Generation Without Giving Up Control
A model result is more useful when its recipe, billing event and place in the document remain inspectable.
model → material
Creative model catalogs are expanding faster than any single interface can explain them. The durable product layer is a capability alias: the interface names the creative move while the backend can change the provider route independently.
The product problem is no longer access to one model. It is routing the right creative operation while keeping the result understandable inside the project.
Start with the creative move
People should be able to choose what they are trying to do—generate, edit, extend, animate, isolate—before they need to understand provider catalogs.
Fanta keeps specialist routes behind task-oriented controls while still recording which model produced the result. The interface can stay coherent without erasing provenance.
A hosted ledger behind stable capability aliases
Fanta keeps the local editor unmetered and routes deployed hosted image generation through one credit ledger. Runtime aliases let the backend change the underlying model without requiring a client release.
When an image job succeeds, place_generation downloads the result into the project as a self-contained bitmap layer with bounds, prompt, model and generation provenance.
- Hosted generation uses one credit balance.
- Failed or safety-blocked hosted jobs charge zero.
- Canvas, vectors, source and history do not consume hosted credits.
- Placed image results keep prompt, model and generation provenance.
Billing behavior is product behavior
Usage pricing can make creative exploration feel risky when the user cannot predict whether a failed attempt will cost them. Clear estimates, visible balances and zero billing for failed work are interaction design—not back-office details.
The credit model works best when it maps to understandable actions and when the local editor remains available for ordinary design work regardless of hosted balance.
The result should not end the workflow
A generated layer is a beginning. It may need a mask, crop, blend, layout, component wrapper or motion treatment. Keeping it inside a full editor makes every model more valuable.
This is the difference between a model launcher and a creative environment: one returns an answer; the other keeps the answer available for work.
Model choice should disappear when it is irrelevant and remain inspectable when it affects cost, quality or provenance.
The takeaway