Table of Contents for What is AI Midjourney and how does it work?:
- What Is Midjourney AI?
- AI Midjourney 3D Visualization
- How Does Midjourney Work?: Tutorial
- New functions in AI Midjourney version 6.1
- Advantages and disadvantages of AI Midjourney
- And the conclusion? Is this the end of creativity?
- AI Midjourney Pictures
AI Midjourney is a text-to-image tool that is currently shaking up the creative industry. Creativity will be an unnecessary attribute in the future, artists will no longer be needed - according to the lurid reports. But is that really the case? What can Midjourney do, especially in terms of CGI, and what can't the tool do?
What Is Midjourney AI?
First of all, Midjourney is an independent research institute. This institute has created an artificial intelligence that can create images from text descriptions. The program is therefore similar to DALL-E from Open AI or Stable Diffusion, another open source project.
The Midjourney team is led by David Holz, the co-founder of Leap Motion. Users are already creating "works of art" with Midjourney using Discord Bot commands.
Currently, Midjourney is accessible via a Discord bot on the official Midjourney Discord, or by logging in directly to the AI Midjourney website to use the web version.
To create images, users use the same commands as with other tools that create images using artificial intelligence. This is basically the /imagine command, to which the bot responds with an image. A web interface is already available (register on the AI Midjourney page).
That was the summary - but how exactly does Midjourney work? We've put together a step-by-step explanation to help you understand the tool even better!
AI Midjourney 3D Visualization
As a 3D studio, we at Danthree Studio have tried out the AI and are surprised by the result and see this as an opportunity for all creative minds. The AI generates the 3D visualization in max. 30 seconds in high quality based on our specification / words.
How Does Midjourney Work?: Tutorial
Before you create AI images with AI Midjourney, you must log in directly to the AI Midjourney website to use the web version. Alternatively, you can also download Discord for Mac or PC.
Discord looks a bit like a chat tool: There are chat rooms that you can enter to communicate with others. Various channels are displayed on the far left-hand side, including Midjourney. This is the channel you are looking for. To be able to use the channel, you have to click on "Join the Beta" on midjourney.com.
Because Discord also works in the web browser, it is possible that the program loads directly there. However, there is also a desktop interface. In principle, both work in the same way, it's simply a matter of taste as to which you prefer.
Important to know: Midjourney reserves the right to make AI images created from your prompts (i.e. actually your images) available to other users for remixes.
If you want to prevent this, you can set everything to "private" by using the stealth mode in the Pro or Mega plan of Midjourney or by creating your own Discord server.
Step 1: Register with AI Midjourney
There are two ways to use AI Midjourney (Discord or Web version). Go to https://www.midjourney.com/home/ and log in. After logging in, you will either be redirected to Discord or you can use the AI image tool directly on the website.
To generate images, you have to sign up for a paid subscription. There are four different subscription models, which cost between 8 and 120 USD per month, depending on how many images you want to create.
Step 2: Look around in a newcomer group (Discord version)
If you have found the Midjourney channel on Discord, you will find the Newcomer Groups in the list on the left-hand side. Caution: There is usually a lot going on here! Ideally, you should find a group that has less traffic at the moment.
Discord App - Newcomer Rooms
Midjourney 6.1 - Web Version
Step 2: Create Text Prompts
The rest is easy: In the chat field below, you tell the tool what you want to have as an AI image. Short descriptions work best. It takes some getting used to at first, and the chat looks a little archaic, especially for Mac users who are used to design.
Text prompts are actually a science in themselves. You can learn exactly how to create the instructions professionally so that the result corresponds exactly to your ideas elsewhere - it would go beyond the scope of this article. However, trial and error is also a good way to learn.
It's important to mention that you enter /imagine in the text field. After that, a field will open and you can start with your image description.
Create prompt
Configuration Prompts In Midjourney
In the world of Midjourney, where your creativity and AI technology meet, the configuration prompts are your tools to create exactly the images you envision. Understanding and using these prompts opens up new dimensions of image creation. Here are some of the configuration prompts you can use in Midjourney to bring your creative vision to life:
Change the image format:
- Configuration prompt: --ar 16:9
- Application: This parameter sets the picture format to 16:9, perfect for wide-format pictures.
Use the latest AI version:
- Configuration prompt: --v 6.1
- Application: Use this parameter to ensure that you are using the latest version of Midjourney (e.g. version 6.1) for your image generation.
Increase the level of detail:
- Configuration prompt: --hd
- Application: This parameter increases the level of detail in your image, particularly useful for complex scenes.
Adjust the color variations:
- Configuration prompt: --c 2.0
- Application: This parameter increases the color intensity, with higher values leading to more vivid colors.
Setting the creativity level:
- Configuration prompt: --chaos 50
- Application: With this parameter you determine the degree of creativity. A higher value allows the AI to act more freely in the image composition.
