Edit a Template: Background and Size
Duplicate a system template, set an exact background color with the new picker, and pick output size or custom dimensions. Step by step.
One of the built-in templates is usually close to what you want. The lighting is right, the framing is right, and then the channel you are publishing to asks for something specific: a particular background color, or an exact pixel size.
You do not have to build a template from scratch to get there. Copy the one that is already close, change the two things that matter, and run it. This guide walks through all three steps.
Templates and presets
Worth getting straight before you start, because the app uses both words and they mean different things.
A template is a collection. A preset is one instruction inside it, and every preset becomes one generated shot. So a template with four presets produces four images per garment, every time you run it.
You will find your templates at Templates in the sidebar.
Step 1. Duplicate a system template
The templates that ship with On-Model are read-only. That is deliberate: it means the look you used last season is still there next season, exactly as it was. To change one, you take a copy first.
There are two ways in. On the Templates page, hover any card with a System badge and click the copy icon, labelled Duplicate to edit. Or open the template and use the same button in the amber System template · read-only banner at the top.
The dialog prefills the name as Copy of the original. Rename it to something you will recognise on a busy Templates page, then confirm.
You get a full copy, with every preset inside it, owned by your account and fully editable. Duplicating is available on every plan.
If you started from the template's own page, you land straight in the editable copy and can begin editing immediately.
Step 2. Set the background color
Open any preset in your new template and find Background under Creative.
Alongside the suggestion chips there is now a row of color swatches and a picker. Click a swatch, or open the picker for any color you like. Your brand's exact background is two clicks away, and you do not need to know its hex code to use it.
Picking a color writes it into the field for you. Choosing the light blue swatch sets the background to solid powder blue #AEC6E8 studio background, name and hex code together, which is what the generator reads.
Two things worth knowing. If a background already contains a color, its swatch lights up on its own when you open the preset, so you can always see what the preset will actually produce. And if you pick a color from the picker that is not one of the swatches, it is matched to the closest named shade, so the instruction still reads as a description rather than a bare code.
Setting a color here also gives Force flat background an exact target. That option lives under Post-Processing in the job's configure step, and it locks the rendered background to the color you picked instead of whatever the generator drifts to. Useful when a marketplace rejects anything that is not perfectly uniform.
Step 3. Choose the output size
Still inside the preset, open Output settings. The first field is Dimensions, and it has two modes.
Preset is the default. It gives you Output Size at 1K, 2K or 4K, and Aspect Ratio with ten options from 9:16 through to 21:9. This is the right choice most of the time, because it keeps the same look working across shapes.
Custom (W x H) swaps those two fields for Width (px) and Height (px). Type the exact pixel size you need and the output is delivered at those dimensions, with no crop afterwards.
The rules are validated as you type, and again on the server:
- 256 to 7000 pixels per side
- Multiples of 8
- Aspect ratio between 1:4 and 4:1
- Width and height must be set together, and they override Output Size and Aspect Ratio
This is where marketplaces get interesting. Every channel publishes its own image spec, and a set that is right for one is usually wrong for another. Setting the size in the template means each channel's spec is a saved look you can run, rather than a resizing job you do afterwards.
Custom dimensions and 2K/4K output need Pro 1 or above. The template editor itself is not restricted, so any account can save a template with custom dimensions. The limit applies when the template is used: on a Free or Basic account those settings quietly fall back to 1K and Preset mode when the template loads into a job, with no warning. If your outputs come back smaller than the template says, check the plan first.
The result
Here is that workflow run end to end. One system template, duplicated. Background set to light blue with the picker. Dimensions set to custom. Then a single job, so the outfit stays consistent across every shot in the set.
Same garment, same model, same background, delivered at the exact size the channel asked for.
Run your template
Three ways to use it once it is saved:
- From the Templates page. Hover the card and click the play button to load the whole template into a job.
- From the wizard. On an empty Flat-to-Model or Create Packshot job, pick a template under Start from a template.
- One preset at a time. Use Load Preset to pull in individual presets alongside what you already have.
When a template is loaded you will see it named in the instructions header, so you always know which look the set reflects.
Where to go next
- 24 New Flat-to-Model Templates covers the built-in library these copies start from.
- Pixel-Perfect Sizes for Marketplaces goes deeper on exact dimensions, including the specs each marketplace expects.
- White Background Product Photography explains why "almost white" gets rejected, and how to lock a background down.
Read Next
24 New Flat-to-Model Templates
The Presets page is now Templates. Plus 24 new Flat-to-Model templates, from clean studio e-commerce to on-location editorial looks.
Pixel-Perfect Sizes for Marketplaces
Set exact width and height per instruction in flat-to-model so outputs match Amazon, Shopify, Zalando, and ASOS specs without post-crop.
Flat Lay Product Photography for Fashion
Flat lay product photography for apparel: how to shoot clothing flat lays for ecommerce, marketplace specs, and how AI turns them into on-model photos.