Canvas
Last updated
Last updated
Ideogram Canvas is an infinite creative board designed for generating, editing, and organizing images. It’s the ideal workspace for projects involving multiple images, whether they’re generated directly within Ideogram or uploaded from your computer.
With Canvas, you can:
Upload your own images by clicking Upload, using copy-paste or simply dragging in an image.
Edit images using two new powerful tools:
Magic Fill (inpainting) to add or modify elements within an image.
Extend (outpainting) to expand your image beyond its original edges.
Generate images using text prompts.
Remix images and compositions.
Add Text to your images.
Download your final composition/work as an image.
You can access Canvas in different ways:
Click the Canvas icon on the left-side panel to create a new canvas.
For Generate: Select the aspect ratio you want for your images.
For Remix: Position and resize the generation window over the area you wish to remix.
For Magic Fill: Use the masking tools to select areas you want to change, then click Next to adjust the position and size of the generation window. Ensure enough of the underlying image is included so the AI has sufficient context.
For Extend: Position the generation window over the area you wish to expand, including a significant part of the underlying image to maintain visual continuity. Use the masking tools to select areas you want to alter.
For Text: Simply click on the canvas where you want the text to appear. Then adjust the text using the available text options. (The next steps are irrelevant to the Text function.)
Generated images will appear on the canvas.
For Generate and Remix: Four images will be placed directly on the canvas.
For Magic Fill and Extend: One image will be generated where you placed the generation window. Click on the image and use the arrows in the menu below it to toggle between the four generated options.
Located on the left side of Canvas, this panel includes:
Home icon: Returns to the Ideogram home page.
Generative tools:
Generate: Create images using text prompts.
Magic Fill: Inpainting to add or modify elements within an image.
More details and examples here Magic Fill
Extend: Outpainting to expand your image beyond its original edges.
More details and examples here Extend
Remix: Generate images based on a parent image and prompt.
Utility tools:
Select: Select, move, resize, and arrange images.
Hand: Pan and navigate around the canvas.
Text: Write text directly on the canvas
More details and examples here Text tool
Upload: Import images from your computer.
Download: Crop and export your final composition.
This panel allows you to:
Undo and Redo actions.
Check if the Canvas has been saved successfully.
Zoom in and Zoom out of the canvas.
You can zoom using the + and − buttons or select a predefined zoom percentage from the dropdown menu.
Selecting any image on the canvas will display an image panel below it. The available options will vary depending on the type of image selected.
Switch between the four generated images of the set.
Access More options:
Duplicate the image.
Remove the image from the canvas.
Access More options
When you click More, one of the following menu appears:
From these menus, you can:
Open/Close image details
Copy the image.
Duplicate the image.
Upscale the image up to 2x.
Remix the image.
Use Magic Fill on selected image.
Use Extend on selected image.
Remove background on the image
Arrange the layer order:
Bring to front
Bring forward
Send backward
Send to back
Download – Only for generated images.
PNG – Plus subscription and higher.
JPG
Remove from canvas
This panel, located on the right side of the canvas, displays details about the selected image, such as the prompt, size, style used, and more. It also offers various actions that can be performed on the image. This panel has the same functionality as the image details panel available when viewing an image page on the website.
If the right-side panel isn’t visible when an image is selected, you can activate it in the following ways: visible, you can activate it in different ways:
Each generative function—Generate, Remix, Magic Fill, and Extend—offers different options. These options are either Rendering options or Masking options, depending on the selected tool and the progression of its usage.
When using a generative function, rendering options appear below the prompt box at the top of the canvas. If they are not visible, click the Options icon on the right side of the prompt box to reveal them.
The options are:
Private Generation: Choose whether to generate images privately or publicly.
Aspect Ratio: Define the format and dimensions of the image.
Style: Select the artistic style for the image.
Magic Prompt: Enhance and optimize your prompt with AI.
Color: Choose a color palette for your image.
Some rendering options (Model, Rendering, Seed number, and Negative prompt) are not yet available when generating an image in Canvas.
Ideogram’s version 2.0 model is used for all image generations, except when using the Upscale tool, which utilizes a specialized variant of version 1.0.
When using Magic Fill and Extend, masking options become available at specific steps in the process.
The options are:
Select: Select, move, resize, and arrange images.
Rectangular mask: Create a mask from a rectangular shape
Freeform mask: Create a mask from a freeform shape.
Brush mask: Create a mask using a brush.
Click the down arrow on the right to reveal a slider for adjusting brush size.
Eraser mode: The selected tool will erase masked areas.
Invert mask: Reverses the mask; masked areas become unmasked and vice versa.
Load previous mask: Restores the last mask used.
If you’re a new user or simply new to Canvas, consider experimenting with the Generate and Remix functions outside of Canvas to familiarize yourself with their features. Additionally, explore key features such as Private Generations, Aspect Ratios, Style, Magic Prompt and Color Palettes, as they play an integral role in the generative tools within Canvas.
To import an image from your computer, use one of the following methods:
Copy and paste
Copy the image to your clipboard (right-click and select Copy, or press Ctrl/Cmd+C).
Paste it onto the canvas using Ctrl/Cmd+V.
Drag and drop
Drag and drop an image from your computer on the Canvas window.
Upload
Click the Upload icon on the left-side panel and select an image from your computer.
Generation windows are bounding boxes used by the Magic Fill, Extend, Remix and Download functions to define the size, aspect ratio, and placement of the image to be generated or downloaded.
