🤯 Any other AI art addicts here? 🤯

And to think I was just getting used to SDXL…

2024 should prove an interesting experience for AI-software users.

PS. Obligatory ‘local install options when?’ query…Along with a ‘I’ll never financially recover from this’ computer requirements response…

Some AI art experiments from yesterday and this morning. Final image size: 2048x2048 (x2 upscale).

Krista's favourite (away from home) goofing off / de-stressing / window shopping haunt: a National Art gallery.






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I’m resurrecting the thread because Midjourney v6 is out (alpha).
Initial tests came out pretty nice. More experimentation with prompts is needed (though I need to be careful, this model burns the credits fast).
It’s much better at composition to get the exact type of scene I want with specific details.
I can even do two people and say exactly what they look like, what they wear, what their background is, etc. No more unintentional twins. lol

Here’s Ian and Samantha



But it’s not a perfect model. It’s harder to get the type of style I want (unless I drop an artist’s name to the mix, that helps, though it tends to come out too biased so it’s not ideal). Another issue is that it doesn’t do well with variations. The quality decreases.

Realistic images come out amazing though. In fact, it actually seems to favor skin imperfections (depends on the prompt though).
Look at this. You can see the tiny hairs on his skin!


I continue attempting to draw my AI generations. So far it’s going well. I’m getting better at it.
My favorite thus far is Kamini’s. I made a series of graphics like this one which incorporate my drawings (which now I have to revise because I renamed one of the books).

I was playing around in Canva, experimenting with book covers and I came up with a perfect combination using some of the images I’ve created before. I’m absolutely in love with this book cover combo. But I can’t use the AI images since the hate is still strong out there (threads are a minefield), so I have to try to draw them.
If I can repeat the quality I achieved with Kamini, I could do this. But now comes the hard part of actually doing it.


I really want to make these happen. They’re so effing perfect.
These images were made with 5.2, btw. I haven’t been able to create better with 6.0. I haven’t cracked the secret yet how to make this style happen there and I can’t use a variation of it since those don’t work in v6 very well. But that’s okay. They’re good enough for me to draw from them.

So yeah, that’s what I’ve been doing instead of writing these damn books. :sweat_smile:
(Soul Survivor is done but I need to put the line edits in, Soul Crusher is in progress)

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Take a casual stroll through r/midjourney for some more v6 examples. Just when I thought SDXL was beginning to catch up to MidJourney, v6 pulls a Road Runner “lol, nope” and rockets into the realm of photo-realism.
tenor
Am struggling to resist the urge to restart my MJ subscription.

Something that may interest fellow AI art hobbyists.

The evolution of MidJourney.



Images pinched from r/midjourney.

Update: Found this image on r/midjourney.
midjourney-v6-alpha-v0-lddxo9s4sp8c1
Image source.
Author’s MJ v6 review.

You know the image is in focus when you can count the pores on the model’s skin ~ Photography quote.

Now I just need to find the SDXL Checkpoint equivalent to MJ v6.

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Some more SDXL experiments. This time with no Loras, low Steps, and low CFG scale…I too have spent too much time crafting AI prompts, not enough time drafting story chapters…

At Krista’s request, Hannah joins the festive spirit. Probably still hungover from Hanukkah.



Apparently Krista can be quite persuasive…Freyja wouldn’t say no to her anyway…



Even Dov’s new car did not escape.


Random stocking fillers.



^The HSV in the background is a nice touch.



Do you even read my Christmas list? ~ Alucard, Hellsing Ultimate Abridged.

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I may have found a solution to the plague of double-exposure in a character’s eyes, most common in high up-scales (in SDXL A1111): Low CFG numbers (3-5), and low Steps numbers (30-60).

At first I thought these settings would only result in low resolution, low accuracy images. But, nope, they work okay. No noticeable issues with different (possibly conflicting) Loras either. I shall continue to torture my graphics card thoroughly experiment with up-scales and report back.

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Some recent experiments: 2x up-scale (final image: 2048x2048), Clip Skip: 2, no Loras, CFG: 4, base steps: 40, Hi Res Up-scaler: 4x Ultra Sharp, upscale Steps: 40, de-noising strength: 0.2, various Checkpoints.










Double exposed irises now occur in one out of four, or one out of five, images (depending on Checkpoint used). Texture quality for materials and scenery is impressive, but not so much for skin, eyes, and hair.* Loras would probably fix this…eventually…And as for image generation times, hope you brought a coffee thermos.

*I wonder if the Face Restore option affects this.

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Random experiment(s) seemed to have fixed the double-exposed eyes issue.

This morning I generated a batch of Freyja images with the usual setup (no Loras again). But I did not select the Hires Fix option in the Generation tab. So I received several 1024x1024 images. Then I toddled over to the Extras tab, Batch Processing, Drag-Dropped said images into the window, selected 4x Ultra Sharp as the first up-scaler, left the rest as is, and clicked Generate.

So far, the Extras tab process has delivered a bunch of 2048x2048 images with no overall loss in quality (except for some blurred / low-res skin textures), and almost perfect eyes. Further tinkering with the Extras’ Up-scaler options might yield better results. The total image generation time is much shorter too.

TL;DR. The solution was staring at me the whole time. I’m over here, ya twat ~ The Extras Tab.
i feel sheepish

Oh, I installed the A-Detailer! extension for A1111, and I used the face-mesh-eyes-only mask option. That may have helped too.

