Imagine Weekly – Issue 14 [September 6th]

Welcome to Issue 14 of Imagine Weekly 👋

Hello to all existing subscribers, glad to have you back. Hello to our new subscribers, welcome to the party. This week MidJourney introduced personalization for their Niji Model. (If you haven’t tried that model yet, you should! Even without the personalization feature). Even-though it’s mostly recognized for being a model solely focused on anime, it’s meant to be used for illustrations too. So in case you’re doing conceptual drawings (e.g. architecture or product design), you should give it a try. If you like what you’re seeing, head over to the MidJourney website and start ranking niji images to enable model personalization to get even better results.

In this issue you’ll find:

• 🤩 Most Exciting Update

• 📖 TL;DR; Weekly Recap of the Office Hours (or the extended recap)

• 🎨 Some new srefs to tinker with

🤩 Most Exciting Update

I am really looking forward to Midjourney's upcoming Storytelling Feature 📖! The anticipation is building as the development team prepares to roll out testing with guides and moderators in the coming weeks. This tool promises to revolutionize the way we create and share narratives, offering a suite of robust options that will empower users to craft more immersive and engaging stories. Whether you're a seasoned storyteller or a budding writer, this feature is set to enhance our creative capabilities, making it easier than ever to bring our imaginative worlds to life. I can't wait to dive in and explore all the possibilities this new tool will unlock! It’s great to see that MidJourney is exploring ways other than “just” further enhancing their models and web ui but taking the effort to develop features which set them apart from their competitors. Let’s wait and see how long it’ll take for them to release a version 🙂 

Office Hours TL;DR; Recap 2024-08-4

Personalization System Overhaul 🎨: Major update aimed at increasing user engagement; considering mandatory personalization.

Image Editing Tools 🖼️: Import feature for non-Midjourney images and depth control features in development.

Model Releases 📦: Uncertainty around Version 6.2; Version 7 in development with improved performance.

Video Model Development 🎥: Testing with V6.1; debating release strategy.

Website Updates 🌐: Minor improvements, mobile app wrapper, and new rating system.

Storytelling Feature 📖: New tool in testing phase.

Feature Discussions 🛠️: Depth control, color palette, and text generation improvements.

Technical Aspects ⚙️: Upscalers, no relaxed mode, and earth-based data centers.

Community and Research 🧪: Ongoing aesthetic research and personality tests.

Miscellaneous 🗂️: Hiring challenges, focus on fundamental research, and future JPEG compression for older images.

🌈 Related

Lipsync just go shockingly good

🎨 Inspiration, Prompts and Srefs

For today's issue, I've gathered some bold srefs for you to save and tinker with.

👋 A new kid is on the block (at least soon 😆)

Currently I am working on a new tool to create product shots with AI. Yep, there are already tools out there which are doing an okayish job, but non of those make the subject blend in perfectly. I’ll share the progress in the upcoming week as this will be a #buildinpublic style project. Stay tuned for more.

See you next week 👋🤖

I hope you enjoyed this issue of Imagine Weekly. If you found it helpful, we'd be thrilled if you could share it with your colleagues and friends. Please feel free to reach out with any suggestions or feedback.

To close this issue I’ve got something great 📺️ . Have fun and see you next week 👋 

La Baye Aréa, French TV Series - Opening credits

The Spaghetti Party goes into the next round.

Not sure what’s going on this week, so many videos… Maybe we should start regulating AI…. 🫠

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