git:20260823.16b371b to git:20261003.4069027

+ description: "Use when generating or editing images with Ideogram models on Scenario via MCP: posters, logos, menus, packaging, or signage with exact in-image text, editing an image in place while keeping its exact size, transparent PNG generation, background removal that keeps hair and glass edges, editable text layers for localization, or one consistent character from a reference. Keywords: Ideogram 4.5, Precise Edit, V4, V3, typography, aspect ratio, layerize, character reference, inpainting."

+ Ideogram's image family on Scenario is a set of single-purpose members, not one model with modes: 4.5 for generation where in-image text must read and for reference-guided edits, 4.5 Precise Edit for changing one thing and leaving the rest alone, V3 Generate Transparent for native alpha output, V3 Layerize Text for turning a flat graphic into editable text layers, Character for one identity held across scenes, and Remove Background for cutouts. V4 still answers searches but was tagged deprecated in favor of 4.5 at authoring time. The members agree on almost nothing mechanically: the same concept changes name, casing, and allowed values between them, so discover each with `search` and treat its `model_schema_get` as the contract.

+ Connection and the core loop: see the `scenario` skill in this repo; model-agnostic image work (sizing families, reference cardinality, masks): the `scenario-image` skill; running a bake-off against another family: `scenario-model-comparison`. If a sibling skill named here is missing from your available skills, ask the user to install it (`npx skills add scenario-labs/skills --skill <name>`); unattended, proceed from tool schemas and flag the gap.

+ | Member | Job | Inputs that matter |

+ | ----------------------- | -------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |

+ | 4.5 | Text-heavy generation, ref edits | `prompt`, `referenceImages` (up to 5, the first is the source), `mask`, `aspectRatio` (auto, source, 25 ratios from 3:1 to 1:3), `resolution` (1K, 2K), `quality`, `magicPrompt`, `numOutputs` (up to 8) |

+ | 4.5 Precise Edit | Change one thing, keep the rest | `image` (output keeps its size), `mask`, `referenceImages` (up to 4 guides), `quality` (default medium), `numOutputs` (up to 8) |

+ | V3 Generate Transparent | Native alpha output | `prompt`, `negativePrompt`, `aspectRatio` (15 ratios), `renderingSpeed` (adds FLASH), `expandPrompt`, `numOutputs` (up to 8), `seed` |

+ | V3 Layerize Text | Flat graphic to layers | `image`, optional `prompt`, `fontName*` or `fontFile*` per tier (H1, H2, Body, Small), `seed` |

+ | Character | Same character, new scenes | `prompt`, `characterReferenceImage`, `styleType` (Auto, Fiction, Realistic), `aspectRatio` or `resolution`, `image` plus `mask`, `renderingSpeed` (Default, Turbo, Quality), `seed` |

+ | Remove Background | Cutout to transparent PNG | `image` (10MB cap) |

+ Nothing transfers between members. Masks flip between them: on 4.5 and Precise Edit white marks the region to edit, on Character black repaints and white stays. Only V3 Transparent takes a `negativePrompt`. `renderingSpeed` is uppercase on V3 Transparent and Title case on Character, whose middle tier is Default.

+ ## 4.5: tiers, sizes, and what they cost

+

+ `quality` is the price dial on both 4.5 members (very_low, low, medium, high; very_low needs an input image, which Precise Edit's `image` satisfies and 4.5 takes as a `referenceImages` entry). At authoring time `dry_run` quoted 7.75, 13.75, and 41.75 CU for low, medium, and high, Precise Edit's very_low 3.75, and the same figure at 1K and 2K and for a 0.4 MP, 4.3 MP, or 8.3 MP source; billed jobs came in 1.75 CU under each estimate. 4.5 defaults to high, its top and most expensive tier; Precise Edit defaults to medium, and its high picks the best of several candidates at three times the price. Tier names do not line up across families: Ideogram's high is its ceiling, while GPT Image 2.5's high is its third tier of five and priced near Ideogram's medium. Compare families at a matched price, never a matched tier name, and `dry_run` the exact payload.

