When something goes wrong

I signed up but cannot generate anything.

Confirm your email address. We send a link when you sign up, and until you do, the studio will not bring a new picture in: generating, uploading an image, uploading a depth map and opening a saved .zip that carries a picture all wait on it, and so does the assistant. Everything already in your account works meanwhile. If the email never arrived, sign in and use Send it again on your account page. It can send a handful of links a day; if none has arrived by then, check your spam folder and then write to us through the contact form.

I confirmed my address but I am not signed in.

The confirmation link confirms the address and nothing else - it never signs anybody in. Opened in the browser you signed up in, where you are already signed in, it takes you straight on to the studio. Opened anywhere else - on your phone, say - it says the address is confirmed, and you sign in there as usual. It works that way so that a link somebody else sends you can never sign you into their account.

The confirmation link says it did not work.

Links work once and last a day. Sign in and ask for another from your account page.

I have forgotten my password.

Use the forgotten-password link on the sign-in page. The link that arrives works once and expires after an hour, and using it signs you out everywhere else.

I want to change my password.

On your account page, under Password. You need your current one; if you do not have it, use the forgotten-password link instead. Changing it signs you out in every other browser, and signs out any app signed in to your account; the browser you changed it in stays signed in.

The reset email has not arrived.

Check spam. If it is still missing after a few minutes, ask again — asking twice quickly sends one email, not two, so wait a minute between attempts.

Does the studio work on a phone or an iPad?

No. Both studios are built for a desktop or laptop browser, with a mouse or trackpad and a screen wide enough for the settings, the canvas and the sheet list side by side, and they are not set up for phones or tablets. There is no phone app. Design and build on a computer. The gallery, the documentation, the pricing page and your account page can be read on a phone, and so can the assistant; on a phone the top bar leads to the gallery rather than to the studio.

Can I make the studio lighter?

Yes. Light, at the right-hand end of the row with the studio tabs, switches the studio to a light theme - the panels, the bars at the top, the tabs and the canvas the sheets are drawn on, the 3D view included - and Dark switches it back. On the canvas only the background changes: the wood, the paint colours and the white sheet of the vector view are drawn the same either way, so a finish looks the same whichever you choose. The choice is remembered in this browser; the rest of the site keeps its dark look.

Where are my old projects?

Saved to your account, without you doing anything: every project and scene is written to the server as you work, with its settings, its picture and its cut sheets, and stays until you delete it. Your account page lists all of them under Your projects, whichever studio made them, and clicking one opens it there. Each studio’s own project picker, at the top left, lists the ones it made.

What are finished designs?

Designs we built and perfected ourselves, in Stepped Layers and Landscape Silhouette Layers, that you can start from. Press Finished designs in the bar at the top of either studio - or look under New project or New scene when nothing is open - and choose Use this design. It opens as a project (or scene) of your own: the same picture, the same mask or depth map and every setting, material and canvas size included, and in Stepped Layers the openings we moved to another layer or took out with Remove from all layers. Once it is built those are listed under Manual overrides in the Features tab like edits of your own, and Clear override undoes any of them; re-cleaning or painting the mask clears them, as it clears yours. Nothing is generated, so opening one costs nothing, and whatever you had open stays as it was. Opening the same design again before you have changed or built your copy takes you back to that copy rather than making another; an account can open twenty new copies an hour, sixty a day. What is left is to build it - Generate Layers or Build Scene - which on Pay as you go costs 250 credits, once per design however many times you open it, and on Studio is included. After that it is yours like any other project: change any setting, rebuild for free, and download the files.

How do I start a new design without changing the one that's open?

Press New project (Stepped Layers) or New scene (Landscape), beside the name at the top left, before you write the new prompt. The prompt box always belongs to whatever is open, and what you type is saved into it, so a new idea typed over an old project rewrites that project and the next Generate replaces its picture. If you have already started typing, the note under the prompt box offers New project with this prompt or New scene with this prompt: it moves what you typed to a new one and puts the old one back to its old prompt. A template clicked while something with a picture is open asks the same question.

How do I stop working on a project without deleting it?

