🎨 Image Creation — Quick Start
One goal: in ten minutes you go from “no idea what to type” to knowing exactly what every line of your prompt does. This is the real workflow inside the Dream Factory Studio.
1. Your first image in 60 seconds
- Open the Studio and switch to Image.
- Pick a model (start with the default flagship, Seedream 5.0 Pro), then a quality tier (1K to practise, 2K for finals; select models also offer a 3K HD tier) and an aspect ratio (9:16 vertical, 16:9 wide, 1:1 square, plus 3:4 / 4:3 / 2:3 / 3:2).
- Describe the picture in the prompt box (formula in the next section).
- The price is shown before you generate — points and tier up front, no blind-box charges.
- Results land in My Works. Download them, or tap “Add to Assets” to keep them in My Assets, synced to any device you sign in on.
2. The prompt formula: seven parts of one sentence
Example: A young woman with long black wavy hair stands on a seaside cliff, her red dress lifted by the wind, glancing back at the camera, full-body wide shot, subject on the right of the frame, golden sunset light rimming her hair, cinematic film look, crisp detail in the fabric and strands of hair.
- Subject first. Say who or what it is before the environment and style. “Beautiful, HD” alone hands the steering wheel to luck.
- Name the composition. Close-up, half-body, full-body, high angle, low angle, rule of thirds, subject left or right — if you don't say it, the model guesses.
- Lighting is the mood switch. Soft window light, neon night glow, golden hour, hard side light — change the light and you change the film.
- Text inside the image (posters, signs, titles): write the exact words, their position and colour, and keep them short. For lettering, GPT Image 2 is the most accurate writer on the site.
- Change one or two things per round. That's how you learn which line did the work.
3. Text-to-image vs reference editing
Text-to-image: creating from zero
For posters, characters, scenes and concept art from nothing — just fill in all seven parts of the formula.
Reference editing: keep the subject, change the rest
Upload a reference image and state three things in the prompt — what to keep, what to change, and the target style and composition. This is the reliable way to keep the same person:
Example: Keep the face and hairstyle of the person in the reference image. Change the outfit to a navy blazer and the background to a bright modern office, full-body composition, realistic photo look.
- Face lock: settle on one good “official” portrait, then branch every later image from it — the face stops changing between pictures. This is also how short-drama creators keep a lead character consistent across a whole series.
- Outfit and background swaps are just reference edits: name the new outfit or setting precisely, and explicitly say the face stays.
- Pose library: stuck on a pose? Pick one from the built-in library (288 sets, 5 angles each) in the Studio and use it as a reference — sketch in, photo out.
4. Picking between the five image models
| Model | Best at | Reach for it when |
|---|---|---|
| Seedream 5.0 Pro (default flagship) | High-detail people, posters, complex descriptions; steady reference editing | Character portraits, hero images, image-to-image work — try it first |
| GPT Image 2 | Most accurate in-image text and poster layout | Posters with headlines, signs, cover lettering |
| Nano Banana 2 | Natural edits and blending | Local changes, multi-element composites |
| Qwen-Image 2.1 | Fine-grained semantics, a natural feel for East-Asian subjects | Chinese prompts, East-Asian faces and themes |
| FLUX 3 Klein | Fast and cheap — 1K from 5 points | Drafts, composition tests, bulk rolls |
The live lineup and prices are always the ones shown in the Studio — all the strongest current models in one place, and the list keeps growing.
5. FAQ
The person looks different in every image?
Always branch from the same clear reference portrait, keep a fixed description of age, hairstyle and facial features, and never change hairstyle, outfit and art style in the same round.
Elements are messy, people stand in the wrong places?
Use fewer subjects and pin positions down in words — “person A on the left, person B on the right, facing each other”. Our Canvas and Director Studio also add count anchors automatically, so you don't get twins or an extra person.
Close, but not quite right?
Shorten the prompt to the essentials and lock the composition first; then rebuild material, light and mood round by round. Failed runs don't charge points — experiment freely.