On November 9, Volcano Engine released Seedream 5.5, a Doubao image-creation model with pixel-level controllable editing. Untouched regions stay pixel-stable through more than 100 rounds of edits, and it adds native RGBA transparent-asset generation and layered output, removing later cutout steps.
Realistic light and skin texture and dense small-text rendering are markedly improved over Seedream 5.0 Pro. A 2K square edit costs about 0.28 yuan, under half of 5.0 Pro, with generation about 40% faster. The model is live on Jimeng, Doubao and Doubao Work, with an API arriving on Volcano Ark.
The competition in image models is shifting from "who draws prettier" to "who survives repeated editing", and stability across many rounds is becoming a professional-workflow entry barrier.
Source: TMTPost / ByteDance
