Magic Layers

Magic Layers is an AI tool that takes a flat PNG or JPEG and splits it into separate, editable layers. Upload a finished graphic and it hands back the text, the subjects, the decorative elements and the background as individual transparent PNGs, each with a name, a short description and its original position, so the pieces drop back into Figma, Photoshop, Canva or a slide deck where they were. The problem it solves is the one every marketing team eventually hits, where a visual exists but its project file doesn't, because the source was never shared, was lost, or was made by someone who has since moved on.

The process has three steps. You upload an image of at least 512 by 512 pixels, which is downscaled automatically if it's over 10 MB. You pick a target layer count between 2 and 15 and can describe how you'd like it separated, for example keeping the headline and the product as their own layers. The model, which the about page identifies as ByteDance's Seedream running through the Volcano Engine Ark service, analyses the composition and segments it, and you review the results, check placement and download the layers. The service runs on Cloudflare Workers with D1 and R2 behind it, keeps source images for seven days, and doesn't store the generated layers at all.

What you do with the layers is up to your editor. Each one is a transparent PNG with its original position recorded, so placing them back on a canvas at the same coordinates reassembles the source, and moving, scaling or deleting any one of them is then ordinary layer editing in Figma, Photoshop, Canva or a slide tool. The name and description on each layer make a stack of a dozen files navigable, which matters when the separation returns more pieces than you expected, and since the layers themselves aren't stored, the download is the copy you keep.

It's aimed at marketing teams, social media creators, presentation designers, game and UI developers, e-commerce sellers and design students, which is a long list that shares one need, reusing a graphic they can't open in its native editor. A campaign banner that needs a new headline, a product shot that should move to a different background, or an old poster that wants a refresh are the typical jobs, and each of them is faster when the elements arrive already separated.

Where it differs from a background remover is scope. A remover gives you a subject and a hole. Magic Layers tries to separate every major element, and it lets you say how many pieces you want and what they should be. It's also candid about what it isn't. The output is transparent raster PNGs, not a recovered Photoshop, Figma or Illustrator document, so text comes back as pixels rather than editable type. The target count is approximate, high-contrast graphic images separate better than soft photographic ones, and the provider rejects some inputs, including copyright-protected and adult material. The site also notes that separating an image grants no rights to the underlying artwork.

Compared with the alternatives, the pitch is time. Rebuilding a graphic by hand from a flat export means retyping the headline, masking the product and repainting the background, an hour for a designer and a non-starter for a marketer, and a background remover gets you a third of the way. Magic Layers aims to get most of the way in one upload, with the honest caveat that text arrives as pixels and complex photographic scenes may need a second pass or a manual cleanup. The limits worth weighing are the subscription-only pricing, since no free trial or free credits are mentioned, and the dependence on a third-party model whose behaviour the service can't fully control. It's independently built and operated and states plainly that it has no affiliation with Adobe, Figma or Canva. As a young product, the track record is short, and the quality of a separation is something to judge on your own images rather than the examples.

Access is paid. Basic is $29 a month for 400 credits, Pro is $79 for 1,200 and Studio is $149 for 2,400, and every layer returned costs two credits, so the tiers work out to roughly 200, 600 and 1,200 layers a month. You're billed only for the layers you actually receive, failed jobs aren't charged, and there are no upfront holds. One-time credit packs exist for occasional use, and monthly plans can be cancelled at any time. Getting started means picking a plan and uploading a first image, and the about page notes that high-contrast, graphic compositions separate best and that the layer count is a target rather than a promise. Questions go to contact@magiclayers.net.