Turn a flat poster, banner or AI image into pieces you can edit: the text pulled out, the subject cut free, the background left clean, and flat artwork converted to vector paths. Each piece comes from a different model, and you stack them in your own design tool.
A flat JPEG of a finished poster is a dead end: the headline is baked into the sky, the product is baked into the table, and changing one word means rebuilding everything around it. AI will not hand you a perfectly organized design file, but it can pull the pieces apart well enough to get you moving: the text extracted, the subject cut free, the shapes turned into paths.
Layers are what make a design reusable. With them you can swap a headline for its translation, move a product into a new corner or recolor a background without touching the subject. Without them, every change is a fresh generation, and a fresh generation never gives back the same composition twice. Most AI images arrive flat, as one block of pixels, and so do most designs people inherit: a banner from a former agency, a poster whose source file died with an old laptop, a social graphic someone exported and never saved.
Picasso IA runs 502 models behind one workspace, and the layer problem is shared out among several of them rather than solved by a single button. There are models that extract text from a flat graphic, models that cut a subject out, models that convert raster artwork into vector paths, and image editors that repaint whatever the subject was hiding. The full catalog lists all of them. New accounts get free credits, which is enough to run one design through the whole chain and find out whether this route fits your work before you spend anything.
When people say layers they usually mean three different things, and each one has its own tool.
The text layer comes from ideogram-ai/layerize. You upload a flat graphic (JPEG, PNG or WebP) and the model returns the text split by hierarchy, main heading, secondary heading, body copy and small print, while the graphic itself is left behind as a clean base with the text stripped out. You can name a font for each level before the run and add a short prompt describing the graphic.
The subject layer comes from a background remover. bria/remove-background takes a photo or a graphic and returns a transparent PNG of the foreground, with an option to keep soft partial transparency around hair and glass. For a wider walkthrough of that step alone, see removing an image background.
The background layer is the awkward one, because the original image never contained what was behind your subject. Either the design had a plain backdrop and Layerize's clean base is already what you need, or you ask an image editor such as nano-banana-2 or qwen-image-edit-plus to remove the subject and invent a plausible fill. Invented is the honest word for it.
Then there is the fourth thing people call a layer without meaning to: vector shapes. recraft-vectorize converts a raster logo, icon or flat illustration into SVG paths, and recraft-v4.1-svg writes SVG from a text prompt. Those files open in a vector editor where every shape can be recolored and moved. The final stacking, base at the bottom, subject above it, text on top, happens in your own design tool.
The table below matches each goal to a model on Picasso IA, what comes back and where it tends to break. Read the last column before you commit a whole project to one route.
| What you want | Model to try | What comes back | Where it breaks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Editable text from a flat graphic | ideogram-ai/layerize | Text by hierarchy level plus a clean base | Fonts rarely match, so text gets retyped |
| The subject on a transparent background | bria/remove-background | Transparent PNG | Wispy edges and glass need a second look |
| The empty background behind the subject | nano-banana-2, qwen-image-edit-plus | Repainted image without the subject | The filled area is invented, not recovered |
| Flat logo or icon as editable paths | recraft-vectorize | SVG file | Photos turn into heavy, messy paths |
| A new vector design from a prompt | recraft-v4.1-svg | SVG file | Complex scenes need cleanup in a vector editor |
The cleaner and flatter the source, the better every row works. A flat promotional graphic with a clear subject is the friendly case; a busy photo with text printed across a face is the hard one.
This is the order that works with the least backtracking. It assumes you have one flat image and a design tool you already use. If you are starting from a blank page instead, the next section covers how to generate a design that splits well from the start.
The easiest layer to make is the one you never merge. If you are generating the design yourself, you can plan for separation instead of repairing it afterwards. Generate the background alone, with no subject and no text, and leave an obvious empty area where the headline will sit. Generate the subject alone on a plain flat backdrop, so the cutout has nothing to confuse it. Then put the text in your design tool, where fonts and spacing are exact. For a design that has to be one image from the start, a text-capable model such as ideogram-v4-quality or recraft-v4.1 can render short headlines, and Layerize can split them afterwards.
