Midjourney v6 News: Consistent Characters with --cref

Thaeyne
14 Mar 202408:45

TLDRThe video discusses recent changes with Mid Journey, highlighting the discontinuation of free fast hours for image ranking due to abuse of the system. It also explores the new character reference feature, similar to style reference, which allows users to input an image link for visual storytelling continuity. The narrator shares mixed experiences with the feature, noting its potential but also the challenges in achieving desired results and the tendency to produce unnatural poses or floating heads when misapplied.

Takeaways

  • 🚫 Mid Journey has discontinued rewarding free fast hours for ranking images, due to some users exploiting the system through automation.
  • 📊 A poll conducted prior to the announcement indicated that around 50% of respondents primarily ranked images to earn free hours.
  • 🤔 There is speculation about whether the poll influenced the decision or if honest respondents are being unfairly penalized.
  • 🎉 Mid Journey introduced a new character reference feature, similar to the style reference feature, allowing users to input a specific character image for reference.
  • 🔗 To use the character reference feature, users need to provide a link to an image and can mix it with style references for more control over the output.
  • 🖌️ The character reference feature requires experimentation to achieve desired results and may produce unnatural poses or floating heads if not used correctly.
  • 🌐 The feature can be used on both Discord and the alpha website, with slight differences in the process.
  • 📸 The character reference feature is seen as a positive addition to Mid Journey's toolset, despite some initial challenges in usage.
  • 👥 The community's response to the new feature is mixed, with some users finding it easier to achieve good results without it, while others are excited about the potential.
  • 📈 The character weight parameter can be adjusted to influence how closely the output resembles the reference image.
  • 📌 The video script suggests that the character reference feature, while promising, still needs refinement and user feedback for improvement.

Q & A

  • What was Mid Journey's recent decision regarding free fast hours?

    -Mid Journey decided to stop rewarding free fast hours for ranking images that other people have generated.

  • How did users previously earn free hours on Mid Journey?

    -Users could earn free hours by ranking images on Mid Journey's website and being in the top 2,000 people who ranked the most images in a day.

  • Why did Mid Journey discontinue the free fast hours incentive?

    -Some people were taking advantage of the system by automating the ranking process, which led to Mid Journey discontinuing the incentive.

  • What was the outcome of the poll mentioned in the transcript?

    -The poll showed that around 50% of the respondents mainly ranked images to get free hours.

  • What is the character reference feature in Mid Journey?

    -The character reference feature allows users to use a link to an image as a reference for generating images, aiming to create visual continuity in storytelling.

  • How does the character reference feature work on Discord?

    -On Discord, users can use the character reference feature by typing '--CF' followed by the link to the reference image in their prompt.

  • What issues have been reported with Discord links when using the character reference feature?

    -There have been issues where Discord links do not work properly. A tip is to delete everything after 'PNG' in the link to get a working link.

  • How can the character reference feature be used on the Mid Journey alpha website?

    -On the alpha website, users can either search for the character reference in the image feed or click the plus icon before the Imagine bar to upload or select a reference image from previously uploaded ones.

  • What are some challenges users face when using the character reference feature?

    -Challenges include generating unattractive images, getting unnatural poses with the character's back to the viewer but face turned around, and strange floating heads when the character weight value is lessened or the prompt doesn't mention a character.

  • What is the user's overall opinion on the character reference feature?

    -The user likes the new feature but finds it has room for improvement, as it can sometimes produce undesirable results and requires practice to master.

  • How does the character reference feature compare to previous methods of visual storytelling in Mid Journey?

    -The character reference feature is considered a step in the right direction and has been long wished for by many users, but it is not yet fully consistent and may require some tricks to achieve desired outcomes.

Outlines

00:00

🤖 Mid Journey Updates and Ranking System Changes

The paragraph discusses the latest updates from Mid Journey, particularly focusing on the decision to discontinue the reward of free fast hours for image ranking. It highlights the previous system where users could earn free hours by being in the top 2,000 image rankers and suggests that some individuals exploited this by automating the ranking process. The speaker shares personal experiences with the ranking system, expressing mixed feelings about the removal of the feature and questioning whether the poll conducted by Mid Journey led to unjust punishment for honest participants. The paragraph also mentions the introduction of the character reference feature, which works similarly to the style reference feature, allowing users to input a link to an image for reference in their prompts. The speaker shares initial experiences and tips for using this feature on both Discord and the alpha website.

