A couple 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 characteristic 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 attempt.

Spoiler alert: It is actually good, like the whole lot else in Midjourney. On this article, I will be overlaying what character reference really is, tips on how to use it, some examples, and my general ideas above the characteristic.

What’s Character Reference and Why It Issues

In case you’ve been utilizing Midjourney (or any AI picture generator, for that matter) for some time now, I’m positive you’ve turn out to be aware of its pitfalls. Apart from moral points and potential abuse, the largest downside with Midjourney is consistency.

A couple of weeks in the past, that difficulty was partially solved thanks in large half to fashion reference, the place you may enter a picture and use it as its personal reference with out extracting a immediate that may replicate it. Nevertheless, AI artwork has two most important parts: the topic and the background. The latter’s inconsistency is addressed by fashion reference, however what in regards to 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) on your subsequent immediate.

How To Use Character Reference

You should put together two issues: your immediate and a reference picture. The latter ought to include a transparent view of your character’s face and different options. After you have 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 appears to be like like:

I’ll be sincere, one thing’s off. Nevertheless, it’s nonetheless much better than what it was once earlier than while you’re simply utilizing a picture as part of the immediate. We’ll discuss extra in regards to the accuracy and high quality of character reference, however for now, let’s transfer on to parameter changes.

After including the –cref parameter, you may 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 photographs, all the time maintain this in thoughts: the primary one will all the time be the reference picture, and the three subsequent photographs would be the Midjourney outputs utilizing character reference. So, with out additional ado, right here’s how constant Midjourney has turn out to be:

Actual Individuals

Man

Girl

Non-Human

Cartoon

Anime

General Ideas

It is virtually eerie how correct most of those are. In a single fell swoop, Midjourney mounted its inconsistency difficulty. I can solely think about how efficient this might be when paired with its fashion reference characteristic.

I’ll say although that it appears to be simpler 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 a little bit with actual individuals, however in all equity, Midjourney did point out that this characteristic works greatest with different Midjourney photographs. Additionally they stated that the present mannequin will possible distort the faces of actual individuals, which is what occurred to the Abraham Lincoln photographs above.

General, it is a large replace to Midjourney and one other constructive step in direction of turning into the undisputed greatest AI picture generator available in the market.

The Backside Line

Whereas all of the eyes on the planet are turned in direction of Sora, Midjourney continues to enhance its AI picture generator with updates like this one, fashion reference, and Niji. These days, different AI picture instruments really feel stagnant. As soon as they’ve achieved “ok,” 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 battle another AI picture generator on the market that may catch as much as its capabilities. Who is aware of what they’re going to 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 may learn one in all our many Midjourney articles like this one. Have enjoyable!