We looked at an Ideogram upgrade a couple of weeks back, and I had to take another look because Gen AI Upgrades are coming Fast and Furious. This week we take a look at some new and some old, and some very very very old.

RECRAFT

Recraft is another generative art creator on my radar. Known as Recraft v3, this platform is capable of photorealistic and vector graphic generation, with an impressive editor independent of its models.

Anna Veronika Dorogush, Recraft’s founder, emphasizes its unique approach as a design tool rather than just an image generator, highlighting features like consistent style creation and exceptional text rendering. Recraft’s text accuracy left something to be desired in my testing, and the claim that its aesthetic consistency advancements set it apart from competitors like Midjourney and Ideogram was also not proven. But its editor capability was cool, and I stacked it against Firefly for Mockups; overall, they tied. Recraft edged ahead on background removal and vector output from raster, which I found impressive. And most impressive, the beginning of building your own models using your own art… 

PERSONALIZE MIDJOURNEY

MidJourney offers Editor, like the Ideogram Canvas we looked at a couple of weeks ago, but you need to have the yearly subscription to try it, and I only have monthly subscriptions that I frequently turn off.

MidJourney also introduced Personalization. They describe it: “When you personalize our models, our system ‘gets to know you.’ It fills in the details. We think this can dramatically improve your creative process. You may even find it to be a new form of self-discovery.” I have personalized 600+ images so far and gained two free fast hours, which is nice. I do not see a huge change in my prompting.  The top row of poinsettias is not personalized. On the bottom row I see more clean lines and graphically easier to print images, which is generally what I opted for, but overall not much difference. It still looks like MidJourney.

MICROSOFT PAINT? Yup.

Microsoft integrated AI into its classic Paint application, a staple that has stayed the same since 1985. (collective groan) This marks a significant leap in enhancing user creativity, they claim. With the latest Windows 11 update, Paint features AI tools like Generative Fill and Generative Erase, allowing users to add or remove elements in their “artwork” using simple text prompts. Microsoft’s Copilot+ and DALLE powers these tools and requires specific hardware configurations for optimal performance.

The Generative Fill feature enables users to enhance their images by adding AI-generated objects, while Generative Erase helps remove unwanted items without disrupting the background. This update is part of Microsoft’s broader strategy to embed AI across its consumer products, aiming to “simplify tasks and unleash creativity” even in basic applications like Paint. These innovations are available initially only to Windows Insider program members, with broader access expected soon.

Ugh, we finally talked everyone OUT of using Paint. What’s next, Jerry Garcia giving me driving directions? Say it isn’t so.