Yesterday I experimented with Comfy-UI as an alternative to A1111…Drag-Dropping completed images into the Comfy-UI canvas to auto-generate the node-tree layouts…Mediocre results and longer image generation times (compared to average A1111 times). Yet no double-exposed eyes (yay?). Anyway, could do better if I understood how the nodes worked. But too lazy to learn for now.

Late Update (4-1-2024):
Recently learnt of a free AI up-scaler, local install program, called Upscayl.

Did some experiments with digital (real world) photos and some recent non-upscaled SDXL images. I’m impressed so far. Upscayl can sharpen and brightness-adjust images, and add some details (and no double-exposed eyes). I think the single image processing time (for 2x upscale) is almost the same for SDXL’s Extras 2x Upscale.

Oh, there are some rumours that Mid Journey is going to develop text-to-3D and text-to-animation / video. The latter might be available late January. 2024 should be fun for the AI hobbyists among us.

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I’m posting something just so the thread would stop accusing Matthew of spamming.

So here’s an awesome book cover MJ made me few months ago. I haven’t been able to create a similar one since then and it really annoys me.

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I’ve decided to make a third insta/threads profile.

One is my personal. I post my cats or birds there occasionally. I’m not very active but that’s where I keep in touch with people that I know in real life - assuming they’re there.

The second is my author account. I use it to interact with writers and artists and to post book stuff when I have any. But I need to try to start interacting with readers more. I don’t see them much in my feed so it’s tricky.

I’ve been active on Threads with my author account, maybe spend too much time there, but it’s a lively space so it’s enticing.
But one thing is very clear there. Majority of artists and authors are absolutely brutal toward anyone that uses AI.

I was conflicted because I wanted to stand up for people who were being canceled unfairly, but at the same time, this is my author account. It’s a business. I don’t want to end up on everyone’s block lists because that affects the algorithms too. So I’ve been careful about what I say and who I say it too.
#1 rule I’m using is to not post any word about AI on my own page. I might reply to people about it (not the anti-ai crowd, they can’t be reasoned with), but I don’t start a thread about it.

So that left me annoyed because I’d like to talk about it sometimes. I finally gave in and created a third account just for my AI needs.

If you’re on threads, find me as ai.artoholic.

I made my first reel

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Curious find on Threads.
This photographer used their own stock photos to create an independent GAN model. No outside images at all.
And it works.

This is very exciting because it means that creating an ethical model from scratch is very much possible.
I had previously given up my hopes for the future, thought we would always have to build on top of the controversial models but if we can start from scratch fairly easily, then we can do this properly.
We, as in, society.

And now I want to do one too but I likely don’t have the hardware. Sigh.

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As the wise ones of the Internets once declaimed; If I won the lotto I wouldn't tell anyone, but there would be signs.







^A more convenient / faster alternative to the current Aussie airlines.

^I now want that numberplate…if I ever buy a Triton…No idea why, I just want it.

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I like that cherry red one the most.

Believability is getting better and better.

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Here's the SDXL A1111 setup for the red Jaguar pic.

Prompt: (professional photography, RAW photograph, masterwork photography), Photograph of a XKR with a custom tuner body kit, burgundy red, villa driveway setting, 8K, intricate details, shot on a Sigma DSLR, natural daylight lighting, marketing photography, more realistic

Negative prompt: none (already provided by the Style Selector)

Steps: 60

Sampler: DPM++ 3M SDE Exponential

SD VAE: Auto select

CFG scale: 10

Seed: 571931530

Size: 1024x1024 (no upscale)

Checkpoint: protovisionXLHighFidelity3D_releaseV660Bakedvae

Clip skip: 2

Style Selector: Photographic, Version: v1.7.0

Loras: none

I rarely use negative prompts or Loras now as the Checkpoints alone tend to be good enough, at least for square image ratios. Although sometimes Loras are required for hands (count thy fingers), or eye colors, or textures…still waiting for that 4K / 48 Megapixel image definition…

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Here’s the Jaguar pic processed with Upscayl. x3 upscale size (3072x3072) for curiosity. Impressive so far. Adds detail (most of the time) and sharpness. Although the presets tend to blowout the highlights / reflective edges (note the hood’s air vents).
Digital Art preset:


Remacri preset:

Ultramix Balanced preset:

Another comparison.
SDXL Extras Tab, 4x Ultra Sharp, 3x Upscale:


The Upscayl images appear more in-focus (windshield and roof), but the difference is slight. Also, Upscayl doesn’t like working with .jpeg / .jpg images*…The end results tend to look like early Night Cafe renders…Although the SDXL method seems to handle .jpegs okay with little loss of image definition.

*To be fair, I dislike editing .jpegs too. RAW (camera manufacture equivalent) or .PNG images only, thanks.

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Just found this image on Deviant Art. Created with MidJourney, apparently. Stable Diffusion has some catching up to do…as always…


(original image / profile link)

This is how I try to depict Freyja’s eyes in my current novel, except they’re emerald with neon-green streaks (and Freyja doesn’t have freckles). Wonder if I can change the image’s eye color in Photoshop…or find the image’s prompts on the internet…

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Getty Images is attempting an ethical run.

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Shutterstock also created a AI image generation service for its clients, based on their archives contributors’ photos.

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Adobe, too.

I think we all have heard of the backlash regarding a book cover recently.

The creator behind it speaks up.

https://www.reddit.com/r/aiwars/comments/180o0d0/ai_generators_havent_hurt_my_job_as_an/