How to Use AI Image Generator in PhotoDirector
Write what you want, hand it a photo to match, and get an image built around both.
Updated Aug. 19, 2026 · 4 min read
In a hurry? Use the AI Image Generator quick guide instead.
AI Image Generator builds a picture from a written description, and the part worth knowing about is that it will also take photos as reference. Hand it a product shot and that exact object turns up in the scene you described, rather than something roughly like it.
- In PhotoDirector, open Guided & GenAI and click AI Image Generator in the toolbar.
- Write your brief under Describe your image, then pick an aspect ratio.
- Tick Provide reference images and add a photo of anything that has to look exactly right.
- Click Generate, then Download and Use the one you want.
Steps to Use AI Image Generator
Step 1: Open AI Image Generator
There's a shortcut straight to it on the PhotoDirector launcher, under What's New.
If you're already working, you'll find it in the toolbar across the top of the Guided / GenAI workspace. Unlike most of the tools around it, this one doesn't need a photo open first, because it's making the picture rather than changing one.
Step 2: Set Up the Generation
Everything you control sits in one column down the left. It's short, but each of these changes the result in a different way:
| Setting | Choices | What it controls |
|---|---|---|
| Select Model | The engines available to you | Which generator runs your brief. One is already selected when the panel opens, so this is the setting you can leave alone on a first pass |
| Describe your image | Up to 2,500 characters | The whole brief. The empty box shows an example prompt in gray to set the tone, and an Inspiration button sits beside the label |
| Aspect ratio | 1:1, 4:3, 3:4, 16:9, 9:16 | The shape of the output. Worth setting to match where the image is going before you generate, not after |
| Provide reference images | Up to 10 photos | Real objects the result has to match. This is what stops a described cap becoming a generic cap |
| Number of images | A dropdown to the left of Generate | How many variations come back from one brief |
Step 3: Write the Brief and Attach a Reference
Write the brief as a shot description rather than a list of nouns. Ours named the angle, the subject, the setting and the light: a front view of a young woman longboarding downhill on a winding mountain road, hair blown back, shot into the light. Then tick Provide reference images and add the photo of the thing that has to be right, in our case the cap.
Check the number on Generate before you click. The cost shown on the button moves with your settings, including how many variations you asked for, so read it as the price of this exact combination rather than a fixed rate.
Step 4: Generate and Save
Generating shows its progress, and asking for several variations takes proportionally longer, which is the trade for getting a choice at the end.
The variations appear as thumbnails under the preview, so you can click between them before choosing. Download and Use keeps the one you're looking at. There's also Turn Into Video if you want it animated, and Generate more if none of them landed.
Haven't got PhotoDirector yet? It takes reference photos as well as a description, so a product shot you already have can anchor the result.
Download PhotoDirector Free →FAQ About AI Image Generator
They pin down things a sentence can't describe precisely. Writing "a blue cap" gets you some blue cap; attaching a photo of your cap gets you that one, with its shape and logo intact. Use them whenever a real object has to be recognisable in the result.
Long enough to name the angle, the subject, the setting and the light. There is room for 2,500 characters but you rarely need it. If you're stuck, the empty box shows an example prompt in gray that gives you the shape to copy, and there's an Inspiration button beside the label.
Not on the finished image. The ratio is part of how the picture is composed, so set it to match wherever the image is going before you click Generate. Getting it wrong means running the brief again.
