My Wacky Adventure in AI Image Generation:
When My Office Turned Into A Sauna
Greetings, digital explorers! Ever wondered how to journey through the vibrant world of AI image generation without leaving the comfort of your home? Well, grab a cup of cocoa (or a fan), because my artistic escapade is hot – literally.
The Style Transfer Obsession
In 2015 I discovered the Pikazo app. Let’s be clear, my first try made me look like a mashed potato in a Starry Night backdrop. But, as all potato enthusiasts would agree, it was awesome! Armed with Pikazo, I became that annoying friend. I’d show up at parties and say, “Did you know, I can turn that group photo into an Impressionist painting?” Most people were amazed … at first.
Going Deeper (Into Neural Networks)
With my obsession developing, I dove deep into the ocean of convolutional neural networks. While my friends were getting into baking sourdough during the pandemic, I was baking up deep dream images. Fun fact: If you use deep dream on a picture of sourdough, it doesn’t look appetizing. At all.
Chasing the Digital Dragon
When GANs (Generative Adversarial Networks) hit the scene, it was the digital equivalent of discovering fire for me. I began generating images that were somewhere between ‘hauntingly beautiful’ and ‘straight-up haunted house material’.
The “I-can-do-this-myself” Phase
Not content with mere apps & begging for online compute cycles, I dove headfirst into setting up open-source tools on my PC. The result? My GPU transformed into a mini-volcano, and my office suddenly felt like mid-July. Who knew that AI image generation could also double up as an effective heating solution? Take that, winter!
Inpainting, Upscaling, and...ControlNet? Oh My!
As I delved deeper, my ventures led me to inpainting (magic for repairing old photos), upscaling (making images high-res), and ControlNet tools (don’t ask, it’s complicated). I’d become the go-to person for all things image-related. Cousin’s blurry holiday pic? Aunt’s torn photo from the ’80s? All done with a sprinkle of AI magic and a whole lot of GPU heating.
2023: Back to the Smartphone!
Enter Midjourney. My salvation in a pocket-sized package! After rigging an entire computer setup that could’ve possibly signaled extraterrestrials, signing up for Midjourney felt like lounging in a digital hammock. Creating mesmerizing art right from my smartphone? Yes, please. It’s swift, it’s efficient, and most importantly, it doesn’t make me sweat buckets.
Combining tools
Even more creative opportunity opened up when I combined Midjourney cloud generation with tweaking and upscaling on my local PC using Stable Diffusion. Plus Adobe’s beta generative fill tools make tweaking images even easier. Now I’m cooking with fire.
Pixelated Conclusions
From heating my office to a comfortable sauna with my roaring GPU, to casually crafting digital masterpieces on my phone during coffee breaks, the world of AI image generation has been a wild ride. But I think the best is yet to come!
