Generative Fill Credits

[Rafaelis]

So is Photoshop turning into a system of micro transactions I PAY for this ON A MONTHLY BASIS and they DARE operate with CREDITS??? Absolutely unacceptable! 

[Glenn 8675309 · Accepted solution]

it's not "turning into" - it allready is.

The use of AI (in particular the generative fill feature) to generate images / remove things / make edits takes a lot of computing power- Adobe deserves to be compensated- which they do by allocating Generative credits.  I'm in the basic photagrpahy plan and I get 250 free credtis each month)-- I've never run out of them.   You can purchase credits if needed. 

Diferent plans have different allocations-- all of which is well documented. 

The use of generative credits   is all up to the end user.      

dobe implemented generative credits as a way to manage costs associated with their generative AI features, like those powered by Firefly, across their Creative Cloud applications. These credits act as tokens that users can redeem for generating AI-powered content like images, vectors, videos, and audio. Each Creative Cloud plan includes a monthly allocation of these credits. 

Here's a more detailed breakdown:

• Cost of AI Processing:

  Generative AI features, like those in Adobe Firefly, require significant computational resources on Adobe's servers. 
• Subscription Model:

  Adobe uses a consumption-based model, where users are allocated a certain number of credits per month based on their subscription plan. 
• Usage:

  Each time a user generates AI content using features like Generative Fill in Photoshop or Text to Image in Firefly, it consumes one or more credits. 
• Credit Allocation:

  Different Creative Cloud plans come with varying monthly credit allocations. For instance, Creative Cloud All Apps users get 1,000 credits, while those with a Single App plan might get 500. 
• Beyond the Allocation:

  If users exhaust their monthly credits, they can still use the generative AI features, but the processing speed might be slower. 

Essentially, generative credits are Adobe's way of balancing the cost of providing powerful AI features with the need for a sustainable business model. 

[Rafaelis]

"Deserves to be compensated"? 
I pay for this monthly. THEY ARE ALREADY BEING COMPENSATED! I pay for Midjourney too and they would never dare ask for credits beyond that. The subscription is enough, as it [cursing removed] should be.

This is a money grab to make people pay more for their plans. Pure and simple. 

[Danu10 · Accepted solution]

What they’re doing now is daylight robbery... and I’m sure they’ll come up with more fees in the future for the next features they add to Photoshop.

[Danu10]

 Are you serious dude???? We already pay monthly subscriptions for their software. Whats next credits for the heal bush??????

[Stephen Marsh]

 Whats next credits for the heal bush??????

By @Danu10

That doesn't involve cloud processing, specifically computationally expensive generative algorithms.

Select Subject can use local or cloud based AI processing, however, Adobe doesn't charge credits for this as it's not generative.

[davescm · Accepted solution]

Just to add to Glenn's reply, credits included in each plan are listed here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/firefly/get-set-up/learn-the-basics/generative-credits-faq.html#monthly-g...

Dave

[Rafaelis]

Yes. We should pay more! Then more when they introduce their next feature! Then even more again and again and again! 

It was bad enough when they turned Photoshop into a subscription platform, but this is beyond the pale. A total rip off.

[Glenn 8675309]

So it sounds like you expect to get new abilities and features for free?  A total rip off?  Far from it.

[Rafaelis · Accepted solution]

I don't even know how to begin responding to this nonsense.

I’m already paying for it - don’t you get that? Not only that, but they’ve hiked the monthly subscription price by 50%! Add the additional cost of buying generative credits, and you're easily looking at total price increases of over 100%.

Any other company would be buried by a move like this, but Adobe has become so deeply embedded - practically a monopoly - in the digital imaging industry that they can get away with it while laughing all the way to the bank.

Since when does Photoshop require additional payment on top of a paid subscription just to access new features and tools? What exactly am I paying for, if not that?

Are we now expected to pay extra every time they improve something? Every time they fix a bug? Add a brush? Introduce a filter? Is this what it’s come to - a million microtransactions for every tool in the box?

If it’s not painfully obvious what a blatant, money-grabbing scam this is, then I don’t know what to tell you. But hey - if you’re interested, I’ve got a lovely bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you.