+

+ 2K output observed at authoring time: 2048 by 2048 (1:1), 2560 by 1440 (16:9), 2880 by 1440 (2:1), 2944 by 1152 (23:9), 3072 by 1024 (3:1), so the long edge tops out near 3072 and there is no 4K. 1K is about 1 MP (16:9 returned 1280 by 720) and exists only for 1:1, 4:5, 3:4, 2:3, 5:8, 9:16, 1:2 and their landscape counterparts; 3:1 at 1K passes `dry_run`, then fails at run time with a hint naming the fix. A ratio outside the list (4:1) is a 400 listing the allowed values. A `mask` requires `aspectRatio: "auto"`.

+

+ ## Edits that keep the canvas

+

+ For an edit, `aspectRatio: "source"` on 4.5 and every Precise Edit run return the source's exact pixel size, even one outside the ratio list: a 1326 by 313 (4.24:1) turnaround sheet came back 1326 by 313 from both, while `auto` rebuilt it as a full 3072 by 1024 scene. Use this when the edited file must drop back into a layout, a sprite sheet, or a page template unchanged. A localized change such as a headline swap needs no `mask` on Precise Edit: maskless at the medium default left the rest of the scene untouched. The GPT Image family pads such a source with white bands instead (see `scenario-gpt-image`).

+

+ In a single-sample bake-off at authoring time against GPT Image 2.5 on the same sources, the 4.5 members disturbed two to four times fewer pixels outside the edited region on a sign-text swap and an add-and-remove-objects edit, and read closer to a requested painterly medium (a watercolor restyle, a gouache landscape; hands-on use found the same for pencil sketches). GPT Image 2.5 led on photoreal product shots, on following a character brief, and on material and color changes: asked for burnished gold armor, both 4.5 members returned an olive brass, and Precise Edit also recolored the sword the prompt said to keep. Route by the job, and say "keep everything else exactly the same" plus the list of what must survive in every edit prompt.

+

+ The generators rewrite the prompt before generating by default, which helps a short exploratory prompt and hurts the family's specialty: the rewrite can paraphrase the exact copy that must render. When the image carries wording, disable it (`magicPrompt: "off"` on 4.5, `expandPrompt: false` on V3 Transparent), quote each piece of copy, and give it a place and a style ('the headline reads "GRAND OPENING" in bold condensed capitals across the top'). `magicPrompt` applies to text-to-image only: 4.5 turns every edit into structured instructions regardless.

+ Native: V3 Generate Transparent writes the alpha channel directly, so icons, stickers, and UI elements arrive compositing-ready. Cutout: generate on 4.5, then run Remove Background on the result; it reconstructs edge pixels with partial transparency rather than segmenting, so hair, fur, and glass survive. Go native when the asset is designed as an isolated element; go cutout when typography or overall quality leads. 4.5 has no background field, so prompting "transparent background" there yields an opaque image.

+ 1. `search` with `target="models"`, `query="ideogram"`, `public=true`. Members return as separate hits; match by name, e.g. `model_ideogram-v4-5` for typography (a live hit at authoring time: re-discover each session).

+ 3. `model_run` with that `model_id`, `dry_run=true`, and `parameters={"prompt": "Retro travel poster, warm dusk palette. The headline reads \"KYOTO IN BLOOM\" in bold serif across the top; caption \"April 2027\" bottom right.", "aspectRatio": "9:16", "resolution": "2K", "quality": "high", "magicPrompt": "off", "numOutputs": 2}` for the cost estimate.

+ - Carrying one member's block to the next: `magicPrompt` and `resolution` are 4.5's; V3 Transparent wants `aspectRatio` and `expandPrompt`; Precise Edit takes `image`, not `referenceImages`, for the source.

+ - Leaving 4.5 on its high default for drafts: low or medium first, high for the final.

+ - Editing with `aspectRatio: "auto"` when the canvas must not change: use `source`, or Precise Edit.

+ - Prompting a transparent background on 4.5: generate on V3 Transparent or chain Remove Background instead.

+ - Inpainting on Character with `image` but no `mask`: they go together, `characterReferenceImage` stays required, and sizing fields are ignored while inpainting.