Rendering

Pictify renders HTML/CSS templates to various output formats. This page covers rendering options, formats, and optimization.

Output Formats

Images

Format	Extension	Best For	Transparency
PNG	`.png`	Screenshots, graphics with transparency	Yes
JPEG	`.jpg`	Photos, smaller file sizes	No
WebP	`.webp`	Modern browsers, best compression	Yes

Documents

Format	Extension	Best For
PDF	`.pdf`	Print, documents, multi-page content

Animated

Format	Extension	Best For
GIF	`.gif`	Animations, short loops

Rendering Options

Dimensions

const image = await pictify.renderHtml({
  html: '<h1>Hello</h1>',
  width: 1200,    // Output width in pixels (default: 1280)
  height: 630,    // Output height in pixels (default: 720)
});

Maximum dimensions: 4000x4000 pixels for authenticated users, 2000x2000 for public/trial.

Format

renderHtml writes a PNG by default. Set format to choose the output type — it maps to the /image endpoint’s fileExtension:

const image = await pictify.renderHtml({
  html: '<h1>Hello</h1>',
  format: 'jpeg'   // 'png' | 'jpg' | 'jpeg' | 'webp' | 'pdf' (default: png)
});

The /image endpoint does not expose a quality knob. To control raster compression, render through a template (pictify.render({ templateId, quality }), where quality is 0.1–1.0).

Selector

Capture a specific element instead of the full page:

const image = await pictify.renderHtml({
  html: '<div><header>...</header><main id="content">Target</main></div>',
  selector: '#content'  // Only capture this element
});

Image Generation

From HTML

const image = await pictify.renderHtml({
  html: `
    <div style="width: 1200px; height: 630px; background: #667eea;">
      <h1 style="color: white;">Hello World</h1>
    </div>
  `,
  width: 1200,
  height: 630
});

console.log(image.url);

From URL

Capture a screenshot of any URL:

const screenshot = await pictify.renderUrl({
  url: 'https://example.com/page',
  width: 1200,
  height: 630
});

console.log(screenshot.url);

From Template

Render a saved template with variables:

const result = await pictify.render({
  templateId: 'template-id',
  variables: {
    title: 'Dynamic Content'
  }
});

// Access the rendered image (result.url is a convenience accessor for results[0].url)
console.log(result.url);
console.log(result.results[0].url);

Layout Variants

Templates can have multiple layout variants for different platforms (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Instagram). Render a specific layout or multiple layouts at once:

// Render a specific layout
const single = await pictify.render({
  templateId: 'template-id',
  variables: { title: 'Hello' },
  layout: 'twitter-post'
});

// Render multiple layouts in one request (max 20)
const result = await pictify.renderLayouts({
  templateId: 'template-id',
  variables: { title: 'Hello' },
  layouts: ['default', 'twitter-post', 'facebook-post']
});

// Each layout is a separate result
result.results.forEach(r => {
  console.log(`${r.name} (${r.width}x${r.height}): ${r.url}`);
});

The default layout is the base template. Use the layout key (e.g., twitter-post, facebook-post) to render a specific variant. Layout keys are set when creating variants via the AI Resize feature in the editor.

From Canvas Data

Render FabricJS canvas data directly via the POST /image/canvas REST endpoint. The SDKs don’t wrap this endpoint, so call it with your HTTP client of choice:

curl -X POST https://api.pictify.io/image/canvas \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "engine": "fabric",
    "fabricJSData": {
      "version": "5.3.0",
      "objects": [
        { "type": "rect", "fill": "#667eea", "width": 1200, "height": 630 },
        { "type": "textbox", "text": "Hello", "fill": "white", "top": 100, "left": 100 }
      ]
    },
    "variables": { "greeting": "Hello World" },
    "width": 1200,
    "height": 630
  }'

See the Create Canvas Image reference for the full request schema.

GIF Generation

From HTML Animation

Capture CSS animations:

const gif = await pictify.renderGif({
  html: `
    <div class="animated">
      <style>
        @keyframes fade { 0% { opacity: 0; } 100% { opacity: 1; } }
        .animated { animation: fade 2s infinite; }
      </style>
      <h1>Animated Text</h1>
    </div>
  `,
  width: 600,
  height: 400
});

console.log(gif.url, gif.animationLength);

From a Live URL

Record motion on a live page:

const gif = await pictify.renderGif({
  url: 'https://example.com/animated-page',
  width: 800,
  height: 600,
  quality: 'high'   // 'low' | 'medium' | 'high' (default: medium)
});

Quality Presets

Preset	Frame Rate	Max Duration	File Size
`low`	10 fps	10s	Small
`medium`	15 fps	15s	Medium
`high`	24 fps	30s	Large

PDF Generation

From a Template (SDK)

The quickest way to produce a PDF is to render a template with format: 'pdf':

const result = await pictify.render({
  templateId: 'invoice-template',
  variables: {
    invoiceNumber: 'INV-001',
  },
  format: 'pdf'
});

console.log(result.url);

Paper Sizes & Multi-Page (REST)

The dedicated PDF endpoints (POST /pdf/render and POST /pdf/multi-page) accept paper-size presets, margins, and per-page content. The SDKs don’t wrap these directly, so call them with your HTTP client:

# Single page with a paper-size preset and margins
curl -X POST https://api.pictify.io/pdf/render \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "templateUid": "invoice-template",
    "variables": { "invoiceNumber": "INV-001" },
    "preset": "A4",
    "margins": { "top": 20, "bottom": 20, "left": 20, "right": 20 }
  }'

# Multi-page: one page per variable set
curl -X POST https://api.pictify.io/pdf/multi-page \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "templateUid": "report-template",
    "variableSets": [
      { "pageTitle": "Introduction", "content": "..." },
      { "pageTitle": "Chapter 1", "content": "..." },
      { "pageTitle": "Conclusion", "content": "..." }
    ],
    "preset": "A4"
  }'

See the PDF Generation reference for all options.

