Say what a preview is
Why AI Pics names its Preview as simulated, what the Preview actually does, and why that is the honest starting point for pictures from a sentence.
Most picture tools show a finished image and let you assume the rest. We want to show you the machine, so we start by saying what ours is.
What the Preview is#
When you press Generate in AI Pics today, a Preview makes the pictures. It runs in your browser and paints on a canvas. From your words and a seed it picks a palette that leans with the words, chooses a motif, and sets your sentence in type. The same words and the same seed always give the same picture. If you start from another picture, the Preview paints over it.
What it is not#
It is not an image model. It does not understand your sentence and it does not draw what you described. If you write a lighthouse at dusk, you will not get a lighthouse. You will get a picture with colours that feel a bit like dusk and your sentence on it.
Why ship it#
Because everything around the maker can be built, tested and used without a vendor, and that is most of the product. The composer, the shapes, the counts, the seeds, the history of runs with their settings, variations, collections, favourites, downloads and saving to Geenius OS Media with provenance all work with the Preview. A real model plugs into the same place, and nothing else has to change.
What is connected#
A Gemini image model is connected in code. It runs on the server and works only where its key is set, and whether it is switched on for the hosted app is something we say we have to confirm. The composer names the model that will make each run, and every picture keeps the name of the model that made it. The Imagen models were retired by Google, so that provider is kept only so older pictures can name it.
How to use the Preview well#
Use it for placeholders and layout mock-ups, where a stand-in picture of the right shape is what you need. Replace it before anything goes out. Do not use it as a picture of the thing you described.
Why this matters#
If a tool lets you believe a picture is something it is not, you stop trusting the rest of what it says. We would rather you trust the history and the provenance.