[Martin15D5]

I feel like Adobe hooked us on using generative fill and then pulled the rug out from under us by telling us we could no longer use it for free. I can't even begin to fathom how many generative fills it took to create the backgrounds and touch up detail after detail in each of these pictures, which are in my Adobe Stock portfolio. I've been having so much fun using generative fill, but I guess that's over. I can't possibly afford to use it to the same degree I have been. 

[Glenn 8675309]

You get 250 credits each month with the cheapest plan.   5$ and you can buy 100 credits--- that's 5 cents per image.

[kilgorin · Accepted solution]

That's not entirely accurate or fair. The generative AI gets things wrong quite a lot and does not generate what people want in complex cases. If your edit is quick and easy chances are you didn't need the generative feature to begin with, unless you are adding an object to a clean surrounding. For example if you are refining edges using generative of say people/clothing and other objects to make them look like they "belong" after a move that's, much more than 1 click 1 credit. That could be 50 clicks 50 credits because the shape of the thing you are selecting matters. You can't just select everything all at once, add some descriptive words and click generate, it has to be dont in pieces. "fix my eye" "fix my hand(s)" another common request that Adobe doesn't do well, I've burned through 64 generations still havent got what I wanted had to change my verbiage try again and again. In many cases I have to add something I do not wan't, save the image, open it as a new image and then start working with it again, OR group and hide the layers under the image after merging everything into one. Then there's the sensitivity of trigger words or selections it thinks are offensive such as skin when you are trying to change the shape a shin bone or forearm with some realistic looking hair that blends into the edges / background. Deformations that again need to be dealt with as new selections, if I sat down and thought about it I could probably give to 20 more examples. I used my 250 credits by the 2nd click on my 3rd image when I got the "out of credits" notification and realised what Adobe had done. Thats alot more than your proclaimed 5 cents per image. Cellular companies tried something similar with thier prepaid community years ago where consumers paid by the minute and small unused balances did not roll over to the next month, it did not go well for them. The price index per credit as they are applied per image is too high. If the cost index were as high as you advocate for hardware resource allocation Adobe would have went bankrupt in the beta phase of their data collection campaign to margin the price index to begin with. The way that you speak in your replies to peoples valid complaints make me believe that your individual needs and personal financial stability make you the 1%, so stop downplaying what Adobe did and trying to normalize greed to the other 99%. Politicians do this regularly, then there's this thing called amendments, when something is passed and accepted it is often changed is a way that is widely undesirable soon after when it should have been objected for that very reason right from the beginning. I suspect the same is happening here. 

[Jane needs help]

I have to use generative fill all the time–to create simple background extensions of a white wall, baseboard, and floor. Photoshop does a fairly mediocre job of this–they add unwanted elements galore, and lots, and I mean lots, of vignetting, which I have to undo. The thing is–why do I have to now pay for this? I'm being squeezed as it is.

[ceanderson81]

Dear Adobe,

Creatives aren't playing video games with your software, we understand the need to limit the bandwidth of AI features. Please maintain core principals by always offering the best product to working professionals without looking for ways to milk the cash cow. Creativity should feel free or at the very least have a flat rate monthly fee.

[Martin15D5]

Since I was cut off from using generative fill--in the middle of an edit, no warning-- until my meagerly allotment of 250 credits renews, I've started using the "remove" tool. I wasn't even aware of it before, and I  have to admit that it's pretty useful. So, of course, there's an asterisk next to it on Adobe's information pages--with a footnote saying "it's free for now." I won't be surprised when there's a per-use charge to use that too.

[Glenn 8675309]

"Since I was cut off from using generative fill--in the middle of an edit, no warning-"--Without warning tells me you failed to montior your generative credits which only takes three mouse clicks.   I just checked, I have 207 left for June.    I udenrstand your frustration: When I sold image sets on my website I saved whatever  I working on everytime I stepped away from my computer- I had backups of my backups, I had backups of installation files, My computer could die, and I would back online in a couple of hours with a new computer. 

