How to get started with AI Art using MidJourney - Prompt engineering and tips & tricks
TLDRThis video tutorial provides a comprehensive guide on getting started with AI art using MidJourney, a popular tool for generating AI art. The host discusses the importance of prompt engineering, which is crucial for guiding the output of the AI. They compare MidJourney with other models like Dolly and Stable Diffusion, noting the cost-effectiveness of MidJourney. The video offers practical tips on how to phrase inputs and use keywords effectively to achieve desired results. It also showcases examples of community-generated art to inspire viewers. The host demonstrates the process of joining the MidJourney Discord server, setting up a subscription, and using the 'slash imagine' command to generate images based on prompts. They explain the concept of '4k' and '8k' in the context of prompting the model to remember high-quality data from its training. The video emphasizes an explorative mindset, encouraging viewers to experiment with different prompts and variants to refine the output. Useful resources for inspiration are shared, including a GitHub page for modifying output styles, an artist's style guide, and a prompt book for photography. The host illustrates the process of refining a prompt through trial and error, focusing on creating a dramatic scene of a lion fighting. They introduce additional arguments like aspect ratio, stylize, quality, and chaos for further customization. The video concludes with a demonstration of how to use these arguments to achieve more refined and varied outputs, encouraging viewers to experiment and find their unique style with MidJourney.
Takeaways
- 🎨 **MidJourney for AI Art Generation**: MidJourney is a popular tool for creating AI art, balancing cost and performance effectively.
- 💡 **Prompt Engineering**: Crafting the right input prompt is crucial for guiding the AI to generate desired artwork.
- 📈 **Pricing Options**: MidJourney offers a free trial, basic membership, standard membership, and unlimited personal use at varying costs.
- 🌐 **Community Examples**: The community feed showcases the capabilities of AI art generation, demonstrating the potential of the technology.
- 🔍 **Understanding Model Prompts**: Inputs like '4k' or '8k' are not about resolution but rather signal to the model to aim for high-quality outputs.
- 🔧 **Experimentation**: Start with broad, simple prompts and iteratively refine them based on the AI's responses.
- 📚 **Useful Resources**: Utilize GitHub pages, artist styles, and prompt books for inspiration and to learn about effective prompt crafting.
- 📝 **Argument Modifiers**: Use arguments like aspect ratio, stylize, quality, and chaos to fine-tune the AI's output.
- 🔗 **Hard and Soft Breaks**: Use hard breaks (colons) to emphasize certain aspects of the prompt and soft breaks (commas) to separate ideas.
- ⚙️ **Additional Arguments**: Arguments like 'fast', 'relaxed', 'image prompt', 'no', and 'seed' offer more control over the generation process.
- 🚀 **Action Scenes Example**: An example of creating an action scene with a lion was used to illustrate the process of iterating and refining prompts.
Q & A
What is the focus of the video?
-The video focuses on guiding viewers on how to use AI art generation tools, specifically MidJourney, to create art. It emphasizes prompt engineering and provides tips and tricks for beginners.
What are some alternative AI art generation tools mentioned in the video?
-The video mentions Dolly and Stable Diffusion as alternative AI art generation tools, with a promise to compare their pros and cons in a future video.
What is the significance of prompt engineering in AI art generation?
-Prompt engineering is a key skill in AI art generation as it involves phrasing the input and choosing keywords that guide the output, which is crucial for getting good art.
What are some resources shared in the video for inspiration and learning about prompt engineering?
-The video shares a GitHub page for exploring different styles and themes, a Dalle 2 prompt book, a Dolly to prompt engineering guide, and the MidJourney user manual as resources for inspiration and learning.
What is the process of generating an image using MidJourney?
-The process involves joining the MidJourney Discord server, using a prompt to guide the AI, and experimenting with different keywords and styles to get the desired output. Users can also upscale images and create variants for further refinement.
How does the pricing structure of MidJourney compare to other tools like Dolly?
-MidJourney offers a free trial with 20 images, a basic membership for 200 images a month at $10, and a standard membership at $30 for unlimited personal use, which is considered cheaper compared to other tools like Dolly.
What does the term '4k' signify when used in a prompt?
-When using '4k' in a prompt, it does not mean the image output will be 4k resolution. Instead, it prompts the model to remember high-quality data it was trained on, aiming for a higher quality photo output.
What is the recommended mindset when using AI art generation models?
-The recommended mindset is explorative, starting with a general sense of what you want and then experimenting with various prompts to see which ones yield the best results. It's about iterating and refining the output.
How can one use weighting in prompts to emphasize certain aspects of the generated image?
-Weighting can be added using a colon (:) followed by a number to emphasize specific parts of the prompt. The higher the number, the more emphasis the model places on that part of the prompt.
What is the role of 'chaos' in the image generation process?
