For designers

For Designers Handed a Flat JPG and No Source File

When a client sends a flat JPG or PNG and wants the text or a product photo changed, IntoLayers splits it into a rebuilt background plus a separate layer for each element, then exports a layered PSD. In our tests, small text came back character-for-character correct in 15 of 15 runs.

Below is one real job run end to end — a bakery flyer that needs a new price and a new date — with the timings, the layer sizes and the step that is still yours.

Only upload images you have the right to edit — for client work, artwork the client owns or has licensed.

What do you get back from a client's flat file?

A rebuilt background plus one transparent layer per element, each with a name, a stacking order and its position on the canvas — as a layered PSD, a ZIP of PNGs, or a layered SVG traced in your browser.

We ran the flyer below at seven layers. The model separated six elements and named them itself; the table shows how much room each one takes on the flyer and how big it came back.

Layer (the model's name)	On the flyer	Returned	Enlarged
Bakery Brand Logo	487 × 159	1133 × 370	2.33×
Sourdough Bread Loaf	378 × 259	885 × 609	2.34×
Wooden Cutting Board	629 × 255	986 × 400	1.57×
Promotion Title Text	729 × 169	1250 × 289	1.71×
Price Text	440 × 156	1020 × 362	2.32×
Event Details Text	674 × 80	1433 × 172	2.13×

1K canvas, 896 × 1200 px. The seventh layer is the rebuilt background.

When is it faster than rebuilding — and when isn't it?

It is faster when the job is to change a few things on a design that is otherwise right. It is slower when you would end up retyping every line anyway.

Faster

The client wants a price, a date or a headline changed and everything else kept.
The design carries a photo, a texture or an illustration you could not easily recreate.
You need the elements apart to resize the design for another format.

Slower

Most of the design is type. Text comes back as a picture of text, so every line you change is retyped — on a type-only layout, setting it again can be quicker.
The client needs a vector logo or live, editable text for print. The layers are raster; that is a separate job.
The file is simple enough to rebuild in the time it takes to download and check the layers.

How do you change a price or a date on a flat file?

On a text-on-background design like this flyer, the first run — two layers — is enough: every element comes off onto one layer and the paper underneath is rebuilt. Ours took 43 seconds.

A bakery flyer with the price $6.50 and the date Saturday, October 4 — Everything came off onto one layer and the paper was rebuilt underneath. We erased $6.50 and the date line on that layer — the rebuilt paper shows through — and typed $7.25 and October 11 in their place.

The step that is still yours

The retyping. We set the new price and date in Georgia Bold; on a real job you would match the client's typeface. In a patch we sampled, the rebuilt paper was within 3 levels out of 255 of the original in every channel.

This works because the text sits on plain paper. On an image with a large main subject, a 2-layer run can lift out only the subject and leave the text in the background — for those, ask for three layers or more.

Will small text survive?

At three layers or more, yes: small elements come back larger than they sit in the file. On this flyer at seven layers, the date and fine-print line came back 2.13× larger and the price 2.32×.

The flyer's date and fine-print line cut from the original and scaled up, the letters soft — The date and fine-print line takes up 674 × 80 px on the 1K canvas and came back at 1433 × 172 px.

The same date and fine-print line on the returned layer at 1433 by 172 pixels, the letters sharp — The date and fine-print line takes up 674 × 80 px on the 1K canvas and came back at 1433 × 172 px.

Across 15 test runs, every text layer came back character-for-character correct — the 15-run accuracy test has the method and the numbers.

The first run does not do this. At two layers the text sits in one merged block at its original size.

What do you still do by hand?

Four things, and they are the reason this is a tool for designers rather than a replacement for one.

Retype what you change

Text comes back as a raster layer, not live type. Every word you change, you set again in the client's typeface.

Check anything that was covered

Where one element hid part of another, the hidden part is either cut off at the edge you can see or guessed. We have seen both, so look before you move anything.

Rebuild vector artwork separately

A logo comes back as a raster layer. If the client needs a vector file, that is its own job.

Compare flat colours side by side

The background is rebuilt, not copied. On this flyer the paper matched within 3 levels; a saturated flat colour can drift further.

What can you hand over to the client?

A layered PSD with every layer named and in place, every layer as a transparent PNG — in a ZIP or one at a time — or a layered SVG traced in your browser.

1K is about 1 megapixel; this flyer came back on an 896 × 1200 canvas. 1.5K and 2K are larger — 2K is about 4 megapixels — but larger, not sharper.

What you hand over is an editable rebuild of the flyer, not the working file it was made from. Say so if the client asks for their original.

Commercial use of the layers is fine when you hold the rights to the source image.

What does one job cost?

You pay per layer: 5 credits at 1K, 8 at 1.5K and 10 at 2K.

The 2-layer run on this flyer is 10 credits. The 7-layer run is 35 credits at 1K, or 70 at 2K. Starter includes 1,200 credits a month — about 34 seven-layer jobs at 1K. See plans and credit packs.

Run it on the file your client sent

Upload the JPG or PNG, pick the layer count, and check the layers before you quote the job.

Convert a client file See the 15-run accuracy test