Generate a consistent image series

Images that are “pretty but have nothing to do with each other”: that is the classic failure of a carousel illustrated one picture at a time. A series fixes it — one image of the post becomes the anchor, and the others pick up its light, its palette and its mood, with a composition of their own.

Before you start

One image is generated for each slide whose layout plans for one: the “Layout” panel of the “Slide” tab offers “Background,” “Top,” “Bottom,” “Side,” “Frame” — or “No image.” The number of images in the series is the number of those slides.

Check your brand too: the palette, and above all its image styles — the “Styles” tab of the Brand page, a type and a direction each — are copied into the post when it is created and drive every generation. The post has a default style, picked when it is created; any image can take another one. See create an image style.

The settings apply to the whole post

“Post” tab, at the very top: the “Post images” section. Under “For the whole post,” three settings apply to every image in the post, no exceptions:

• “Default style” — the style of the images that don’t have their own, picked from the brand’s. Changing it leaves alone the images that have their own style.
• “Series” — the anchor. A new post starts on “No series”: each image is generated on its own, and its style keeps the post consistent. “First illustrated image” starts the series, usually on the cover, and “Follow slide 3” picks another one.
• “Default quality” — from “Draft” to “Maximum,” each level with its cost. “High” is selected by default.

Right below come “In this post,” the post’s references, then the state of the images: one bar per image, generated, underway or missing.

Three places to start one

1. When the post is created

   In the “New post” window, “Generate images” is on by default, “Consistent images” is not. Once it is on, the estimate shows what the series adds (“The 1st guides the rest”), and the images start as soon as the post opens in the editor.

2. From “Post images”

   “Generate the 4 missing images” handles the missing ones in one go, with its cost on the button. “Regenerate the whole series…” redoes everything, the anchor first, once you confirm: “The current images stay in their versions.”

3. One image at a time

   “Slide” tab, “Image” panel: “Generate image” if there is none, “New version” otherwise — the details are in image versions, comparing and retouching. On the canvas, the “Whole series” toggle shows the post’s images side by side; hover over a slide and “New version” starts its own.

An image can opt out of the series

In the “Image” panel, the recipe has a “Series” row: “Follows slide 1,” with the anchor’s thumbnail and a switch. Turn it off for a packshot on a plain background, which has nothing to borrow from the others’ mood: the row switches to “Out of the series,” and the image is generated on its own. The other images keep following the anchor.

An image never follows the anchor of another style: in a carousel that mixes photo and product, each style has its own anchor, and the row adds “same style”; an image alone in its style shows “none, different style.”

On the anchor itself, the row reads “Series anchor” — “the other images follow it.” And when the series is off for the whole post, it shows “Off for this post,” with a “Settings” link that takes you back to “Post images.”

While the series runs

The generation goes out as a task on the server. A banner above the slides follows it — “6 images underway,” “5 after the reference,” “2 queued,” “sized to fit their area” — and “Stop images” halts everything. Each affected thumbnail shows its waiting state: “Image…,” “After the reference,” “Pending.” If the anchor fails or is stopped, the others go without it rather than wait.

Every image lands as it comes, written into the document as a history operation: you watch it appear without waiting for the series to finish.

What the series actually changes

Without a series, the images in one style share its direction and the brand palette. With one, the anchor is also attached to each of the other images in its style, with a clear instruction: match its light, palette and mood, but compose a new image for its own subject. That is what makes a carousel hold together. For an illustration or a graphic, the style sheet — its three previews put together — also goes with the anchor: the line and the technique hold from the very first image.

When an image doesn’t fill its area

Each image is generated at the exact size of its area, and the app measures what comes back rather than assuming the requested size was honored. If the result doesn’t match, the “Layout” panel says so — “This image doesn’t match the format of its area, so it is heavily cropped” — so do the checks, and “New version” regenerates it in the right format.

What’s next

With the images in place, the post is ready to go out: the export produces numbered images at each platform’s size. And if the overall look is not what you wanted, the brand is what to revisit — your fonts and your palette.