Define a specific style:
- Configuration prompt: --style impressionistic
- Application: This parameter tells the AI to create the image in a specific style, such as Impressionism in this case.
With these configuration prompts, you can control the results more precisely and give your images exactly the specification you want. Simply add these prompts to your midjourney command to make the appropriate adjustments.
Step 3: Work Undisturbed
Now you have seen in the newbie group how exactly AI Midjourney AI Image Generator works. You've seen how other users create prompts, what Midjourney does with them and how it all works. To continue learning, you should check back here from time to time.
However, undisturbed work is not possible here. Invite the bot to your own server so that you can create images in a private room.
Now click on the Midjourney Bot and invite it to your own server. As soon as you have identified yourself as a human and set up the whole thing, you can get started.
By the way, a typical prompt at the moment is "the last selfie on earth". For many details, add "highly detailed" (separated by a comma). If you want a photorealistic image, specify this with "photorealistic". Use "--ar 16:9" to specify the ratio of the image axes to each other.
When you submit this order, the bot will generate four preview images for you. From these, you can choose what comes closest to your ideas and continue working on the images.
But does it really make sense to use AI Midjourney? What about the creativity of tools?
New functions in AI Midjourney version 6.1
AI Midjourney released its latest version, version 6.1, in summer 2024. This version offers a number of impressive improvements and new features. Here are some of the most notable new features:
Improved image quality: The images generated with version 6.1 are sharper and more detailed than in previous versions.
Faster image generation: The speed at which images are created has been increased by 25%, allowing for more efficient use.
New --q 2 mode: In the new --q 2 mode you can add more texture to the image. However, generation in this mode is also up to 25% slower.
Improved text accuracy: Midjourney 6.1 responds better to prompts containing quotation marks.
Increased accuracy in image composition: The AI is now better at generating complex scenes and elements more realistically and coherently. This includes, for example, the depiction of hands and feet and small details such as eyes and distant objects.
Generally "more beautiful images": According to Midjourney's own statement, the latest version should generate "more beautiful images across the board".
These improvements make AI Midjourney version 6.1 an even more powerful tool for creating artificial intelligence-generated images and open up new possibilities for creatives of all kinds.
Advantages and disadvantages of AI Midjourney
So let's start by saying that AI Midjourney allows you to create digital images relatively quickly from a text instruction. However, if you really want to use the images and are not just doing it for fun, it costs money. That's not really a disadvantage.
Another question concerns ownership. The images you create with Midjourney do not belong to you. You may use them (with restrictions), even commercially. But they may also be used by other users for remixes.
Midjourney exhibits the most successful creations, including the text prompts, on its own website. It's an impressive gallery - but is that really what you want for your CGI in terms of usage and ownership rights?
Because every image created with Midjourney can be used legally by other people, and with minor changes also (limited) commercially. You have no way of preventing this completely.
This is perhaps the biggest disadvantage of the open community and the reason why individual CGI visualizations are often the better solution for companies (especially in product marketing).
And the conclusion? Is this the end of creativity?
If AI can now create works of art with prompt engineers, create absolutely stunning print-ready images within 60 seconds and with the effort of a few clicks - is that the end of art as we know it?
You could say, yes, that's the end. Because professional graphic designers who spend weeks tweaking cover designs, layouts and more will obviously not be able to keep up. At least not when it comes to achieving an acceptable result with a minimum of time and cost.
If you want to achieve excellent results with Midjourney and similar tools, it's a different story again. Because that's where people will be leading the way in the next few years at least. Implementing instructions as precisely as possible, finding exactly the right style, delving deep into topics and creating unique works - that is and remains human.
The last point is particularly important here: what an AI produces is reproducible, down to the smallest detail. And it doesn't even take any effort, it basically just needs the exact same text prompt.
The technology behind tools like Midjourney or Stable Diffusion is becoming more and more complex and sophisticated. Accordingly, the tools and thus the results are getting better and better. This means that it is foreseeable that at some point it will no longer be possible to create usable images, but rather good and very good images with little effort.
But in our opinion, this is by no means the end of creativity. After all, an AI can only be as "creative" as the program and code behind it. So creativity will continue to exist. It will just look different.
It already takes a lot of skill and creativity to find just the right words to let AI Midjourney create exactly the CGI you want. You are the creative person who creates the image - Midjourney merely converts it into pixels.
There is also an important point to mention: The created AI images cannot be changed so easily. So if you want to change something in the image, this is not yet possible.
This is especially true in the 3D world: even if AI tools such as Midjourney provide exciting impulses - real brand aesthetics, emotional storytelling and technical precision are created in professional 3D workflows.
How we at Danthree Studio use AI in 3D animations without losing our creative signature - read here
We hope we were able to shed some light on the hyped AI Midjourney topic with this article. However, it remains exciting to see what else the technology may bring.
AI Midjourney Pictures
AI images from Danthree Studio:
