Sref: Style References!
Feb 1, 2024
Hardly any time has elapsed since our last update, but we have a truly amazing feature that I wanted to talk about today.
You can use --sref in to give your Niji 6 generation a “style reference”
usage:
/imagine [your prompt] --sref [link to your style reference image]
For example
/imagine a girl with blue hair --sref https://link_to_my_file.com/my_cool_file
“Please draw X in the style of Y” is one of the most popular requests we get around here. For example, we want to draw this concept
a girl wearing sailor outfit, holding flowers
In the style of this picture:
bunny sitting on the moon --niji 5 --style cute
Traditionally, that means using an image prompt.
Below are the results of drawing the prompt “a girl wearing sailor outfit, holding flowers,” using the above picture from niji 5, --style cute as an image prompt.
[image url] a girl wearing sailor outfit, holding flowers
It’s a good picture! However, it retains a lot of the subject matter of the original picture. For example, although there’s no mention of rabbits, rabbits show up.
Instead, if we use --sref, the subject is much more divorced from the style. You can use it to preserve consistency across pictures that are meant to be in the same universe, without having their subject matter influence each other.
a girl wearing sailor outfit, holding flowers --sref [image url]
Finding Anime in Classical Art
Personally, I love the serendipity of this feature, especially when it combines with anime. Just for fun, we can use niji to imagine anime girls into classical styles.
We can have anime girls in the style of Vermeer!
Girl with a Pearl Earring, Johannes Vermeer
a girl wearing sailor outfit, holding flowers --sref [image url]
We can have anime girls in the style of medieval marginalia!
the strange strange world of medieval marginalia (pictures decorating the margins of books)
a girl wearing sailor outfit, holding flowers --sref [image url]
We can have anime girls in the style of a fresco found in the ruins of Pompeii, depicting the poet Sappho!
"Sappho" fresco, Pompeii
a girl wearing sailor outfit, holding flowers --sref [image url]
(As a kind reminder, please be respectful about the works of living artists, when using sref)
A very cool application of the --sref flag doesn’t replicate the style: it simply takes characteristics from the style referenced pictures. You can use it to bring more abstract patterns into your generations.
A lavish suit of armor
Armour of George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland
a girl wearing sailor outfit, holding flowers --sref [image url]
A stained glass window
13th-century window from the Chartres Cathedral
a girl wearing sailor outfit, holding flowers --sref [image url]
A Ming dynasty porcelain plate
ming dynasty porcelain plate
a girl wearing sailor outfit, holding flowers --sref [image url]
For now, --sref is only available on the niji v6 alpha and midjourney v6 alpha, and will likely be updated for the niji 6 full release.
As always, thank you for your support on this journey.
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niji・journey
What is niji・journey?
Welcome to niji・journey, a state-of-the-art AI that draws custom anime illustrations, just for you! A magical collaboration, designed together between brilliant minds at Spellbrush & Midjourney. Whether you’re looking for a cute chibi character or a dynamic action scene, niji・journey can bring your vision to life. We can’t wait to see what you create!
Where can we find you?
If you’re an AI researcher and you love anime, please shoot us an email over at [email protected].
Otherwise, if you're talented and on the job market, you can find other open positions on our careers page.
For commercial inquiries and studio licensing, please contact [email protected].