Every sitting at the pendulum desk is counted in four beats, always in the same order, and the order is the entire secret. Beat one, prove: generate generously at the standard 6 credits, with her card pasted word for word at the head of every prompt. Beat two, judge: read each frame against the card — age, hair, build, face, signature — and keep the best third.
Beat three, finish: spend only on the keepers, and in the finishing order — repairs first (edits at 21 credits, swaps at 26), premium stills at 41 only for the frame that fronts a pack, upscalers last (61 for images, from 101 for video) and only for delivery. Beat four, rest: stop. A sitting that ends on time leaves the maker able to judge the next one; a sitting that sprawls into exhaustion starts spending finishing money on unjudged frames.
Video follows the same four beats at its own scale: prove the still, prove the shortest clip, judge at three viewings, finish once. The quote is printed before every job by duration and resolution, so each beat’s price is known before it is struck.
Four beats, in order, at tempo. The pendulum on the desk has never once counted five.