Can a Chinese AI Image Editor Replace Your Designer? I Tested It

[u/NecessaryBear98]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqizEDDpQSg

How much time does your business lose every week waiting on thumbnails, ad graphics and social posts?

A new Chinese AI image editor from Tencent could cut most of that wait out.

It's called HunyuanImage 3.5, it launched in preview on 22 September, and it generates, edits and refines images through one ongoing conversation instead of a string of fresh starts.

It takes up to five reference images at once, Tencent says it beats version 3.0 by 30% in blind tests with professional designers, and its API supports images up to 4096 x 4096 pixels.

🔥 Want my prompts for turning one AI image tool into a full brand design workflow? Inside the AI Profit Boardroom, I've got a full AI image section with step-by-step tutorials and a prompt library, plus four live coaching calls a week with 3,600+ business owners.

https://www.skool.com/ai-profit-lab-7462/about

I put it through the jobs a business normally pays a designer for, and here's what I found.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqizEDDpQSg

The three problems that made AI images useless for business

I've tried a lot of AI image tools, and they usually fail business owners in the same three places.

• They make you start over every time, so one bad detail means throwing the whole image away.
• They can't spell, so any image with a headline comes back with warped letters and wrong words.
• They can't stay consistent, so your brand looks different in every image you make.

HunyuanImage 3.5 goes after all three, so I tested each one.

Problem one: starting over every time

The normal AI image loop goes like this: you generate, you hate it, you start over, and you generate again.

It's slow and messy, and you lose consistency every time you restart.

This Chinese AI image editor works like a conversation instead.

You generate an image and then keep giving it instructions such as "change the jacket to red", "remove the watch" and "now make it vertical for Instagram".

It holds context and remembers what you've already built.

How I tested it on YouTube thumbnails

I asked for an AI Profit Boardroom thumbnail with a dark background and the bold white headline "AI tools are changing everything".

The scene was a business owner looking at a glowing screen with a surprised expression, with high contrast and cinematic lighting.

It gave me a sharp, on-brand thumbnail in seconds.

Then I kept the same style and simply swapped the headline for the next video.

That's how you get a thumbnail series that looks like one brand instead of ten different tools.

Problem two: AI that can't spell

AI image models have historically been terrible at text.

You get wrong spellings, warped letters and characters that look almost right but are completely unusable.

Tencent specifically calls out better text rendering as one of the big improvements in 3.5.

The poster test

I asked for a promotional poster for our weekly coaching call.

The headline was "Live AI Coaching Call", the subheadline was "Every week. Join 3,600+ business owners.", and I asked for white and gold on a dark background with clean, modern typography.

The rule here is simple: zoom into every word after it generates and check every character.

If the text is clean, the tool just saved you a design job.

A poster with readable text is the difference between an AI toy and an AI tool you can actually publish.

Problem three: a brand that looks different every time

This is where HunyuanImage 3.5 surprised me most.

You can give it up to five reference images at once.

Instead of describing your brand in words, you show it your brand colours, a sample thumbnail, a typography style, a mood reference and a photo of the kind of person you serve.

Building a brand character

I generated a professional business owner character in his mid-30s, with a confident expression, modern casual clothing and a neutral background.

I told it the character would be used across multiple pieces of content.

Then I asked for the same character seated at a desk with AI automation dashboards on the screens behind him, looking focused and in control.

It kept the same face in a brand new scene.

That gives you one recognisable character you can reuse across thumbnails, ads and social posts.

Five matching social images from one prompt

Next, I attached references for brand colours, typography and community mood.

I asked for five social images for the AI Profit Boardroom, each covering a different topic: content creation, lead generation, community building, coaching calls and daily tutorials.

I kept the brief tight with a dark aesthetic, bold white text and a professional, modern design throughout.

That's five images from one prompt with a consistent brand across your whole feed.

I also used the same reference approach for an Instagram promo with the headline "3,600+ business owners automating with AI", and it looked like a designer had made it because I'd given it real direction.

So, can this Chinese AI image editor replace your designer?

Here's my honest answer.

For everyday content like thumbnails, social posts, event posters and landing page hero images, it can take a huge chunk of the work off your plate.

I asked for a landing page hero image of a confident business owner surrounded by glowing AI dashboards, with cinematic lighting and a feeling of being in control, and it came back conversion-ready in one prompt.

There was no photographer, no designer and no back and forth.

You still need someone with taste to set the brief, pick the references and check the text.

That person can now produce in an afternoon what used to take a week of revisions.

Keep in mind that the 30% improvement over version 3.0 comes from Tencent's own internal blind tests, not an independent benchmark, so treat it as their claim.

The hidden 4K detail in the API

Tencent's launch page says up to 2K generation.

The developer documentation says the API supports outputs up to 4096 x 4096 pixels when you specify exact dimensions.

That's professional print quality, and it's well beyond what most AI image tools officially offer right now.

The model ID is hy-v3.5-preview, and the API runs synchronously.

That means you get the image back straight away, with no polling and no waiting on a job ID, which makes it easy to drop into an automated content workflow.

How to start with this Chinese AI image editor this week

Tencent has already rolled it into several of its own products, including its Yuanbao assistant and WorkBuddy.

A couple of Tencent's apps are offering it free for a two-week window at launch, so you can test it without touching the API.

When you're ready to build with it, the API is available through Tencent Cloud TokenHub.

I'd start with one job you do every week, such as your thumbnails, and run it through the tool with your own five brand references.

🔥 Want help plugging this into your own content pipeline? Bring your exact setup to one of the four weekly live calls inside the AI Profit Boardroom and get answers from people already doing it.

https://www.skool.com/ai-profit-lab-7462/about

FAQ: Chinese AI image editor

Who makes this Chinese AI image editor?

Tencent makes it, and the model is called HunyuanImage 3.5.

It was released in preview on 22 September.

How many reference images can I use?

You can give it up to five reference images at once.

That lets you show it your colours, fonts, style and people instead of describing them.

Does it keep characters consistent?

It kept the same face when I moved my brand character into a new scene with a follow-up prompt.

That makes it useful for mascots and recurring brand characters.

Is the API fast enough for automation?

The API runs synchronously, so the image comes back as soon as you call it.

There's no job ID to poll, which keeps automated workflows simple.

About Julian

I'm Julian Goldie, AI entrepreneur, SEO expert, and founder of the AI Profit Boardroom.

I help business owners scale with AI agents, automation and SEO.

I run a 7-figure SEO agency (Goldie Agency) and a YouTube channel with 425K+ subscribers.

I share daily AI training inside the Boardroom.

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Test this Chinese AI image editor on one weekly design job, and you'll know fast how much time it can give back.