AI Studio is Tolstoy’s AI content creation workspace for generating product images, videos, ads, email creative, and other brand assets from prompts, templates, products, and existing media. It helps merchants create on-brand content faster, test more variations, and keep creative production moving without starting from scratch each time. You can get started with some free first-win flows, but ongoing generation uses AI Studio credits, which are tied to your plan. Publishing may also depend on your connected channels and destination setup, and watermark-free downloads are part of paid AI Studio plans.
How to Use
To open the menu, click the + button beside the prompt box.
Upload files - Upload images, videos, documents, and other supported files from your device. Once uploaded, you can include them as references in your prompt.
Library - View and reuse the media already available in your account, including previously uploaded or generated content.
Products - Browse products imported from your connected store. Select a product to use its images and information when generating content.
Collections - Access groups of products organized into collections. This is helpful when creating content for a specific product category or campaign.
Models - View and select saved AI models or brand models that can be used in your image and video generations.
Connectors - Connect external platforms and content sources to bring additional media or information into AI Studio.
Templates - Start with a ready-made creative workflow. Templates help you generate specific types of content without building the prompt from scratch.
Prompts - Access saved prompts and prompt templates. Use them to maintain consistent instructions, styles, and results across multiple generations.
Objects - View and manage reusable objects or visual assets that can be added to your AI-generated content.
Permissions - View or manage your access level and workspace permissions. Full indicates that you currently have full access to the available tools and resources.
Choosing AI Models and Reasoning Effort
AI Studio allows you to control which AI models handle your request. Your selection can affect the output’s quality, style, generation speed, and token usage.
To access these settings, click the model selector at the bottom of the prompt box.
Reasoning settings - Reasoning settings control how the AI understands your request, plans the workflow, and prepares instructions for the generation model.
Model - Choose the reasoning model that will process your prompt. In this example, 4.8 Opus is selected.
The reasoning model interprets your instructions, considers the resources you provide, and determines how to complete your request.
Effort - Choose how much reasoning the AI should apply before producing the result.
Low: Faster processing for simple requests.
Medium: A balance between speed and detailed reasoning.
High: More thorough reasoning for complex or highly specific requests.
Higher effort levels may take longer and consume more tokens.
Generation models - Generation models create the final image or video. You can configure image and video models separately.
Image models - Choose which model will generate images. Select Auto if you want AI Studio to choose an appropriate model based on your prompt.
Video models - Choose the model that will generate your video.
Auto - Allows AI Studio to select a suitable video model automatically based on your prompt and requested output.
Best Practices
Use a clear, detailed prompt describing the subject, setting, action, camera angle, lighting, mood, and visual style.
Focus on one main idea per generation. Overly complex scenes may produce inconsistent results.
For product content, upload clear, high-resolution reference images from multiple angles.
Keep the product’s appearance consistent by specifying details such as color, size, material, branding, and packaging.
Avoid conflicting instructions, such as requesting bright daylight and a dark nighttime atmosphere together.
For videos, describe simple and natural movement, including the subject’s actions and camera motion.
Start with shorter video clips, then combine the strongest outputs when creating longer content.
Generate several variations and refine your prompt based on the closest result.
Review small details carefully, especially text, logos, hands, faces, product labels, shadows, and reflections.
Use templates when you want faster, more repeatable results.
Use bulk generation for larger product sets or repeated creative formats.
Troubleshooting / FAQs
Why can’t I send a prompt?
You may have reached your AI Studio token limit or run out of available credits.
Why am I seeing a token or credit warning?
AI Studio checks credit availability before sending generation requests. If you are out of credits, you may need to upgrade, enable overages, or buy a top-up if your plan supports it.
Can I use AI Studio for free?
You can start with some free first-win flows, but regular AI Studio generation uses plan-based credits.
Why didn’t my asset publish?
Publishing can fail if the destination is not connected, the asset still needs preparation, or required channel details were not completed.
Can I publish directly from AI Studio?
Yes, in some workflows. Depending on the asset and your connected destinations, you may be able to save it into Tolstoy, sync it to Shopify, publish it to supported channels, or download it for manual publishing.
What if I want multiple versions at once?
Use templates or bulk creation to generate many assets from one workflow across multiple products or inputs.