Retouch an area: how to describe a change

«Retouch an area» is applied to the chosen ready variant: outline the place on the image and write what to change. The original stays as a separate variant. The more specific the change, the easier it is to judge the result.

Learn more: Help · Features.

Reviewed: 2026-10-19

How to use it

Open the visualization you need and choose the variant you want to change: the thumbnails are under the picture.
On the right, in the «What's next» block, click «Retouch an area» (the R key). On a phone the «Retouch» button is at the bottom of the screen, and in the «Visualizations» list it is in the «⋯» menu of a ready card. The dialog «What should change in the frame?» opens; «Back to the actions» returns to the «What's next» block.
Describe one clear change: the light, the decor, a separate place or the camera angle. If you need to show the place, select an area on the image and click «Create an option from the selection».
If the assistant asks a clarifying question or offers actions, choose the suitable one and check the options. The «Fine-tuning» button opens a panel with the modes «Area», «Decor», «Decor on tables», «Light», «Angle», «Presentation style» and «Presentation set». The «Angle» and «Presentation set» modes also open at once, without the dialog: the «Change the angle» and «Presentation set» buttons under «Retouch an area» (on a phone in «More» → «Retouch»). «Presentation style» opens at once the same way.
Start the edit and compare the new variant with the original. Check the products and the other details again.

Presentation style: line drawing, sketch, watercolour, markers, illustration

On the page of a finished visualization, press «Presentation style» under «Retouch an area» (on a phone «More» → «Retouch» → «Presentation style»). The «Edit this shot» panel opens on the «Presentation style» tab; the same tab is in «Fine-tuning».
Choose a manner: «Line drawing», «Pencil sketch», «Watercolor», «Hand-drawn (markers)» or «Illustration». In «Wishes for the style» you can add, for example, «soft pastel tones».
Press «Create new variant». The price is shown next to the button before the start: the style is paid like a regular edit, and if the drawing fails, the generation is returned.
The drawing appears as a new variant, the tooltip of its thumbnail says «Style: …». The composition, the layout and every object stay as in the original, and the original variant does not change.

The presentation style only changes the manner of drawing. To change the decor, the light or the angle, do it before, on a photorealistic variant, and then redraw it.
A drawing does not go through the photo check of product likeness and does not become a final for the client: it is a variant for a presentation and for discussing the idea.
«Line drawing» keeps only black outlines on a white background, with no fill, hatching or shadows, like a colouring page or a SketchUp drawing. The placement and proportions are as in the original: such a drawing is easy to take into Procreate and colour in yourself. «Watercolor» and «Illustration» are drawn in the colours of the original shot, bright and rich.
A presentation style is always drawn from a photorealistic shot. If you open «Presentation style» on a variant that is already a drawing, the new manner is drawn from the original shot that drawing was made from, not from the drawing; a line under the manners says so.
«Chalk» is no longer offered. Chalk drawings made earlier stay among the variants and are labelled «Style: Chalk».

Expand the shot

On the page of a finished visualization, press «Expand the shot» under «Retouch an area» (on a phone «More» → «Retouch» → «Expand the shot»). The same tab is in «Fine-tuning».
Choose where to expand: «1.5× wider», «1.5× taller», «All around» or «21:9 panorama». In «What to show on the new edges» you can add, for example, «continue the windows and columns».
Press «Create new variant». The price is shown next to the button before the start, expanding is paid like an edit.

AURA draws only the new edges, as if the camera moved back. The original part of the shot stays exactly the same, pixel for pixel, and the result appears as a new variant.
The new edges are drawn by AI: check repeated furniture and architecture at the edges before you show the client.

Add people

On the page of a finished visualization, press «Add people» under «Retouch an area» (on a phone «More» → «Retouch» → «Add people»). The same tab is in «Fine-tuning».
Choose where: «Guests at the tables», «On the dance floor», «A couple at the arch» or «All over the venue»; how many: «A few people» or «A full venue»; clothing: «As the event suggests», «Evening wear», «Business wear» or «Casual».
Press «Create new variant». The price is shown next to the button before the start, people are paid like an edit.

AURA finds the place for the guests in the shot and adds them only there. The decor, tables, chairs and venue do not change, and the result appears as a new variant.
Faces and poses are drawn by AI: check the shot before you show the client. If there are no guests or the decor changed, «Check the details» appears above the variant.

Touch up by hand: the brush, «Finger» and the AURA eraser

On the page of a finished visualization, choose the variant and press «Touch up by hand»: it is the first button under «Retouch an area». In the «Retouch an area» window there is the link «AURA eraser and touch-up by hand» under the message field, on a phone it is there too after «Retouch», and the button is also in «More». The same link is in the manual edit next to the AI eraser.
For «Restore with the brush», first set the source: press «Choose the source» and touch a clean place next to the extra part, on a computer Alt + click works too. A cross shows where the brush takes the background from.
Brush over what has to go, for example a part of a truss behind the columns or the words «banquet hall»: the brush paints it with what is around the source. «Finger» smudges the colours along the stroke, it is handy to soften an edge.
The «Brush size» slider changes the brush, «Undo the stroke» (or Ctrl+Z) removes the last stroke, «Back to the original» removes all the touch-ups.
To remove a whole object, for example an extra chair, a column or people, choose «AURA eraser» and paint over the object with its shadow. No source is needed. Press «Remove what is painted»: AURA removes the object and builds the background herself, and the result appears as a new variant. The price of the refinement is shown at the bottom of the window before you press. «Undo the stroke» takes off the last mark.
Press «Save as a new variant». The touch-up appears as a new variant next to the original, the tooltip of its thumbnail says «Touched up by hand», and the original variant does not change.