Press Close project (Stepped Layers) or Close scene (Landscape), beside the name at the top left. The studio clears, and this browser sends nothing more that would change it — in any tab — until you choose it again from the picker. It stays saved exactly as it was. A reload leaves the studio empty rather than opening another project in its place, and a closed project can still be deleted from the picker. Otherwise a reload reopens whatever you last had open.

How do I delete a project?

Open the project picker at the top left of the studio, hover over the row, and press the trash icon at its end. The row asks Delete for good? — press Delete to go ahead, or Keep (or Escape) to leave it. Once deleted there is no undo, so save a copy first if there is any chance you will want it back. It works the same in both studios. A project or scene whose picture is still being generated cannot be deleted until the picture arrives - the studio says so - because the picture has been paid for by then and deleting would only throw it away.

Is there a limit to how many projects I can keep?

Yes, though it is far past what anybody keeps: an account holds up to 500 Stepped Layers projects, 500 Landscape scenes, 100 photos in Vectorize a Photo and 500 3D projects. At the limit, making, opening or reopening another says so; delete ones you no longer need and it makes room straight away. Save a copy first of anything you might want back.

Can I keep a copy on my computer and open it again later?

Yes. In Stepped Layers, Save project.json in the bottom bar saves the project's settings, and Download All (.zip) saves everything including the picture; Open project reopens either. In Landscape it is Save scene.json, Download All (.zip) and Open scene — see Finishing and exporting. Opening a file never replaces your saved work: while the project or scene it was saved from is still there, the file opens as a copy beside it, with "(copy)" after the name, and the copy takes its picture from the original — and its layers or sheets as well, when they are still the ones the file was saved with. Otherwise build the copy again; it is the same picture, so that is free. If the original has been cleaned with different settings since the file was saved, the copy is cleaned again from its picture first - also free - rather than taking the mask in the .zip, which is used only for a project that is gone. A line under the steps says what the copy came back with, and why when something did not come across. Only one that has been deleted comes back as itself, and then only the .zip brings its picture back: a bare .json file brings back the settings and asks for a picture. Open project takes a .zip of up to 50 MB and a project.json of up to 64 MB - twice what a project with 2,700 openings saves. Of a .zip it reads only the project.json, the picture and the cleaned mask, and the picture is held to the same limits as an upload; the cut files in it are made again from the project. Open scene takes a .zip of up to 50 MB, and its scene.json - in the .zip or on its own - may be up to 1 MB; the studio saves one of a few tens of kilobytes.

Can I share a project with a friend, or send them a link?

There is no share link. The cut files are yours to send to anybody — the SVGs from the download open in any laser software. The project itself stays with the account that made it: a saved project or scene file opened on somebody else's account is refused, so a friend who wants to change the design needs to make their own.

Generate Source is greyed out.

Either you are signed out, or you have run out of credits and have no OpenAI key of your own added. The button says which. No plan is needed: buy a credit pack on your account page, or add a key there and generate on that instead.

I added my own OpenAI key and generating still fails.

The key needs access to gpt-image-2 - the image model this studio calls - and, for Pen & ink in Vectorize a Photo, to gpt-5 through OpenAI's Responses API (a restricted key needs Responses set to Write). Line art and every refinement need only gpt-image-2. A key is valid on its own account and still cannot reach a model that account has not enabled, and a new OpenAI account usually has no billing set up yet, which refuses image calls whatever the key says. The message shown is OpenAI’s own refusal passed through, so it is worth reading rather than skipping: it names which of the two it is. Nothing is spent here either way - a call that never happened costs no credits.

If it says OpenAI did not accept your API key, the key was revoked or deleted: replace it where you added it - your account page on the website, Settings in the Windows app. If it says the OpenAI account has no quota left or has reached its billing limit, add billing or raise the limit at platform.openai.com. Either way, removing the key is the way back to credits: your credits are never used in its place while it is there.

Generate says picture generation is not available right now.

Pictures made on credits run on our own account with the image service, and that account cannot make pictures just then - the service refused it, for instance because its balance ran out, or we have paused it ourselves. It is nothing about your picture or your settings, nothing was charged, and we are told automatically the moment it happens. The Landscape depth map and the photo studio's AI styles say the same and wait on the same account; uploading a picture or a depth map of your own, and the photo dither, still work. Try again later. If you have your own OpenAI key, adding it on your account page makes pictures run on it instead, which does not go through our account.

