AI in all of its wonder

[steve_pickstock]

Just thought I'd share some pictures I did using ChatGPT.

AI is very much in the news at the moment, some see it as a threat to humanity, others see it as a great thief, some, like me, are more sanguine about it.

It is something we should all be wary of, if only because all of those people who do some AI images and then plaster them all over the place. I mean it's easy isn't it - enter a few words into a prompt box and the machine churns out dozens and dozens of free pictures. And I will be the first to admit that that is a pain in the derriere. But it does have its uses.

My graphic skills have declined over the years, I just don't draw or paint much these days so with the ChatGPT tool you put a picture into the system, tell it what you want and it produces something.
It needs some skill, you need to tell it what you want and be prepared to hone the result, but here are some images I did based on my pictures from the Slag om Grolle.


My friend Jane doing a cameo in the market place and how the AI saw it. The prompt used was to redraw the image in the photo as if it was done by a Dutch master. I think they could be done better but the results are fun.


This was taken at a banquet in the Calixtuskirk in 2015

and how AI saw the scene


The image on the left is two of my friends in what is quite simply one of my favourite pictures from the whole Grolle experience, on the right the AI version.


Last of all, this is me, sat outside de Kroon cafe in Notemboom Straat, Groenlo, being a scribe.

so I thought 'what if Jan Steen had seen it?

A scribe in the marketplace - een schrijver op de marktplaats
This was actually the first picture that I tried this with and quite frankly I am delighted with it. I could never actually paint something like this myself, and I may be helping the AI Overlords in their quest for world domination but I love this image!

But then I couldn't just leave it - 'redraw this picture but have the man painting 30 years war wargames figures instead' and you have Jan Steen's - de Oorlogsspeler

[Michael Robert]

Hello Steve,
interesting stuff. AI has become so strong, really mindboggling. Your demonstrations are interesting. I cannot say it is beauyiful - to my taste. Somehow, the purpose of a picture - driven by human mind - is missing. But you can see how it works. It did ot identify who carries the flag and changed to action of the brooming lady. Some facial features are really well replicated - yours for instance - and some are simply replaced by somebody else. No way to reckognize the original person.
Very instructive
Greetings
Michael

[steve_pickstock]

Hello Steve,
interesting stuff. AI has become so strong, really mindboggling. Your demonstrations are interesting. I cannot say it is beauyiful - to my taste.

May I assume that what you mean is that you don't find them attractive, as in you don't like AI creations? Either way (I don't think they're beautiful images but I do think they make interesting 'folk art' types of image), it's okay.

Somehow, the purpose of a picture - driven by human mind - is missing. But you can see how it works. It did ot identify who carries the flag and changed to action of the brooming lady. Some facial features are really well replicated - yours for instance - and some are simply replaced by somebody else. No way to reckognize the original person.

I agree most heartily. One of the nice things about the system that created the images, is that it didn't just use the people in them - they don't look like the people - is that it avoids the privacy image (and in all of the images - the people who aren't me agreed to me releasing the pictures). Yes, there is something missing in AI creations , the sort of thing which a human mind, or skill alone can add, yet to my mind, it is a useful tool - and a tool nothing more. As I said my graphic skills these days are rubbish, cartoons, yes, okay, but an image like these, I neither have the time nor the skills to make.

And AI has other uses as well.
For a long time - over thirty years I have fantasised about 'floating islands'. It's all the artist Roger Dean's fault, I suppose. His floating islands concepts from the prog rock albums of the 70s struck me as a great idea. I could see all sorts of possibilities in them. eventually it sort of coalesced into this concept that there were these 'floating islands' - isola errante, that bimbled around the lakes of Northern Italy, or not. They were lighter than air - some sort of buoyant limestone - but not so much that they floated away - especially if you build something on them. Over the years they have been inhabited by dukes, and lesser nobles - building their villas on them or people have built villages on them. in recent centuries they have been bought by the rich who have turned them into holiday retreats (or hotels).

I have sketched them, even considered making a model of one so I tried asking AI to draw me some, which it did.
From very simple to more complicated -





After a lot of changing the prompt to create the pictures I ended up with this one, which I think captures the essence of what I imagined - the multiple levels, the old buildings, even the windmill, which is used to lift water out of the lake to adjust the height at which the island floats.


Another time, more recently I was looking for inspiration to create a wizard's tower for 10mm fantasy game scenery.
Popped the words into the AI and it gave me a lot of suggestions some of which I think I can work with.




So while there is much wrong with AI - I always look for the number of fingers on a hand AI has a problem with how many fingers a person should have, I do think it has its uses.

