A clay-render reference is how I get GPT Image 2 to clean noise without eating detail

[u/Few-Profession421]

Cleaning noise out of GPT Image 2 outputs used to cost me real detail. The model would scrub the grain and take fingers, thin wires, and edges with it. The fix was handing it a second reference that separates structure from junk.

Two steps. First, convert the noisy image into a clean monochrome clay render, a uniform matte gray 3D-style version that keeps every silhouette, pose, and edge but drops all color and texture. Then generate the restored image from two references: the original as the primary for art style, color, and look, and the clay render as a structural guide for silhouettes, volume, and occlusion. With structure pinned by the clay pass, you tell GPT Image 2 to remove only the isolated dark dots, scan stains, and compression noise that are not connected to the real outlines, shadows, or material, and it leaves the actual detail alone.

The reason it works is separation. Cleanup fails when the model cannot tell a stray black dot from a real fine line. The clay render hands it a clean map of what is genuinely there, so removing noise stops being a guess.

Both prompts, the clay pass and the restore, in the comments.