I used to use generative credits to burn thru removing things, now I use the remove tool / distraction tool.   Even Photoshop Elements has the remove tool, Which doesn't work as well as the PS remove tool. 

If I were a  "working professional"- as others have stated they are- I wouldn't rely on the Generative fill tool to make a sale, it would add to my skills and my creations, and I would go whole hog and get all the Adobe apps--  but I'm not- I'm actually just a teacher that plays with photoshop-- for $10.85 a month it's a cheap source of entertainment.

Crapy AI ( you didn't say it)?   Far from it.  Below is an image from one of the challenges, everything below the little dam on the right was created using the gnerative fill tool- and you simply cannot tell by looking that AI was involved in the image.   



My 250 generative credits  I'm making out like a bandit with them- I love them, and I don't have to pay extra for them.  They could go away July 1st, and I would live-  Otherwise I would just buy credits each month and write it off as a busienss expense.


There are plenty  of free Ai generation tools-- my prompt below was simply make it a cartoon...

[stacie0D4C · Accepted solution]

I think it is absolutely ridiculous they are using credits for there crappy ai. You have to do so many clicks just to get a decent result. You can blow through 100 credits in no time. Then they don't even let your credits roll over. I made the very big mistake of paying for my plan for a year. I will not be renewing. 

[Martin15D5]

I agree completely with what Stacie says: "You have to do so many clicks just to get a decent result. You can blow through 100 credits in no time."

[Kra_Ash]

Don't think we should have to pay extra for credits to use generative fill. Shame on you adobe for doing that to the art community. Make it accessible for everyone. We're already paying you! Isn't that enough? 

[Martin15D5]

Now that generative credits have become so costly, what exactly is "one generative credit"? Do you get dinged for the use of one credit every time you use the generative fill tool? Or, is it dependent on the size of the area generated?

[blazeburns]

I want to know this too, and add that it woudl be awfully nice if we could see how many credits we currenty have as we make these decidsion about how/when to use these very limited credits.

[Martin15D5 · Accepted solution]

I found this list of how many credits are allocated to each plan, and it differs by whether your subscription began before or after June 17. For my pre-June 17 Creative Cloud plan, I'm only to get 100 credits? That's just a drop in the bucket if you're using generative fill for various fixes throughout a picture. This is really bad news for me, and I'm really disgusted with Adobe about doing this--especially since they're raising the basic subscription rate at the same time--from $9.95 to $14.95 a month. Apparently, if I only had a pre-June  17 single-app subscription to Photoshop, I'd have 500 credits per month, which might not be too bad. And why do I have a "Creative Cloud" plan instead of a subscription to just Photoshop, since Photoshop is all I use anyway? I'd guess Adobe has been pushinig the Cloud plans, so that people are barely aware of single-app subscription plans, paving the way for days like this. 

As to what constitutes one credit, I think I read somewhere else that every time you click on the "generative fill" button, you get dinged for one credit, without regard, for instance, to the size of the fill area. 

This is the kind of situtation that occurs when there's monopolistic control of a market. We can only hope that similar-quality alternatives will soon emerge to create a competitive marketplace and end this price gouging.

[Martin15D5]

Correction: According to my account, I now have "0 out of 250" generative credits, so that must be how many are included in my monthly plan (not 100, despite what it says in the screenshot). But my guess is that I've been using many more than that. And anyway, who knows what that number will reset to for real at the beginning of my next billing period.

Why isn't there another company offering real competition to Adobe in photo editing software, including AI tools? With so many Adobe customers disgusted at subscription plans in general and these price increases in particular, this would be a perfect time to jump in.

[Martin15D5]

And that nasty way that a simple crop transforms itself unbidden into a "generative expand" if you inadvertently extend the cropped area even the slightest bit outside the image area.

"Full stop! unintentional expand command issued!" you say, as you attempt to close the generative expand box.

Alas! 'Tis too late. For thou has already been charged with the expenditure of one generative credit. 

Now I'm down to 249 . . . My plan is to save as many as possible until the second two weeks of my monthly billing cycle and then go on a two-week generative expand holiday.