The canvas and filmstrip: previewing your pipeline on different images

How to use the canvas live-preview and the filmstrip thumbnails to make sure your pipeline works on every image in your batch — not just the first one.

Two parts of the editor work together to let you check your pipeline before running on the whole batch:

  • The canvas (big middle area) shows your current pipeline applied to one image in real time
  • The filmstrip (strip of thumbnails along the bottom) lets you switch which image the canvas is previewing

Used together, they answer: "Will this pipeline work on every image I've loaded, or just the first one?"

How the canvas preview works

When you have images loaded:

  • The canvas always shows one image at a time
  • Your full pipeline runs on that image
  • The preview updates in real time as you change pipeline settings or reorder steps
  • This is your "draft" — what the final output will look like

By default, the canvas previews the first image in your batch.

How the filmstrip works

Along the bottom of the editor:

  • Each thumbnail = one image loaded into the batch
  • The currently-previewed image is highlighted
  • Click any thumbnail to make that image the canvas preview
  • Scroll horizontally if you have more thumbnails than fit on screen

Right-click a thumbnail for options like:

  • Remove from batch (just this one)
  • Process this image only (single download)
  • Download (just this one's output)

The "first image only" gotcha

This is the #1 source of "my batch came out wrong" support questions:

> The canvas preview always shows your first image. It does not change automatically as you tweak settings on different images.

If your batch has 50 product images and you tuned the Color Removal Tolerance to look perfect on image #1, the same Tolerance gets applied to images #2-50 — even if image #20 has a slightly different background that needs a different setting.

Fix: before clicking Download All, click through 3-5 random thumbnails in the filmstrip to preview each. If the pipeline looks good on all of them, run the batch. If one looks wrong, adjust the relevant tool's settings (usually Tolerance) until it works on the variety of images you have.

Tips for using preview well

  • Test on the most-different images. The first image you happened to drop in might be the easiest case. Click on the image with the trickiest background, or the one with the most unusual subject. If the pipeline works on the hardest case, it'll work on the rest.
  • Use Filters tool's View modes. The Speckle Remover and Transparency Cleaner have a View mode that highlights what would be removed without actually removing it. Use this in the canvas preview to test settings safely.
  • Start with 5-10 images, not 500. Build your pipeline against a small representative batch. Once it works, drop in the full batch and run.
  • The filmstrip remembers what's loaded across pipeline changes. Adding or removing pipeline steps doesn't unload your images. Tweak freely.

Canvas toolbar

Above the canvas, a small toolbar has quick actions:

  • Download All — appears when you have 2+ images. Tooltip: "Process and download all images." This is the main action button.
  • Download this one — exports just the currently-previewed image as a single file
  • Undo / Redo — Ctrl+Z (or Cmd+Z) to undo, Ctrl+Y (or Cmd+Y) to redo. Works on pipeline edits + manual touch-ups.

Common questions

Q: My preview looks great but Download All gives me wrong-looking files. A: The preview shows the first image. The other images got the same pipeline applied — but if their content differs significantly from image #1, the result varies. Click through the filmstrip to spot which images look wrong, then adjust the pipeline.

Q: My preview is really slow when I change a setting. A: Big images take longer to re-render. If you're tuning settings on a 4000+ pixel image, the preview lag is normal. Test settings on a smaller test image first, then load the big batch.

Q: The canvas is empty even though I have thumbnails in the filmstrip. A: The current preview image might be one that failed to load fully. Click a different thumbnail in the filmstrip — if that one previews fine, the original is corrupt. Right-click the bad one and remove it from the batch.

Q: How do I zoom into the canvas preview? A: The canvas auto-fits the image to the available space. For pixel-level detail inspection, download the image (single download) and view it in your computer's image app where you can zoom freely.

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