Resizing generation windows:
By corners: Preserves the actual aspect ratio.
By sides: Snaps to the nearest supported aspect ratio.
Image frames are the containers that hold already generated images. Each generative function produces four images per prompt.
Generate and Remix: All four images are placed separately on the canvas, each in its own image frame.
Magic Fill and Extend: These tools place one selected image on the canvas, maintaining the size and position of the generation window used.
1. Make sure the Select tool is active in the left-side panel.
2. Click on the desired image frame to display a the image panel below it.
3. Use the arrows in the menu to scroll through the four generated images.
Image frames can be freely resized and repositioned on the canvas.
To download your final composite image, use the Download function, which works like an adjustable screen capture.
Click on the Download button on the left-side panel.
Alternatively, if you have activated the Always show download outline option, click the download icon at the top left of the inactive download generation window on your canvas.
Resize and position the download generation window to capture the final image you wish to download.
On the left side, near the Download icon, a small panel will appear with the final dimensions of the image. You can adjust the size by manually editing the width and height, then click the arrow next to the Download button to choose the image format (for highest quality PNG downloads, you'll need Ideogram Basic or above. Finally, click Download to save the image.
Click Download to save the image.
Here's the final image.
Consider the following aspects regarding image sizes on the canvas:
Canvas grid: The canvas has an underlying pixel grid, visible when zoomed in at 2000% or more.
Image placement: When uploading or generating images, they will at first align with the canvas grid, with one pixel on the image equaling one pixel on the grid.
Generation window sizes: When you use the Remix, Magic Fill, or Extend tool, the generation window will adopt one of the default predefined aspect ratios, each with a fixed pixel size. The generated image will have this specific size, regardless of how you resize the context frame on the canvas.
Image scaling: Images retain their original width and height in pixels, even if resized on the canvas.
Download dimensions: The Download tool uses the canvas grid to define the size of the image to be downloaded.
The most common aspect ratios and their corresponding sizes can be found in theAspect Ratios & Resolutions section of the documentation.
Let's start with an image generated in Ideogram at a 1:1 aspect ratio (1024 x 1024 pixels):
Sometimes, faces and hands can be distorted when they are small in size, as seen in the generated image above. In such cases, you can use Magic Fill to correct these imperfections.
Here's how to do it:
Mask the head and hands using Magic Fill.
Resize the generation window to be smaller than the original image but large enough to include a significant portion of the image. This ensures the AI has enough context to analyze the image and accurately interpret the prompt.
Why make the generation window smaller? Using a smaller generation window gives the AI more pixels relative to the original image, resulting in a higher pixel density for the selected area. This leads to more detailed faces and hands.
However, keep in mind that some of these details or the apparent sharpness may be lost during processing. This happens because everything is interpolated or extrapolated to fit the pixel grid on the canvas when downloading the resulting composite image. More details in this section below.
Adjust the prompt based on the content of the generation window:
A photo of an elderly woman with white hair wearing a floral dress and a necklace. She is seated in a wooden chair in a dimly lit room. The background reveals lush green plants. The overall ambiance is warm and nostalgic.
Click Magic Fill.
Here is the final result after downloading the image:
More examples can be found in the Magic Fill page.
When downloading your composite image, it’s important to understand how scaling and pixel density affect the final output because the final image is based on the canvas’s pixel grid. This means that any images you’ve scaled up or down will not retain their original resolutions in the downloaded image. Enlarged images won’t have extra detail, and reduced images won’t keep their apparent increased sharpness.
Suppose you place a small photo (say, 200 x 200 pixels) on the canvas and enlarge it to double its size (400 x 400 pixels):
On the canvas: It looks bigger, filling more space.
When downloaded: That part of the image may appear blurry or pixelated because enlarging doesn’t add new details; it just makes the existing ones bigger and less clear. The small photo doesn’t have enough detail to look good at a larger size. Essentially, it will not act like the Upscale function does.
Now, you place a large photo (800 x 800 pixels) and shrink it down to half its size (400 x 400 pixels):
On the canvas: It looks smaller but very clear and possibly sharper than the ones around that were not resized.
When downloaded: This area will loose its sharpness and some details because the grid will have to transform an image from 800 x 800 pixels to 400 x 400 pixels, loosing details in the process.
In simple terms: The final image you download captures everything within the download area roughly as it appears when the canvas is viewed at 100% zoom, but the overall resolution is determined by the canvas grid.
For best results
Avoid excessive resizing: Don’t enlarge small images too much or shrink large images significantly.
Use appropriate generation window sizes: When generating images, try to use generation windows that are not overly big or small relative to the canvas' pixel grid. Try to reach a good balance when, for example, you are fixing defect part of an image by using a smaller generation window than the original image.
When viewing an image in detail, click the More icon and select Open in Canvas.
When browsing or viewing images, click the More icon and select Open in Canvas in the popup menu.
Click the Open image details icon located at the top-right corner of the canvas.
Alternatively, click the More icon in the panel below the image and select Open image details from the menu.
By default, each new canvas is named “Untitled canvas.” or a name based on the beginning of the prompt from the image opened in Canvas. To rename it, click the canvas name at the top-left corner, next to the Menu icon , and enter your desired name.
Click the Menu icon , to display a list of your recent canvases. Click the icon again to hide the list. From this list, click any canvas name to open it.