PDF Presets

Preset	Dimensions	Use Case
`A4`	210 × 297 mm	Standard documents
`Letter`	8.5 × 11 in	US letter size
`Legal`	8.5 × 14 in	Legal documents
`A3`	297 × 420 mm	Larger documents
`A5`	148 × 210 mm	Booklets
`custom`	User-defined	Custom sizes

# Custom PDF size
curl -X POST https://api.pictify.io/pdf/render \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "templateUid": "template-id",
    "preset": "custom",
    "customSize": { "width": 800, "height": 600 }
  }'

Screenshot a Section of a Page

To capture a specific region of a live page, screenshot the URL and crop to an element with selector:

const screenshot = await pictify.renderUrl({
  url: 'https://stripe.com/pricing',
  selector: '#pricing',   // crop to this element
  width: 1200,
  height: 630
});

console.log(screenshot.url);

Prefer natural language? The Pictify MCP server lets AI agents request screenshots conversationally — the SDKs themselves expose the direct renderUrl call shown above.

Response Format

The template render endpoint always returns a results array, even for single-layout renders:

{
  "results": [
    {
      "layout": "default",
      "name": "Default",
      "url": "https://cdn.pictify.io/renders/abc123.png",
      "width": 1200,
      "height": 630,
      "format": "png",
      "id": "abc123"
    }
  ],
  "errors": [],
  "totalLayouts": 1,
  "totalRendered": 1,
  "totalErrors": 0,
  "templateUid": "TEMPLATE_UID"
}

Multi-layout response:

{
  "results": [
    {
      "layout": "default",
      "name": "Default",
      "url": "https://cdn.pictify.io/renders/abc123.png",
      "width": 1080,
      "height": 1080,
      "format": "png"
    },
    {
      "layout": "twitter-post",
      "name": "Twitter/X Post",
      "url": "https://cdn.pictify.io/renders/def456.png",
      "width": 1200,
      "height": 675,
      "format": "png"
    }
  ],
  "errors": [],
  "totalLayouts": 2,
  "totalRendered": 2,
  "totalErrors": 0,
  "templateUid": "TEMPLATE_UID"
}

Other render endpoints (HTML, URL, GIF) return:

{
  "url": "https://cdn.pictify.io/renders/abc123.png",
  "id": "abc123",
  "width": 1200,
  "height": 630,
  "createdAt": "2026-01-29T10:30:00Z"
}

User Storage

If you’ve configured user storage (S3, R2, etc.), renders are also uploaded to your storage:

{
  "url": "https://cdn.pictify.io/renders/abc123.png",
  "userStorageUrl": "https://your-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/abc123.png"
}

Batch Rendering

Render many variable sets from a single template. Batch rendering is asynchronous: submitting returns immediately with a batchId, and the job runs in the background.

Request

const job = await pictify.renderBatch({
  templateId: 'product-card',
  variableSets: [
    { title: 'Card 1' },
    { title: 'Card 2' },
  ], // max 100 per batch
  layouts: ['default', 'twitter-post'], // optional; or `layout: 'square'`
});

// { batchId, status, totalItems }
console.log(job.batchId);

Pass layout (string) for a single variant, or layouts (array) for multiple variants per item.

Tracking Progress

Poll getBatchResults(batchId) to track status. The poll response reports per-item index, success, and variables — but not rendered URLs:

{
  "batchId": "batch_abc123",
  "status": "completed",
  "progress": 100,
  "totalItems": 2,
  "completedItems": 2,
  "failedItems": 0,
  "results": [
    { "index": 0, "success": true, "variables": ["title"] },
    { "index": 1, "success": true, "variables": ["title"] }
  ],
  "errors": []
}

const status = await pictify.getBatchResults(job.batchId);
console.log(status.status, status.completedItems, 'of', status.totalItems);
for (const item of status.results) {
  console.log(`item ${item.index}: success=${item.success}`);
}

Rendered URLs are not returned by the poll endpoint. Final image URLs are delivered via the render.completed webhook — subscribe to webhooks to collect batch output. See the Batch Processing guide for the full workflow.

Performance Tips

Use appropriate dimensions - Don’t render larger than needed
Choose the right format - JPEG for photos, PNG for graphics, WebP for best compression
Tune template quality - for template renders, quality 0.9 is usually indistinguishable from 1.0
Batch similar renders - Use batch rendering for many images from one template
Cache rendered images - Store URLs and reuse instead of re-rendering

​Rendering

​Output Formats

​Images

​Documents

​Animated

​Rendering Options

​Dimensions

​Format

​Selector

​Image Generation

​From HTML

​From URL

​From Template

​Layout Variants

​From Canvas Data

​GIF Generation

​From HTML Animation

​From a Live URL

​Quality Presets

​PDF Generation

​From a Template (SDK)

​Paper Sizes & Multi-Page (REST)

​PDF Presets

​Screenshot a Section of a Page

​Response Format

​User Storage

​Batch Rendering

​Request

​Tracking Progress

​Performance Tips

Rendering

Output Formats

Images

Documents

Animated

Rendering Options

Dimensions

Format

Selector

Image Generation

From HTML

From URL

From Template

Layout Variants

From Canvas Data

GIF Generation

From HTML Animation

From a Live URL

Quality Presets

PDF Generation

From a Template (SDK)

Paper Sizes & Multi-Page (REST)

PDF Presets

Screenshot a Section of a Page

Response Format

User Storage

Batch Rendering

Request

Tracking Progress

Performance Tips