Generate Layers says it costs 250 credits.

You are on pay as you go and this picture has not been built before. The first build of a picture costs 250 credits; every rebuild of the same picture, with any settings, is free. The Studio plan includes every build.

My trial has ended. What am I on now?

Pay as you go, and we emailed you to say so. The 3 days of Studio are up, and rather than waiting for you to choose, the account simply lands on the tier that costs nothing a month. Nothing has been deleted and nothing has been charged: every project, scene, export and credit is still there, the studio is still open, and bringing in your own images and artwork still costs nothing.

What changes is that a build costs credits again - 250 the first time each picture is built on Pay as you go, including one you already built during the trial - builds in the trial were included rather than paid for - and every rebuild of it after that is free. The trial's 120 credits are less than one build, so that is the thing to know before you make a picture you cannot yet turn into layers; a pack tops them up, and credits from a pack never expire.

Studio is still there whenever you want every build included, and choosing it is the same plan you have been using. You can also keep Studio during the trial, which costs nothing on the day.

It says I have no credits but I just paid.

Credits arrive when your payment confirms, which is usually seconds but can take a moment longer. Reload the page. If it persists past a few minutes, write to us with the email you paid with. Paid by bank debit rather than by card, they arrive when your bank confirms the payment, which can take a few working days - and if the debit does not go through, none arrive and nothing is owed.

Generate Layers is taking minutes. Is it stuck?

Probably not. Building a stack is real geometry rather than a progress bar over a download, and a detailed mandala at a large canvas size takes a few minutes on its own. The panel over the canvas counts the seconds and says roughly how long this one usually takes; it will finish on its own. Closing the tab does not stop it: the build carries on on the server, and when you open the project again the studio picks the wait back up and shows the stack when it is done. The project list waits while it builds; to work on another project meanwhile, press Close project first and open the other one - the build carries on just the same.

It says “Waiting for the server”. What am I waiting for?

Somebody else's stack. The server builds a limited number at once — running more together makes every one of them slower rather than getting anyone finished sooner — so when they are all busy, yours starts as they finish. The panel says how many are ahead of you and how many the server runs at a time, and your build starts on its own when its turn comes. Nothing is charged for waiting. On Pay as you go the first build of a new picture costs 250 credits whether it waits or not, and every rebuild after that is free; on Studio every build is included. One account can have three builds waiting to start at once — Generate Layers and Build Scene together — so that nobody's queue fills up with one person's; a fourth is turned away, uncharged, with a note to let one start first. Asking again for a build that is already waiting does not queue a second one. And if the whole line is ever full — a hundred builds waiting, which would be hours — a new one is turned away with a note to try again in a few minutes; nothing is charged and nothing in your project is changed. A build is of the picture that was there when you pressed the button: replace the picture while it waits, or while it builds, and it stops without making layers and is not charged - build again for the new one.

It says feature picking needs one more Rebuild Layers.

Clicking a shape on the canvas to change which layer it appears on needs a small invisible map of where each shape is, and that map is written when the stack is built. Projects built before the studio started saving it do not have one yet, and it is not worth several minutes of building to draw something you cannot see. Everything else works normally — the layers, the check, the download. Press Rebuild Layers once when you next have a reason to, and picking comes back for good.

My layers look nothing like my picture.

The mask is almost always the cause. Go back to Clean Artwork and look at the black-and-white preview — see Cleaning the artwork.

Part of my design came out solid - a head or a face has gone.

Look at Border first. Under Frame or Circle the background around the design is wood, and so is any background that reaches into it from outside, so detail drawn against that background joins the frame and is not cut. Only openings closed on every side are. When this is happening the first of the build's notes says so - they are listed at the foot of the Clean Artwork step. Set the border to Open frame to keep a frame with the background cut away, or to Outline for a piece cut round the design with no frame, and press Rebuild Layers - it is free - and the detail comes back. If it is only small specks that are missing, that is Min feature size instead — see Your material.

The check keeps failing on the same thing.

Read what it is measuring against. Most findings are compared to the minimums in Build quality, and those are numbers you set — see Reading the check.

The sheets do not line up.

Import scaling. Check that every sheet came in at the same width as the canvas width you set, and turn off any “fit to page” option in your cutting software.

