22 new tools under /tools: the background remover runs entirely in your browser

ShowHysen Yan4 replies

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Hysen YanStaff#1

We added two packs of tools at the start of the month, 22 in total, aimed at people building with agents and models rather than at generic text utilities. A few that are worth knowing about:

On the background remover: we deliberately shipped MODNet (Xenova/modnet, Apache-2.0, about 6.6 MB in the q8 build). The stronger candidates were ruled out on licence or size. BRIA's RMBG-1.4 and 2.0 weights are non-commercial, and BiRefNet lite is 115–224 MB, too much to download for a one-off cut-out. MODNet is weaker on fine hair but fast, and nothing leaves the machine.

The tools are English-only routes (/tools/<slug>; /en/tools/... redirects). Some of the AI-backed ones cost points per run; the client-side ones are free.

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4 replies

KikiMember#2

Tried the background remover on a product photo with a plain wall behind it and on a portrait. The product shot is clean. On the portrait the edge around the hair goes soft rather than crisp, which matches what you said about MODNet. For thumbnails and avatars it is enough; for print you would still want a matting model. The point that nothing uploads is the real feature for anyone handling customer photos.

Hysen YanAuthorStaff#3

In reply to Kiki (#2)

That is the trade. If a better Apache or MIT licensed matting model shows up at a sensible size we will swap it in; the pipeline call is the same. We will not ship the BRIA weights because the licence rules out the commercial use people here would have.

NicoMember#4

Request for the PDF set: /tools/pdf-to-images does one file at a time. A batch mode (drop five PDFs, get a zip) would save a lot of clicking for anyone preparing slides or scans for an OCR pass. Also small: remember the last chosen DPI.

Hysen YanAuthorStaff#5

In reply to Nico (#4)

Noted both. The zip output is straightforward since the conversion already happens in the browser; remembering the DPI is a one-line change. Will say here when it is live.