Star Wars

[Carol the Dabbler]

1 hour ago, sittything said:

What got me hooked was that in the sequels everyone felt more real to me; the characters felt more fleshed out.

Having noticed the same thing, I'm now wondering whether at least some of the difference is due to the new management -- with Lucas having sold his production company to Disney before VII - IX were produced.

 

[Artemis]

"#that's it, that's the show"

[Link]

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

For all you original-trilogy fans -- got this (titled "An Alderaan Christmas") as a belated holiday email from an old friend:

He says he got it from a friend who says he got it from "the bowels of the internet."  If anyone knows who should be credited, please let me know.

 

[J.P.]

Looks like an AI-image.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

1 hour ago, J.P. said:

Looks like an AI-image.

That's what my friend thought too.  I defer to both of you, because that's something I know very little about -- other than, of course, "garbage in -- garbage out" (in other words, the accuracy of what goes into a computer determines the accuracy of what comes out).

Is there something specific that makes this "look AI," or is it some sort of overall "how it feels" kinda thing?

In any case, I assume that some human came up with the concept, chose specific photos of Han and Leia, described the other elements (e.g., the box & what may be a Christmas tree), and then turned some AI software loose on it.  So in some sense, it would be unfair to claim that the picture was "created by AI," when all it did was follow directions.  Or am I missing the point?

 

[J.P.]

After a while, you get a feeling for it.

The cheap ones, made by amateurs are not hard to recognize. Look for illogical parts. Hands were good to recognize - wrong number, unnatural positions etc. Leia's left hand and the white finger on her right look strange.

Then, there are illogical details- e.g., chairs or tables, the number and position of the legs - because AI doesn't understand how those pieces work.
Clothing: does it work? are buttons where they are supposed to be, do they have respective buttonholes? Here we see the creases of Leia's dress look odd, esp. the left sleeve.
The window in the background: even an unskilled painter wouldn't make a mistake like this.

Usually, AI cannot write, here I suppose the letters were added later, and the perspective is a bit off.

As for how it works.
The algorithms analyse pictures available online and learn how things look like. What is a horse? Shapes, colors, positions, it's not totally unlike the way we learn to paint by looking up photographs and pictures made by others.
They also learn about styles, like what is a style of a particular artist (and here is where the copyright problems start), what is an aquarell, pastell etc.
Then they learn by being used by ppl online: what variations they chose, what is considered as good looking etc. So the artists are also training partners.

The descriptions (aka prompts) are a whole science. There are all kinds of rules, a lot of experimenting. Getting what you really want can take hours and hard work.

The problem that I see is that you also can get bad images pretty quickly and ppl seem not to care. I'm regularly spammed at FB by such images and some are ridiculous. Ppl believe they are real photos though. Which is a huge field for fakes and a reason I got allergic to AI images after a short period of fascination.

Recently I read that AI images flooded the net to the extent, that the algorithms started to learn from them and that caused the mistakes to cumulate. 🤪 So maybe AI turns to be useless.

[J.P.]

And here is an interesting text about the other use of AI
https://daviddlevine.com/2023/12/ai-is-poisoning-your-brain/

 

[Caya]

Thanks for that great analysis, J.P. - I kinda got the impression too that it was AI but couldn’t put my finger on it, other than that particular way it’s blurry and that it’s snowing inside.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I had noticed the "blurry" myself, but have also seen that on items that I take to be intentionally fuzzed-up photos, to make them look like artwork.

What do you mean about the windows, J.P.?

As for the snow inside, Martina, I think I see what you're talking about (over by the windows?), but had taken that to be additional holiday lights, like the ones behind Leia's head.

Fortunately, none of those particular things bother me, so I can still enjoy the picture.

 

[Caya]

One of those white spots is right on the couch, next to Han's elbow, which would be a rather unusual placement and also doesn't lighten up his jacket. On which there are several as well, most noticeably above the left-side pocket. Or it's washed out there, which admittedly is a realistic possibility with Han.

[J.P.]

Carol what I meant with the window - the horizontal strut in the middle has a break. Why?

While other details might be attributed to the poor skills of the artist*, like the strange shadows on Leia's face or her teeth, or the way hair is shown, and the "snowing" as adding a bit of Christmas mood - what sane human would do this?

Too bad posting images here is so complicated without a hosting service.

*it definitely doesn't look like a photograph.

[Carol the Dabbler]

1 hour ago, Caya said:

One of those white spots is right on the couch, next to Han's elbow, which would be a rather unusual placement and also doesn't lighten up his jacket.

Hadn't noticed that one, but couldn't it be a reflection of something?

1 hour ago, Caya said:

there are several as well, most noticeably above the left-side pocket. Or it's washed out there

Not seeing that one, but yeah, could be.  Oh wait a minute -- the little teeny one?  Could be dandruff!

5 minutes ago, J.P. said:

what I meant with the window - the horizontal strut in the middle has a break. Why?

The smaller window?  Looks to me like one of Martina's snowflakes -- and at least it's *close* to being outdoors.  

 

[J.P.]

Okay, this is possible.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yeah, who knows what the AI had in "mind"?