Small pieces keep burning away.

Raise Min feature size in Build quality and rebuild. If it only happens on one machine, it is a power and speed problem rather than a design one.

What should I send you?

The contact form takes attachments — up to three files, 10 MB in total. The most useful one by far is the project itself: in the studio, Save project.json writes a single file with every setting and the traced geometry in it. Nearly every problem we have chased has turned out to be a geometry question, and answering one without that file is guesswork. Photographs of the cut and screenshots help too. Support can also open your account to see the studio as you see it, your saved projects included; that needs no password from you, and each time is recorded. Looking at your account that way cannot change your plan, open your billing details or change your OpenAI key. The form takes a few messages at a time from one connection; if it ever asks you to wait, email hello@mandalalayers.com directly instead.

How do I get my piece into the gallery?

Send us a photograph of it. The gallery page has a Send us a photo button that opens an email to us. Tell us the material, how many layers and how big it is - the three things everybody asks - and whether you would like your name on it.

Is there somewhere to talk to other makers?

Yes: our community group on Facebook. Post what you have cut, ask other people with a laser about materials, settings and finishing, and hear about new features first. It is linked as Community at the top of the site on a wide screen, at the foot of every page, and in the menu under your name. It is a place to talk, not the way to reach support: for anything about your account, a bill or something that is not working, use the contact form, because posts in the group are public.

How quickly will you answer?

Within two working days, and usually much sooner. The contact page says the same and has the address to use if something is urgent.

How do I change my email address or delete my account?

Neither has a button yet. Write to us through the contact form, from the account's current address if you can, and say what you need. Deleting an account removes it and everything in it: a plan on it ends that day - your card is not charged again, and no refund is given for the rest of the period - and its projects, scenes, photos, 3D projects and assistant conversations are deleted. What is kept is the record of what was bought and spent, which tax rules require, a Windows app licence key, which goes on working, and any bug report the assistant filed, which is an email to us and is kept like one. The privacy page says how we handle that request.

Do I need an account to write in?

No. The form works signed out, which matters because the people most likely to need it are the ones who cannot sign in. If you are signed in we can see which account you are, which makes a billing question answerable immediately.

I want to change my plan.

Do it on the pricing page. Moving up happens immediately and shows you the figure first; moving down waits until the month you have paid for runs out. Neither loses your work.

What is the difference between monthly and yearly?

Only the price. Yearly costs ten months for twelve — two months free — and the whole year is charged once on the day you start. Everything in the studio is the same. The toggle on the pricing page switches what the card shows.

Does the subscription include credits?

No. It opens the whole studio as it is today — every stack style available now, every layer count, every export, unlimited uploads, and the geometry rebuilding as often as you like. Generating a picture is the only thing that costs per use, so credits are bought separately, in packs, whenever you want them. They do not expire. If you would rather not buy any, add your own OpenAI key on your account page and generation runs on that instead.

Can I switch from monthly to yearly?

Yes, on the pricing page: set the toggle to Yearly and subscribe. The year is charged today, less credit for whatever is left of the month you have already paid for, and your renewal date becomes today. The dialog shows the exact figure before anything is charged.

Can I switch from yearly back to monthly?

Not part-way through the year. You have paid for that year and it keeps running — no refund or partial refund is given, which is the same rule as moving down a plan. Choose monthly when the year ends, or cancel and it simply will not renew. If the year has a long way to run and something has gone wrong, write to us rather than waiting it out.

My card was declined. Have I lost access?

Not straight away. The studio keeps working for two weeks from the first failed payment, on the credits you already have. Update your card on the account page and it clears immediately. We email you again a few days before those two weeks are up, naming the date, so the deadline cannot pass while you are not looking. After two weeks the studio closes until it is settled; nothing is deleted, and your projects and remaining credits are waiting when you come back. Settle it by updating the card, not by choosing Studio again on the pricing page: your subscription is still open while the payment is being retried, and a second one would charge you twice - so the pricing page sends you to the card instead. If you would rather stop, Cancel on the account page ends the plan there and then: the payment that failed is not tried again, and you carry on Pay as you go with the studio open. The same happens by itself if the card is never settled and the payment provider stops trying.

I was charged after cancelling.

You should not have been. Send us the date and the amount and we will look at it the same day.