What generation still gets wrong
Knowing the failure modes is worth more than knowing the capabilities. The capabilities are obvious from any demo; the failures are specific, consistent, and expensive if they reach a product page.
Text and logos
Any text that is part of the product, such as packaging copy, ingredient lists, model numbers and brand marks, is where generation fails most visibly. It produces plausible letterforms that are not words, or words that are not yours. For anything with printed packaging, the source photograph has to carry the text and generation must not be allowed to redraw it.
Fine repeated structure
Stitching, knit patterns, mesh, engraving, threads on a screw, teeth on a zip. Models approximate repetition rather than reproducing it, and the result reads as close enough until a buyer zooms in, which is what buyers do on the products where this matters.
Functional geometry
Hinges, ports, mechanisms, how a strap actually attaches, how many holes a buckle has. These are the details that determine whether the product works for the buyer’s purpose, and getting them subtly wrong is worse than showing them poorly, because it looks authoritative.
The common thread is that generation is weakest where a buyer’s decision is made. Those are the high-information parts of the image, and they are the ones a model has least reason to preserve.
Colour fidelity
Relighting shifts colour. A garment described as "sage" that renders one step toward grey is a returns problem, not a design problem. Where colour is a purchase criterion, check generated output against the physical product or a colour-managed reference, not against the source file.
Scale
A product in a generated scene has no inherent size. Models routinely produce a bottle the size of a lamp or a cushion the size of a bed. Where scale matters, include a known reference object or state dimensions in the listing and do not rely on the image to communicate it.
How to structure around it
- Photograph the product once, properly. That is the ground truth for everything downstream.
- Let generation change light, background and context, never the product’s own surface detail.
- Route categories with heavy printed packaging or fine texture to corrective editing only.
- Keep a "never generate" list. Some categories are not worth the review cost.