Tip: ask for a plain, evenly lit backdrop and generous empty space around the subject. Every model in the chain, from the background remover to Layerize, works better when the edges of things are obvious and nothing overlaps the text.
A few habits cause most of the disappointment. Feeding a screenshot or a heavily compressed copy gives every model blurry edges to guess at, and a photograph with small text scattered across it has less structure than Layerize needs. Vectorizing a photograph produces a file full of tiny shapes that is harder to edit than the picture you started with. For the vector side of this, AI vector graphics and SVG icons goes deeper, and the Recraft comparison shows how a catalog differs from a single vector tool.
The title promises editable layers, and the reality is assembly work. Five places to expect friction:
If the design is one you already own the source for, use the source. This workflow earns its place when the source is gone, or when the image was born flat as an AI generation and you want to keep working on it instead of regenerating.
Partly, and it depends on what you mean by layers. Models on Picasso IA can extract the text from a flat graphic, cut the subject onto a transparent background, repaint the background behind it and convert flat artwork into vector paths. What you do not get is a single finished file with every layer named and stacked. You assemble that yourself in a design tool, using the pieces the models return.
It takes a flat graphic and separates the embedded text into layers by hierarchy: main heading, secondary heading, body copy and small print. The graphic comes back as a clean base with the text removed. You can name fonts for each level before running it and add a short prompt. Check in the toolkit exactly what output you receive, then confirm your design tool can open it before building a project around it.
No. Layerize is about text. It pulls the words out and leaves the rest of the graphic as one base image. To isolate a subject you run a background remover such as bria/remove-background, which returns a transparent PNG. To get the empty background behind that subject, an image editor such as nano-banana-2 can remove it and fill the space, though the fill is invented rather than recovered.
Not directly. The models return separate outputs: text layers plus a base from Layerize, a PNG from the background remover, and SVG files from the Recraft vector models. You bring those into Photoshop, Figma or any editor you like and stack them. SVG files open in most vector tools with their paths intact, which is the closest thing to native editable layers this workflow produces.
Two Recraft models cover it. recraft-vectorize converts a raster image, such as a logo, icon, line drawing or flat illustration, into SVG paths. recraft-v4.1-svg writes an SVG straight from a text prompt, which suits logo concepts, icons and flat illustrations. Both work best on clean, flat artwork. Photographs and soft gradients turn into heavy, fiddly files.
Because extracting text is not the same as recreating the original lettering. You get the words and their level in the hierarchy, but the exact typeface, spacing and any decorative treatment rarely carry over. A plain sans-serif headline may come close; script or hand lettering will not.
Not pixel for pixel. Cutouts can lose wispy edges, repainted backgrounds are generated fresh, and vector paths approximate the shapes they trace. Lay the result over the original in your editor to spot the differences. Small drift is normal, and fixing it by hand is part of the job. For an exact match, the original source file always wins.
Only if you have the right to edit and reuse it. Splitting a graphic into layers does not change who owns it, so a competitor's ad, a stock image or a client's artwork still carries its own license. Use it on your own designs and work you may adapt. When a photo contains a person, use only pictures of yourself, people who agreed, or fictional characters.
Layering separates a design into stacked pieces, such as text, subject and background. Vectorizing converts one raster image into shapes defined by paths instead of pixels, so it scales cleanly and recolors easily. They solve different problems and often work together: layer a poster first, then vectorize the logo you cut out of it.
Every run costs credits, and the amount depends on the model and the settings you choose, so a figure written here would go stale quickly. Splitting a design usually means several runs, one for text, one for the cutout and perhaps one for the background, so the total is their sum. New accounts get free credits to start, and the pricing page is the place to check current plans.
Pick one flat design you wish you had the layers for and run it through the chain once. Open the Picasso IA toolkit, start with Layerize, and see how much of the rebuild it saves you.
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