Artificial intelligence (AI) is making a big impact worldwide. Many tools that turn text into pictures are available. If you want to make very lifelike pictures using AI, MidJourney is one of the best choices. In this article, we will guide you through the steps to begin. We will also share some tips to help you make the best use of it. Let’s begin!
What is Midjourney?
Midjourney is a great example of a computer program that uses AI to create pictures from written descriptions. It’s one of the most popular tools for making AI art, like Dall-E and Stable Diffusion.
Unlike its competition, Midjourney doesn’t share its inner workings because it’s funded by itself and kept secret. Moreover, it uses smart computer learning methods, like big language and diffusion models. The pictures it makes can be really surprising and look very real.
Unlike other AI picture generators, you can’t try Midjourney for free. You have to pay for a subscription to use it. The cheapest subscription is $10 each month. We think it’s worth it because the pictures it makes are detailed, lifelike, and creative.
It’s also not too hard to start using. We tried it and quickly made detailed pictures of a happy dog in a truck, just by typing a simple description.
How to Use Midjourney?
As mentioned before, Midjourney doesn’t have a free try-out anymore. To use it and make computer art, you have to get a subscription. We’ll guide you through the steps to set up your Discord account and show you how to get a Midjourney subscription.
Step 1: Getting Discord Ready
To make awesome computer art with Midjourney, you need to make or log into your Discord account. If you already have one, you can skip this step. First, go to the Midjourney page. Click on “Join the Beta.”
This takes you to a new page where you can make a Discord account. Fill in the needed information and click “continue.” Or, if you already have Discord, click “Already have an account.”
Next, click the + button at the top left of the Discord bar. This helps you add the Midjourney group to your Discord account.
A box will pop up with choices. Click “join a server” for this guide.
Then, click “don’t have an invite.” This lets you look through groups you want to join.
Find Midjourney in the featured groups and click on it. After you log in, you’ll go to the Midjourney Discord group. If you’re using the free version, you can’t make pictures, but you can explore how it works. Look at other people’s art by going to different rooms, like “newbies-4,” to see how Midjourney works.
Step 2: Getting a Midjourney Subscription
To make pictures, you have to get a Midjourney subscription. We’ll show you the easiest way.
At the bottom of the page, there’s a box for typing. Click there and type /subscribe. This will show the subscription options. Pick one of the plans and click subscribe to Midjourney.
Then, press “enter” on your keyboard.
The computer helper will take you to the subscription page.
There are three plans:
- Basic, which is $10 each month, gives you 200 picture creations, and a private chat room.
- The next plan, Standard, costs $30 per month, lets you make pictures for 15 hours, and has unlimited slow picture making. It also gives you a private chat room.
- The Pro plan is $60 a month, gives you 30 hours of fast picture making, a free chatroom, and unlimited slow picture making.
If you’re just starting, the basic plan is good. You can try things out, make pictures, and learn how it all works. If you like it, you can upgrade to a better plan. Just type /subscribe and you can change your plan easily.
Read More: Meta to Launch AI Chatbots on its Platforms Next Month
Understanding MidJourney’s Tools and Features
When you start using Midjourney, it might feel a bit overwhelming. To understand how things work, it’s good to visit the rooms for new users. But with so many people in those rooms, it’s hard to see your pictures.
It’s better to get the Discord app. With it, you can talk privately with Midjourney. This makes looking at and changing your pictures easier. To get the app, click the green bar at the top of your screen. Discord knows your computer and will suggest the right app for you.
Once you have the app, click the Discord picture at the top left to enter your private chat room.
Using private chat is less busy. You can make pictures and see them in peace, without looking at other people’s pictures. But being in group rooms is good too. You can get ideas and see how others make nice pictures.
Making AI Art with Midjourney
Before you start making special AI art, you should know a few simple commands. First, every command begins with a / symbol. For example, if you want to make a new picture, type something like this: /imagine a super real picture of a dog in a truck bed. In less than a minute, you’ll see your first pictures.
When your pictures show up, you’ll see buttons below them. The top buttons, U1 to U4, help make the pictures bigger. If you want to make the second picture bigger, click U2.
On the right side of the top row, there’s a button called “regenerate.” If you don’t like your first pictures, click this button. Midjourney will try again with your idea.
The second row of buttons, V1 to V4, are for making variations. Click the button for the picture you want to change. Midjourney will make different versions of it.
Besides the “imagine” command, there are more commands. Here’s a list of the basic commands in Midjourney.
- Imagine Commands
If you want to change how your pictures look when you use the “imagine” command, you can add more details after /imagine. You can pick things like how big the picture is and how it looks.
For example, we used this command to make a picture of cats and dogs with good quality: /imagine cats and dogs –q3 –iw 0.25. We told Midjourney to make a picture of cats and dogs, with quality level 3, and a weight of 0.25. The weight is how close the picture is to your words.
A higher weight means the picture is more like your words. A lower weight lets the computer be more creative.
You can also change the shape of your pictures. Normally, Midjourney makes square pictures, 1024 x 1024 pixels. If you want a different shape, you can use the aspect ratio command.
For example, we used this to make a wide picture: a beautiful, super real scene with mountains and a frozen lake where kids are ice skating –ar 16:9.
But, after version 5, some commands don’t work anymore. You can’t use the width (–w) or height (–h) anymore.
- Advanced Tricks
With image tricks, you can put your own pictures into Midjourney. You can mix them with image weight (–iw) to change how much your picture matters compared to your written idea.
In addition, there’s also Remix, which lets you change your ideas, settings, model versions, or picture shapes. You can use Remix to change the lighting, make the main part different, or make cool combinations.
To use remixing, type /prefer remix. For example, you can take a big picture of kids skating on a frozen lake and change it to penguins skating.
You can also use multi tricks. This lets you make more than one thing in a picture. You do this by using two colons (::) in your idea. For example, typing /imagine cat tails makes a different picture than /imagine cat::tails.
Lastly, there’s permutation tricks. This makes different versions of one picture you ask for. You type different choices in curly brackets, separated by commas. For instance, to make different colored flowers, you’d type: /imagine a {red, orange, yellow, blue} bunch of flowers.
Closing Thoughts
No matter what kind of AI art you want, Midjourney can make it. One cool thing about making AI art is you don’t need to know how to draw or paint to be creative. You can use ready-to-use tools like blending or change things like size, style, or image importance. This way, you can make special artworks that will amaze you.
For more such tutorials and step-by-step guides, don’t forget to follow Hazehunt.