[Michael Robert]

Hello Steve,
sure AI has endless uses. I have to employ it in my work, and I'm not working in digital domain. I see how it can replace many if not all repetitive tasks, even quite sophisticated ones - the more so if combined with robotics. You nicely demonstrate it. The only reason why it does not do this is because it is actually quite expensive - the calculation energy cost explodes - not only virtually. Human labour is still much cheaper.
In the end I am not sure whether I really like AI, but we all will have to live with it. That is for sure.
Greetings
Michael

[Dad's Army]

Hi Steve,

How nice to see you back in Grolle like this anyway. (I missed you last time)
I also like the AI version, even if it doesn't have the soul of a painter in it.
It never ceases to amaze me how much fun this works, I use it often too.
Especially when you then have those figures painted in the same setting, really genius.

Greetz Remco

[steve_pickstock]

Sadly I can't see me getting to Groenlo again. Which is a shame, I have never enjoyed an event as much as I have those.

[Dad's Army]

yeah I know, but keep the memories.
I am glad to have met you a few times there!

[steve_pickstock]

For various reasons the topic of AI-generated portraits came up at the club on Tuesday night, and I demonstrated just how simple it is to do. Long story short I ended up doing one of myself as a French General officer.

Now before you purists fire up the tumbrel and clean the rust off Mme La Guilotine, I know there is a lot wrong with this image - the style of the hat being the first and foremost, but as a bit of fun, yeah, it worked for me.

I did actually make this from a composite of several images to get a better likeness of myself and to change the sash, but it's just a bit of fun and it does remind that I need to get the Napoleonics out again and give them an outing.



Thanks for looking in.

[Santi Pérez]

Wonderful portrait, Steve. I love it!

Santi.

[steve_pickstock]

I tried a new system the other day - Meshy.
It allows you to use a picture as the input and it turns out a 3D model for you. This can be downloaded as an STL file for printing.

I had to have a go!
I gave it this picture (my old profile picture) to play with



And it gave me this

Back.

I was quite impressed. The detail at the back is a bit wishy-washy but nothing that can't be fixed with some greenstuff or bits out of the spares box, but I think It looks okay.

The disadvantage of Meshy is that there's a cost involved. It's not a massive amount, and when I tried another - free - system the quality of the file produced wasn't a patch on the Meshy one. So I stumped up for a month and downloaded it. I can blitz it for a for more files, and then cancel the payments.

It's with my friend at the moment and I hope to pick it up on Tuesday. I'll paint it up and add it to my 28 ECW forces.

[Peter]

So we have a Steve in 28 mm? Nice!

[MABO]

The classic injection mold technology seem to be nearly gone.

[steve_pickstock]

I think you should try telling the 28mm community that.

Wargames Atlantic are going crazy with their moulding work. They're turning out new sets monthly and run the moulds in the UK and then send them over to the US (to get around Trump's tariffs). They're doing stuff in 28mm and 10mm and some of it is quite fun.

Now I can't see them running moulds of a fat untidy aging cavalier, but I don't mind, they do stuff that I am looking forwards to.

[MABO]

I think you should try telling the 28mm community that.

Wargames Atlantic are going crazy with their moulding work. They're turning out new sets monthly and run the moulds in the UK and then send them over to the US (to get around Trump's tariffs). They're doing stuff in 28mm and 10mm and some of it is quite fun.

Now I can't see them running moulds of a fat untidy aging cavalier, but I don't mind, they do stuff that I am looking forwards to.

Okay you are right thinking about 28mm. I have my focus on 1/72 where in the meantime so many 3D printed figures and stuff appeared. Which is nice to expand the range, but I have to give up as a collector.

[steve_pickstock]

Sadly this is true.
There are many issues facing manufacturers and it seems like they're choosing not to take them on, rather than facing up to them. Still there are people making figures, though as I have said elsewhere the prices are getting stupid. I don't mind paying £10 to £12 for a 30+ figure set but £70 is too much - however much I think it is a stunning set.

[MABO]

I am wondering what the new Big Sets from Linear-A with the Elephant might cost.

[steve_pickstock]

Some UK price here - and these guys are offering a discount
https://www.emodels.co.uk/model-kits/pl ... cturer=359

[Ochoin]

I need another unit (2 beasties) of Nellies for my Successor army. Linear A's efforts look great but the price is a deal breaker. I can get plastic or metal for far less cost. Keep in mind, I'm a wargamer not a diorama builder.
Sadly, it looks as though Newline will get an order.

donald

[MABO]

Some UK price here - and these guys are offering a discount
https://www.emodels.co.uk/model-kits/pl ... cturer=359

Thanks for the link, so I have an idea. It will be cheaper for me, since I am living in Germany and the best way is to order directly from them.

[steve_pickstock]

So I asked my friend to print off the figure and he brought it to club for me.

Initially I was worried it might be a bit on the small side, (I was also impressed by how the AI had made my waistline look quite a lot better than it did when the photo was taken – I have lost quite a lot of weight since then) but when I brought it home I was able to compare it to a Warlord Games pikeman.





So, the Warlord figure has quite cartoonish proportions, over large hands, and the printed figure is more anatomically correct, but when you taken that into consideration it doesn't look too bad.
It still needs remedial work to improve the detail but – yeah – it works for me.