05:02

🎨 Experimenting with Character Reference Feature

This paragraph delves into the speaker's experiments with the new character reference feature in Mid Journey. The speaker tests different parameters such as the character weight (-CW) and style references (-CF) to see how they affect the generated images. The speaker notes that the feature can produce unattractive images and has a tendency to generate poses where characters face away from the viewer but turn their heads unnaturally. The speaker also observes that reducing the character weight can result in strange floating heads and that combining style references can be tricky. Despite these challenges, the speaker appreciates the new feature and sees it as a positive development, albeit one that requires practice and fine-tuning to achieve desired results. The speaker invites viewers to share their thoughts on the feature and encourages subscribing to the channel for more content on Mid Journey's developments.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Mid Journey

Mid Journey is an AI platform that the speaker is experimenting with. It is a technology that allows users to interact with artificial intelligence to generate images based on prompts and references. In the context of the video, the speaker discusses recent changes to Mid Journey's reward system and new features.

💡Free Fast Hours

Free Fast Hours refers to a reward system previously offered by Mid Journey, where users could earn additional processing time for generating images without cost by participating in image ranking activities. The speaker discusses the discontinuation of this reward system due to abuse.

💡Ranking Images

Ranking images is the process of sorting or evaluating images uploaded by other users on the Mid Journey platform. This activity was a way for users to earn free fast hours, but it was abused by some who automated the process, leading to the termination of this feature.

💡Automation

Automation in this context refers to the use of software or scripts to perform tasks on the Mid Journey platform without human intervention, such as ranking images. The speaker suggests that this practice was exploited to earn free fast hours, which led to Mid Journey discontinuing the reward.

💡Character Reference Feature

The character reference feature is a newly introduced function in Mid Journey that allows users to input a specific image as a reference for the AI to generate images with a similar character. It is designed to enhance visual storytelling and maintain continuity in a series of images.

💡Style Reference

Style reference is a feature in Mid Journey that lets users input a link to an image to influence the style of the generated images. It is used in conjunction with character reference to create a more cohesive and stylistically consistent visual narrative.

💡Discord

Discord is a communication platform where users can interact with each other and with AI platforms like Mid Journey. In the video, the speaker discusses the process of using Mid Journey through Discord, including the steps to input commands and upload images for character and style references.

💡Alpha Website

The alpha website refers to the early or experimental version of a website, in this case, Mid Journey's platform. It is where users can access and test new features before they are fully integrated into the main platform.

💡Chaos Parameter

The chaos parameter in Mid Journey is a setting that controls the level of randomness in the generated images. A lower chaos value results in more predictable, closer-to-reference images, while a higher value introduces more variability and creative deviations.

💡Character Weight Parameter

The character weight parameter is a setting in Mid Journey that determines the influence of the character reference on the generated image. A higher value makes the AI focus more on retaining characteristics of the reference character, while a lower value allows for more deviation.

💡Visual Storytelling

Visual storytelling is the use of images and graphics to convey a narrative or tell a story. In the context of the video, the speaker discusses how the character and style reference features in Mid Journey can enhance visual storytelling by providing continuity and consistency across a series of images.

💡Community Feedback

Community feedback refers to the opinions and responses from the user community regarding features or changes within a platform. In the video, the speaker mentions a poll that was conducted on Mid Journey's decision to stop rewarding free fast hours, indicating the importance of community input.

Highlights

Mid Journey has decided to stop rewarding free fast hours for ranking images, a system that was previously accessible to users.

Users could previously earn free hours by being in the top 2,000 image rankers, but this has been exploited through automation.

Mid Journey detected the automation of the ranking system, leading to the discontinuation of the free fast hours reward.

A poll was conducted 5 hours before the announcement, showing that 50% of respondents ranked images primarily to earn free hours.

The speaker admits to ranking images for fun and for the incentive of free fast hours, questioning whether this constitutes taking advantage of the system.

Mid Journey has introduced a new character reference feature, similar to the style reference feature, which allows users to input a character image for reference.

The character reference feature (-CF) requires a link to an image and can be used in visual storytelling for continuity.

There have been issues with Discord links, and the speaker provides a tip to delete everything after 'PNG' in the link to make it work.

The character reference feature can result in images that are not exactly the same as the original character, but quite close.

The alpha website offers a different method for using character references, either by searching in the image feed or uploading a reference image.

The character weight parameter can be adjusted to influence how closely the generated image resembles the reference character.

Mixing character references with style references is possible, allowing for a variety of creative outputs.

The speaker notes that the character reference feature can sometimes generate unnatural poses or floating heads.

Despite its quirks, the character reference feature is seen as a positive addition to Mid Journey's capabilities.

The speaker suggests that the character reference feature may require practice and experimentation to achieve desired results.

The character reference feature has been long-awaited by the Mid Journey community and is considered a step in the right direction.

The speaker invites viewers to share their thoughts on the new feature and encourages subscribing for more content on Mid Journey developments.

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