click Shadows to about +15 and Vibrance to about +14.
Stack layers and paint a mask
Blend a texture over the photo in the 16/32-bit workspace, then hide it where it shouldn't show.
Choose 16/32-bit image in the More menu to open a strip of layer controls above the picture, with your photo as the Background layer. Crop, retouch and run AI edits first, because the layers redraw over later changes to the pixels. Import image / TIFF layer adds a file as a new layer on top. Give it the canvas's exact size, or a first import resizes the canvas and your photo and later ones are refused. The first drop-down picks the active layer. Opacity sets its strength, and the blend drop-down offers Normal, Multiply and Screen. Multiply darkens, which suits paper grain. To hide part of a layer, choose Paint mask: hide, set the Brush size and drag over the picture. Paint mask: reveal paints it back, and View stops mask painting. Save keeps the layers, masks and blend settings. A very large picture, or one with 32-bit layers, can be refused on save. Your edits stay in the canvas, so delete a spare layer or export a copy.
Practice. Export a texture at your banner's exact size. Open 16/32-bit image, import the texture, set it to Multiply at about 40% opacity and paint a hide mask over your product. Save, load a different image with Open, then open the banner again to see the strip come back.
In More, choose 16/32-bit image, click Import image / TIFF layer and pick paper-grain.png (1200 × 628). Set the blend drop-down to Multiply and drag Opacity to about 40%. Choose Paint mask: hide, set Brush to 30 and drag over the can.
Set exposure and gamma on a 16-bit TIFF
Bring a high bit-depth TIFF into a new tab, adjust it in floating point and export it at 32-bit precision.
Open a new Image tab from + (New editor), choose 16/32-bit image in the More menu and make Import image / TIFF layer your first click. The canvas takes the file's size, the blank Background is scaled to fill it, and the TIFF sits on top as its own layer. The TIFF must be uncompressed RGB or RGBA with interleaved pixels and a top-left origin, in 16-bit integer or 32-bit float, up to 8 megapixels and 128 MB. Layers hold floating-point values, so detail brighter than white survives even though the screen can't show it. Type stops from -10 to 10 in Exposure and a Gamma from 0.1 to 10, then click Apply exposure and gamma to change the active layer. A gamma above 1 lifts the midtones. Both fields return to 0 and 1 after each click, so -1 after +1 brings the highlights back intact. Export 32-bit TIFF downloads the combined layers as image-32bit.tif. Keep it, since a large 32-bit layered image may be refused on save.
Practice. Import a 16-bit TIFF into a new tab. Apply +1 stop and watch the highlights go white on screen, apply -1 to bring them back, try a gamma of 1.2, then export the 32-bit TIFF.
In a new Image tab, choose 16/32-bit image, click Import image / TIFF layer and pick can-studio-16bit.tif (2400 × 1600) from Tom's studio shoot. Type -0.5 in Exposure and 1.2 in Gamma, click Apply exposure and gamma, then click Export 32-bit TIFF.
Export for the web and record a fingerprint
Download the formats each channel needs, then record the canvas fingerprint with the sign-off.
Export / Download on the toolbar saves a PNG with the current look baked in. Files & Export in the More menu adds JPG and WebP at 92% quality, which bake the look too. Each of these files merges the layers into one picture, and JPG has no transparency, so see-through areas come out solid. Instagram 1:1 and Reels 9:16 crop the centre to 1080 × 1080 or 1080 × 1920 pixels. They and SVG leave out the filter and slider look, and SVG wraps the pixels rather than turning them into shapes. Make video on the toolbar sends the picture to the Video editor, which opens Animate image so you can describe the motion. Before a file goes out for approval, choose File fingerprint (SHA-256) under Tools. It shows a hash your browser works out from the canvas pixels saved as PNG, without the live look. Record it with the sign-off. If the same saved image gives an identical string later in the same browser, the canvas hasn't changed.
Practice. Export your banner as JPG and as WebP from the More menu and compare the file sizes. Open File fingerprint (SHA-256), copy the string into your approval note, reopen the image and run it again. Then choose Make video, type a slow push in on the can under Describe the motion, keep Length at 5 seconds (3 and 8 are the other choices) and click Apply. If the generation goes through, a clip called Animated image lands on the timeline. Watch it before you use it, because the motion is Oppermind's reading of your words. If it fails, the pane says why and adds nothing.
In More, under Files & Export, choose WebP for the website and JPG for the email tool. Then choose File fingerprint (SHA-256) under Tools and paste the string into Mei's launch sign-off note.
Keep going
Make the learning stick
Start with one real piece of work.
Open Oppermind beside the lesson, apply each step, and leave with something you can use.