Settings Cheat Sheet

Quick lookup of defaults, ranges, and when to change each setting. Full per-model context lives in the Model catalog.

Universal settings (Mago video models)

Defaults and ranges below reflect the current model configs: universal settings from Mago V5, Character settings from Mago V4, Upscaler settings from the Mago upscaler model.

Setting	Default	Range	When to change
Output size	1280	512–1920	Lower for testing. Higher for final delivery. 1280 is the sweet spot.
Steps	4	4–20	More for sharper detail (costs more). Lower for rougher styles.
Interpolation	Off	Off/On	On for cheaper, faster renders. Off for detail-critical work. Exception: Mago Inpaint defaults to On (less flicker in the masked region).
Image sequence export	PNG	PNG / EXR 16-bit	EXR for professional VFX pipelines.
Prompt strength	1	0.5–6	Lower if the prompt over-influences. Higher if the model ignores it.
Seed	42	0–4294967295	Fix to reproduce a specific result.
Context size	150	24–300	Lower for high movement. Higher for static.
Context overlap	10	0–24	Lower for high movement. Higher for slow shots.
Dynamic reference	On	On/Off	Off only for very static shots.
Accelerator	1	0–1	Lower for more natural, detailed output; higher for faster renders.

Mago Character specific

Setting	Default	When to change
Pose strength	1	Range 0.5–1.5. Lower for exact tracking. Higher for stylistic freedom.
Face strength	1	Range 0.5–1.5. Lower for precise expression replication. Higher for stylized.
Grow face mask	50	Range 0–200. Increase to include overlapping features (big eyebrows, long chin).
Relight	1	Range 0–1.5. Lower toward 0 to keep the reference lighting; higher adapts to the background.
Color correction	Off	Turn on if render colors become over-saturated or over-exposed.
Masking threshold	0.3	Replacement mode only. Lower (→0.1) if detection failing; higher if too much detected.
Masking prompt	character	Replacement mode only. Multi-subject shots need specifics.
Grow Mask	10	Replacement mode only. 15–25 for spiky hair, horns, flowing clothes.

Mago Style Transfer specific

Setting	Default	When to change
Video input strength	0.5	Below 0.5 for shots over 80 frames. Higher to lock to source.
Level of detail	40%	Range 20–80%. Higher renders finer details and textures.

Creative Upscaler specific

Setting	Range	When to use
Detail enhancement	0.1–0.9	0.3 light detail · 0.5 moderate · 0.7–0.9 heavy restoration of damaged input.
Tile width / height count	Higher for detail	Risk of visible tiling at high counts.

Model decision tree

Follow the questions in order.

Video work

Image work (Q5: what are you doing with the image?)

Edit a specific element → GPT Image 2 (use the mask image input if region-specific).
General style transfer or transformation → Nano Banana Pro.
Need 4K output → Nano Banana 2.
Character preparation matching source pose → GPT Image 2 or Nano Banana Pro.

Upscale work (Q6: is the input already what you want, just the wrong size?)

Yes → Upscaler at ×2 or ×4.
No, needs reconstruction or detail → Creative Upscaler. Set denoise by how much reconstruction you want.

Single pass or multi-pass? (Q7: how complex is the transformation?)

Simple, single change → single pass with the right model.
Multiple changes (character + style + upscale) → multi-pass using Edit this Render between stages.
Long-form, production work → always multi-pass. The control is worth the extra time.

← Quick reference

Quick Reference

Settings cheat sheet

Settings Cheat Sheet

Universal settings (Mago video models)

Mago Character specific

Mago Style Transfer specific

Creative Upscaler specific

Model decision tree

Video work

Image work (Q5: what are you doing with the image?)

Upscale work (Q6: is the input already what you want, just the wrong size?)

Single pass or multi-pass? (Q7: how complex is the transformation?)

​Settings Cheat Sheet

​Universal settings (Mago video models)

​Mago Character specific

​Mago Style Transfer specific

​Creative Upscaler specific

​Model decision tree

​Video work

​Image work (Q5: what are you doing with the image?)

​Upscale work (Q6: is the input already what you want, just the wrong size?)

​Single pass or multi-pass? (Q7: how complex is the transformation?)

Settings Cheat Sheet

Universal settings (Mago video models)

Mago Character specific

Mago Style Transfer specific

Creative Upscaler specific

Model decision tree

Video work

Image work (Q5: what are you doing with the image?)

Upscale work (Q6: is the input already what you want, just the wrong size?)

Single pass or multi-pass? (Q7: how complex is the transformation?)