Asset delivery format — scene vs isolated (transparent PNG)
Element mode's image prompts now resolve a delivery format before writing the BACKGROUND/INTEGRATION block:
| Format | When | What you get |
|---|---|---|
scene |
Regenerating the composition/mood | Background baked in, edges blending into the destination surface |
isolated |
Dropping the asset into your own web/design | Single subject on a transparent background (PNG with alpha), generous margin, no ground shadow |
Saying "for my website" or "as a PNG" defaults to isolated.
Defensive isolated prompts
Learned from a real failure: chat UIs often ignore prose requests for transparency, and style vocabularies that imply a world make models paint backdrops and add extra characters. Isolated prompts now lead with the isolation directive, strip all world/atmosphere words, keep lighting neutral, and close with "no background of any kind" — with a documented chroma-key fallback for models without true alpha (Midjourney, most SD/Flux pipelines). gpt-image supports native transparency via background: "transparent".
Asset path validated end to end
examples/discord-hero-asset/ — discord.com's clay-style 3D hero scene captured with --selector, palette extracted hex by hex, and the token-grounded prompt validated against a real image model in both formats:
- Scene (
element-3D.png): first-pass result — indigo ramp held, robot on the extracted periwinkle, lilac hair, lavender ghosts, and the scarce hot pink confined to the screen UI exactly as the PALETTE block scoped it. Original characters per the IP guardrail. - Isolated (
element-3D-isolated.png): the robot companion alone with verified real alpha (65% transparent / 22% opaque / 13% antialiased edges) — a web-ready cutout.
With v0.5.0's code path (Poolsuite → v0 → live rebuild), element mode is now validated end to end on both of its output paths.
Full details in the CHANGELOG.