-The 'chaos' parameter, which ranges from 0 to 100, controls the level of variation in the output. A higher chaos value results in more varied and potentially unexpected images, which can be useful for experimentation.
What are 'soft breaks' and 'hard breaks' in the context of prompt engineering?
-Soft breaks are commas used to separate different elements in a prompt, while hard breaks are colons that can be used to add weighting and emphasize certain aspects of the prompt more than others.
How can one ensure reproducible results in AI art generation?
-The 'seed' argument can be used to specify a seed value, which ensures that the same initialization is used for the AI model, leading to reproducible results.
Outlines
🎨 Introduction to AI Art Tools: Midjourney Overview
The video begins with an introduction to the world of AI art generation, specifically focusing on the tool 'Midjourney'. The host expresses their opinion that Midjourney strikes a good balance between cost and performance. They mention other tools like Dolly and Stable Diffusion, promising a future video comparing these. The host intends to teach viewers, especially beginners, the basics of how these tools work and emphasizes the importance of 'prompt engineering'. This involves crafting the right input to guide the AI to produce desired artwork. The host also plans to illustrate this process and share useful resources.
💡 Understanding Prompt Engineering and Model Usage
The host delves into the concept of prompt engineering, explaining how the choice of words can guide the AI's output. They clarify misconceptions about certain prompts, like '4k', which is used to signal high quality rather than actual resolution. The host encourages an explorative mindset, suggesting that users should have a general idea of what they want and then experiment with different prompts. They also highlight the importance of resources like GitHub pages and artist styles for inspiration and guidance in crafting prompts.
🤖 Experimenting with Midjourney: Starting Simple
The host guides viewers through the process of using Midjourney, starting with a simple prompt to generate an image. They discuss the default style of the output and the options available for upscaling and generating variants. The host emphasizes the iterative process of experimentation, suggesting starting with a broad idea and progressively adding details to refine the output. They also touch on aspect ratio adjustments and the use of specific arguments to direct the AI more precisely.
📈 Refining the Prompt for Desired Output
The host continues to refine the prompt with additional keywords aimed at creating a more realistic and action-packed scene. They discuss the use of 'hyper-realistic' and 'photorealistic' keywords and the importance of adding details to convey the desired message. The host also explores the use of commas and colons to structure prompts and the impact of these on the AI's interpretation. They share their thought process as they evaluate each generated image and decide which direction to pursue next.
🔥 Adding Drama and Realism to the Scene
The host experiments with adding elements like fire and a dramatic scene to enhance the intensity of the artwork. They discuss the use of rendering engines like Octane Render and Unreal Engine to influence the style of the output. The host also demonstrates how to modify the input to emphasize certain aspects of the prompt using weighting. They share their process of evaluating the results and deciding which images capture the essence of what they're looking for.
🦁 Creating a Dynamic Lion Scene: Final Touches
The host concludes the video by refining the prompt to create a dynamic scene of a lion fighting, possibly to protect its family. They discuss the use of various arguments like 'chaos' for varied outputs and 'stylize' to control the model's interpretation. The host also talks about using emojis and image prompts for additional inspiration. They share their favorite results from the experiment, highlighting the importance of personal experimentation and offering encouragement for viewers to try out Midjourney for themselves.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡AI Art
💡MidJourney
💡Prompt Engineering
💡Photorealism
💡Discord Server
💡Aspect Ratio
💡Upscaling
💡Rendering Engine
💡Chaos
💡Stylize
💡Quality
Highlights
The video provides a guide on using AI art generation tools, specifically focusing on MidJourney.
MidJourney is considered a go-to tool for balancing pricing and performance in AI art generation.
The importance of prompt engineering is emphasized for guiding the output of AI art generation.
A free trial is available for MidJourney, offering 20 images, with tiered membership options for more images.
Examples from the community feed demonstrate the advancement in AI art generation over the years.
The input prompt 'light lightning, baby dragon lightning sparks intricate details unreal engine photorealism' generated an impressive image.
Joining the MidJourney Discord server provides access to image generation threads and community inputs.
The process of upscaling and generating variants of an image is explained to refine the output.
The concept of '4k' in prompts is used to guide the model towards higher quality data in its training set.
An explorative mindset is recommended when using AI art models, starting with a general idea and experimenting with different prompts.
Useful resources for inspiration and learning about prompt engineering are shared, including GitHub pages and artist styles.
The video illustrates how to experiment with prompts using an example of creating an action scene with a lion.
Aspect ratio, stylize, quality, and chaos are introduced as important arguments for fine-tuning the AI art generation process.
Weighting can be applied to certain keywords using a hard break (colon) to emphasize specific parts of the prompt.
Soft breaks (commas) and hard breaks are used to structure prompts and can affect the output.
The video concludes with a demonstration of generating a series of images from a single prompt, showcasing the process of experimentation and refinement.
The presenter shares their favorite images generated from the prompt, highlighting the successful application of prompt engineering.