Using a tool
Reading the credit pill
The number beside Run is what this run costs, worked out from the model and the settings in front of you.
The number beside Run is the price of the run you are about to make. Not a tier, not an average, not an estimate for a typical job: this card, this model, these settings. Change anything that affects cost and the number moves before you commit. That is the whole design, and it is why there is no confirmation step. ## What moves it | Change | Effect | |---|---| | Swapping the model pill | Usually the biggest single move, sometimes an order of magnitude | | Size or resolution | Moves with pixels, on most image and video tools | | Duration | Video and audio bill by the second, so seconds are the lever | | Count | A set of eight is not always eight times one, see below | | Aspect ratio | Usually free | ## Why some tools return eight for the price of one Several of the set-returning tools cost one generation rather than eight, and it is worth knowing why so the number stops looking like a mistake. The model renders one grid image. Plnty slices that grid into separate canvas images afterwards, locally. You paid for one generation because one generation happened. **variations**, **antagonist**, **diverge**, **same-family**, **time-machine** and **close-ups** all work this way. It is also why those tools cap where they do: the cap is how many cells fit in one image at a usable resolution. ## Reserved, then settled Credits are reserved when you press Run and settle only when the result lands. A run that fails releases its reservation, so a provider erroring costs you nothing. In the rare case that release does not go through immediately, a sweep reconciles it within about an hour. :::note[Why your balance dips before the result arrives] The reservation comes off the balance at Run, not at delivery. During a long video render the credits are held rather than spent, and a failure hands them back. The number you see mid-run is your uncommitted balance, which is the honest one to make your next decision from. ::: ## Personal and team balances In your own workspace the credits are yours. In a team workspace everyone draws from one shared pool, so a colleague's heavy afternoon shows up in the balance you see. You can move credits from your own wallet into a team's pool. They do not flow back. :::caution[A workspace that runs dry stops generating] Everything already on your boards stays exactly where it is, and the local tools keep working, because remeshing and pathtracing never cost credits. Only new generation stops until the workspace is topped up. ::: ## Where the number comes from Prices track provider rates rather than being set by hand. A daily process reads what each provider charges and updates the credit cost per operation, which is why a tool's price can change between one week and the next without anything about the tool changing. That is also why the pill is worth reading rather than remembering. The number on screen is current; the one in your head is from last month.The number beside Run is the price of the run you are about to make. Not a tier, not an average, not an estimate for a typical job: this card, this model, these settings.
Change anything that affects cost and the number moves before you commit. That is the whole design, and it is why there is no confirmation step.
What moves it
Section titled “What moves it”| Change | Effect |
|---|---|
| Swapping the model pill | Usually the biggest single move, sometimes an order of magnitude |
| Size or resolution | Moves with pixels, on most image and video tools |
| Duration | Video and audio bill by the second, so seconds are the lever |
| Count | A set of eight is not always eight times one, see below |
| Aspect ratio | Usually free |
Why some tools return eight for the price of one
Section titled “Why some tools return eight for the price of one”Several of the set-returning tools cost one generation rather than eight, and it is worth knowing why so the number stops looking like a mistake.
The model renders one grid image. Plnty slices that grid into separate canvas images afterwards, locally. You paid for one generation because one generation happened.
variations, antagonist, diverge, same-family, time-machine and close-ups all work this way. It is also why those tools cap where they do: the cap is how many cells fit in one image at a usable resolution.
Reserved, then settled
Section titled “Reserved, then settled”Credits are reserved when you press Run and settle only when the result lands.
A run that fails releases its reservation, so a provider erroring costs you nothing. In the rare case that release does not go through immediately, a sweep reconciles it within about an hour.
Personal and team balances
Section titled “Personal and team balances”In your own workspace the credits are yours. In a team workspace everyone draws from one shared pool, so a colleague’s heavy afternoon shows up in the balance you see.
You can move credits from your own wallet into a team’s pool. They do not flow back.
Where the number comes from
Section titled “Where the number comes from”Prices track provider rates rather than being set by hand. A daily process reads what each provider charges and updates the credit cost per operation, which is why a tool’s price can change between one week and the next without anything about the tool changing.
That is also why the pill is worth reading rather than remembering. The number on screen is current; the one in your head is from last month.