A touch-up by hand is free: no generation runs, no coupons or quota are spent.
«Restore with the brush» and «Finger» are free, and «AURA eraser» is a paid refinement, like «Eraser: delete an object» in «Retouch an area»: AURA redraws the marked place. By hand it is easy to wipe a small detail, «AURA eraser» copes better with a big object.
«AURA eraser» works on the saved picture. If you have already brushed and not saved, first press «Save as a new variant» or «Back to the original». You can paint at most 65% of the frame.
If the frame was changed in another tab meanwhile, saving asks you to refresh the page: so the touch-up never lands over another picture.

Good to know

The «Retouch an area» dialog changes the image. Aura Guide (the icon with a speech bubble and a spark at the top of the screen) explains the interface and does not start generations.
If the free dialog is temporarily unavailable, use «Fine-tuning»: it has fixed modes.
An edit is paid as a separate operation (the quota of a paid subscription, a purchased generation or the balance) and respects the project limit. Do not start several identical requests while waiting.
While a variant is being refined, «Details» under «Check» has a «Stop waiting» button. It only stops the waiting on this page: the edit continues on the server, and the generation is not returned. To follow the result again, click «Check again» or open the visualization later from the «Visualizations» list or the project: the ready variant will be among the variants. If an edit takes longer than 40 minutes, the page stops waiting by itself and also offers «Check again».
A place setting in a close-up («Change the angle» → «Close-up: guest table») and in frames with tableware is drawn by the rules of a banquet: one cover at every seat, the fork on the left and one knife on the right with its blade toward the plate, a round napkin ring with the napkin pulled through it, glasses with a straight stem and a round foot, the same at every seat. If you still see an extra knife or a crooked glass, select that place in «Retouch an area» and write what to fix. The close-up shows only what already stands on the table in the frame: it does not add flowers, candles or cutlery that are not there. And it keeps what is there: before the shot AURA notes what stands on the table (its shape, the cover at each seat, the flowers and candles) and checks the finished frame against the original. If covers went missing or were added, or the table changed its shape, the close-up is taken once more, and if it still does not match, «Check the details» appears over the frame. Turning or moving an item («Turn the chair with its seat to the table») is an edit of the frame too: AURA offers to select the place. If AURA did not understand the request, it offers to choose the kind of edit: «Light», «Decor across the frame», «One spot in the frame» or «Angle».
«Retouch an area» without new products redraws only the selected place: AURA adds no tableware, candles or lamps there and does not move what you did not ask about. If the edit touched an item beyond the edge of the selection and it cannot be carried over whole, the variant is not delivered and the generation is returned. On a bare table the close-up lays no cutlery. If the AI check gave no answer on the edit or found serious flaws, «Check the details» appears over the frame: compare the variant with the original.
An edit in the «Decor» and «Area» modes, including adding or replacing a product, changes only what you named. AURA does not add flowers, candles, lamps, podiums or other decor you did not ask for, even if they were in the wishes for the original visualization: those wishes are already fulfilled in the shot. A new product stands on what is already at that place (the floor, a stage or a table), without a new podium or steps. If the edit still added something extra, «Check the details» appears above the variant. A new product is drawn as an exact copy of its catalogue photo or your photo: the same shape, back, legs, colour and material. If something extra still appears, select it in «Area» and choose «Eraser: delete an object».
In «Change the angle» the «Close-up: guest table» preset turns the table to face the camera and shows it a little from above, at about 30°. The chairs stay on the same sides of the table. If the scenario has a photo with the «Table setting / napkins» role, every cover in the close-up is laid as on it: as many glasses, a spoon, plates. The «Top view as a plan» preset draws the same arrangement strictly from above, as a neat illustrated plan in soft blue tones: the same tables, chairs and place settings, nothing new. When the angle changes, chairs and tables are drawn from the product photos of the project.
The direction of decor in your words becomes a rule of the edit: «in a zigzag», «across», «along», «diagonally», «over the tables», «from the entrance to the stage». A zigzag without a direction runs across the venue. Haze, smoke or fog is drawn with the strength you name: «strong haze» fills the whole venue with visible light beams, «light haze» is barely visible. If the direction of the garlands or the haze did not come out, AURA redoes the edit once with the mistake named and keeps the better variant; if it still fails, «Check the details» appears above the variant.
When you add or replace a product in «Decor», AURA first finds the place in the shot where it will stand (from your words, for example «in the centre by the far wall») and redraws only that place with a small margin. The rest of the shot does not change. After a change of angle AURA compares the products with their photos and redraws in place what came out unlike them.