A number of days in the past, I acquired a brand new notification in Discord. After scrolling for a bit, I found that Midjourney simply launched a brand new function referred to as character reference. It did not take me greater than two minutes of studying earlier than I opened Midjourney bot and gave it a strive.
Spoiler alert: It is actually good, like all the things else in Midjourney. On this article, I will be overlaying what character reference really is, learn how to use it, some examples, and my total ideas above the function.
What’s Character Reference and Why It Issues
Should you’ve been utilizing Midjourney (or any AI picture generator, for that matter) for some time now, I’m positive you’ve grow to be accustomed to its pitfalls. Moreover moral points and potential abuse, the most important downside with Midjourney is consistency.
A number of weeks in the past, that challenge was partially solved thanks in enormous half to type reference, the place you possibly can enter a picture and use it as its personal reference with out extracting a immediate that may replicate it. Nonetheless, AI artwork has two principal elements: the topic and the background. The latter’s inconsistency is addressed by type reference, however what concerning the latter?
That’s the place character reference is available in. With character reference, Midjourney can copy the topic of any picture and use their likeness (face, garments, physique) in your subsequent immediate.
How To Use Character Reference
You must put together two issues: your immediate and a reference picture. The latter ought to comprise a transparent view of your character’s face and different options. Upon getting a reference picture, merely enter its URL following a “–cref” parameter. For instance, I’ll use the immediate “a person sitting at a throne” with Samuel L. Jackson’s face. Right here’s what it seems like:
I’ll be sincere, one thing’s off. Nonetheless, it’s nonetheless much better than what it was once earlier than whenever you’re simply utilizing a picture as part of the immediate. We’ll speak extra concerning the accuracy and high quality of character reference, however for now, let’s transfer on to parameter changes.
After including the –cref parameter, you possibly can add a “–cw” which adjusts the energy of the mannequin. Midjourney mentions that the default 100 worth copies the face, physique, and garments of an individual, whereas the 0 worth solely follows the face. Right here’s an instance:
Character Reference Examples
For the next photos, all the time preserve this in thoughts: the primary one will all the time be the reference picture, and the three subsequent photos would be the Midjourney outputs utilizing character reference. So, with out additional ado, right here’s how constant Midjourney has grow to be:
Actual Individuals
Man
Lady
Non-Human
Cartoon
Anime
General Ideas
It is nearly eerie how correct most of those are. In a single fell swoop, Midjourney fastened its inconsistency challenge. I can solely think about how efficient this will likely be when paired with its type reference function.
I’ll say although that it appears to be more practical if the topic are individuals. It struggled with capturing the essence and appears of the inexperienced fluffy monster above, which made it look completely different it each image.
It additionally struggles somewhat with actual individuals, however in all equity, Midjourney did point out that this function works finest with different Midjourney photos. In addition they stated that the present mannequin will doubtless distort the faces of actual individuals, which is what occurred to the Abraham Lincoln photos above.
General, this can be a enormous replace to Midjourney and one other optimistic step in the direction of changing into the undisputed finest AI picture generator available in the market.
The Backside Line
Whereas all of the eyes on the earth are turned in the direction of Sora, Midjourney continues to enhance its AI picture generator with updates like this one, type reference, and Niji. These days, different AI picture instruments really feel stagnant. As soon as they’ve achieved “adequate,” they stopped making drastic to their mannequin or add any new options.
However Midjourney is not like that.
Midjourney’s V6 continues to enhance its already spectacular base mannequin. I actually wrestle some other AI picture generator on the market that may catch as much as its capabilities. Who is aware of what they will come up tomorrow? All I do know for positive, no matter it’s, we’ll cowl that right here in Gold Penguin, so keep tuned! Within the meantime, you possibly can learn one in all our many Midjourney articles like this one. Have enjoyable!
