FAQ & troubleshooting
Most Pixploder snags come down to one of three things: credits, a generation that didn't land, or a file the editor couldn't read. Here are the questions people ask most, with what's actually happening under the hood and what to do about it.
What costs credits, and what's free?
AI actions spend credits; anything you do by hand is free. You spend credits when the AI does the work: generating a scene, filling an extended canvas, finding and segmenting objects, reconstructing occluded sprites in Step 5 · Mask Sprites, and rebuilding or refining the background. Everything else costs nothing — uploading an image, importing a layered PSD, drawing and editing masks by hand, color-keying sprites, adding shadows, harmonizing, and every export. Comparing results and swapping between takes, attempts and variants is always free, so you only pay to create an option, never to choose one.
Costs. Free actions run the same on every plan, including Free. See Credits & plans for what each action costs and how packs top you up.
What happens when I run out of credits?
The next AI action stops with the message Out of AI credits. Upgrade your plan or buy a credit pack. Nothing is charged and nothing breaks — every take, sprite and mask you already made stays in your project, and every free action keeps working. Top up with a credit pack or move to a bigger plan, then the same button runs again. Credits are reserved the instant you start an AI action and refunded automatically if it fails, so a failed run never quietly drains your balance.
Why does the same kind of step sometimes cost a different number of credits?
Because the price tracks the work. Object-finding and each precision-segmentation request are a flat, low cost. Image generation — a new scene, an extend fill, a background take — costs more, and the exact number depends on the AI model you pick and the output resolution. The button always shows the price before you click it (for example Extend canvas · N credits), and the credit chip in the header shows your balance, so you can check both and switch models before spending.
Why does the AI produce a different result every time I run it?
That is expected, not a bug — image generation is probabilistic, so the same prompt on the same scene gives a fresh result each run. Pixploder is built around it: every generation is kept as a take, attempt or variant, and running again only ever adds an option — it never overwrites what you had. So the workflow is to generate a few, compare them side by side, and keep the best. If none are right, reroll without fear of losing the earlier ones.
My AI generation failed — was I charged?
No. Credits are reserved before the AI runs and refunded the moment it fails, and the message tells you which case you hit: the model is overloaded (try again in a minute), the service is at capacity (try again later), or the content tripped a safety filter (adjust it and retry). A safety refusal never charges at all. In every case your balance is made whole — just run it again.
Note. When a batch action partly fails — say, segmenting several objects at once — only the requests that failed are refunded, and the notice tells you how many.
An AI tool says it is "temporarily unavailable" or "paused." Did I lose credits?
No. This is a server-side state, not a fault in your project. You will see it when a model is briefly switched off, when generation is paused for maintenance (Pixploder is under maintenance — generation is paused for a moment. Nothing was charged.), or when precision segmentation is having a moment. Nothing is charged, your work is untouched, and the tool comes back on its own — wait a few minutes and retry.
Why won't Extend Canvas let me apply, or why is it warning me?
Step 2 · Extend Canvas checks your extend before it runs and flags anything that would come back badly. An amber warning means it will still work but the fill may drift — typically because your original art now covers less than about a third of the new canvas. A red block disables the extend button entirely, and happens when the new shape goes past a 3:1 aspect ratio, a side grows beyond 4096px, or your art would cover under about 20% of the result (below that, the AI repaints a whole new scene instead of extending yours).
Tip. The fix is the same every time: extend in two or three smaller passes. Apply one extension, then extend that version again. Small reaches blend far better than one giant one. See Step 2 · Extend Canvas.
I imported a PSD but some layers are missing, or it wouldn't open
Pixploder reads .psd and .psb files entirely in your browser, turns each raster layer into a sprite, and drops you straight at Step 5 · Mask Sprites with alpha already in place. A few limits explain most surprises: it keeps up to 60 layers (extras are skipped so the masking step stays usable), empty or zero-size layers are ignored, and group folders are flattened to their contents. If the file is refused outright you will see either This PSD has no canvas size. or No usable layers found in this PSD. — usually a non-Photoshop file renamed to .psd, or one with no pixel layers. Keep your artwork as raster layers and re-export, then import again. See Step 1 · Generate or Upload.
Does my work save automatically, and what does "save failed" mean?
Yes. Once you are signed in and working in a project, Pixploder autosaves to your account a moment after every change, and a fresh generation is saved immediately so even an instant reload keeps it. The status sits in the header: saving…, then saved. If it reads save failed, a save couldn't reach the server — almost always a dropped connection. Your work is still in the tab, so don't reload yet; restore your connection and the next change retries the save on its own. More detail in Projects & autosave.
Why do I keep getting signed out or asked to sign in again?
Your session normally refreshes itself in the background, so this should be rare. When it does happen, the session has expired or been revoked — sign in again and you land back exactly where you were, because your project is saved to your account, not to the browser. If an AI action in particular returns Please sign in to use AI features., that is the same thing: your token lapsed mid-request. Sign in and retry the action.
The editor went blank or showed an error screen. Did I lose my project?
No. If something crashes, Pixploder replaces the blank screen with a dark panel titled Pixploder hit an error, a Reload button, and a note that your project is autosaved. Reload and you pick up from the last save. If it keeps happening, copy the error text shown on that screen — it is printed there specifically so you can paste it into a bug report.
What happens to my saved projects if I cancel my plan or drop to Free?
They are not deleted immediately, but they go on a clock. Once you land on Free, a banner appears reading Your saved projects will be deleted on [date]. Resubscribe to keep them, or export them now. — the date is 14 days out. You have three ways to keep your work:
- Pause instead of cancelling. While you are still on Pro or Studio, the
Plans & creditsmodal offersPause instead — $1.90/mo: keep your projects, no AI; starts at your next renewal. A paused account keeps every project safe for a fraction of the plan price, andResume on Pro(or Studio) turns the AI back on whenever you come back. See Credits & plans. - Resubscribe before the date. Starting any paid plan clears the clock and your projects stay put.
- Export what matters. A PSD, sprite sheet or game-engine package lives on your own disk regardless of plan, and exporting never costs credits.
Note. This 14-day clock isn't only for downgrades. Free projects carry it even if you've never subscribed — it starts when you save your first project, and starting any paid plan is what clears it.
Careful. Once the date passes the projects are gone. The pause option is only offered while you are still subscribed — after you have dropped to Free it disappears, leaving resubscribe-or-export. If you are unsure, export first from Step 8 · Reconstruct & View — see Export formats — then decide.
A background fill came back empty or left a visible seam. How do I fix it?
Two different problems, two different fixes. If a refined region comes back mostly blank, the prompt was too vague for the AI to know what belongs there — describe the area more specifically, or switch to the higher-quality AI model, then regenerate just that region. If the fill is right but its colors or sharpness don't match the surrounding art at the seam, that is not a reroll problem: Step 7 · Harmonize heals color, sharpness and grain across AI-filled areas in one pass, instead of you rerolling the fill. See Step 4 · Background and Step 7 · Harmonize.
How do I start a new scene without losing the one I'm working on?
Create a new project rather than reusing the current one. Replace image, in Step 1 · Generate or Upload, clears every step and asks you to confirm first — and because the project autosaves, that blank state overwrites what was there. To keep your current work, start a new project instead; each project saves independently and you can switch between them anytime. See Projects & autosave.