This is one of my most unique pieces, so I'm trying to figure out what makes it work.
If you have comments or feedback, feel free to leave it here. If you'd like to commission a custom 3D model, I can help you with that. All prompts used with the Midjourney AI model.
My original Space Trip image:
The first four prompts are just the straight prompt generated from Midjourney. I haven't had much luck with employing these prompts whole and unaltered, but here we go.
Midjourney "Describe" suggestion 1. I love the look of these!
Prompt:
sci fi space game saturn, in the style of sculptural chaos, fantastical contraptions, digital airbrushing, tangled nests --q .25
Midjourney "Describe" suggestion 2. At least we have "spaceships" in there.
Prompt:
multiple spaceships with red and blue lights in the sky, in the style of fantastical contraptions, daz3d, topcor 58mm f/1.4, craola, hyperspace noir, dynamic and action-packed, changelingcore --q .25
Midjourney "Describe" suggestion 3. Getting an Atlantis feel from these.
Prompt:
the large fleet of small alien ships fly over space, in the style of digital airbrushing, fantastical contraptions, clyde caldwell, kinetic sculpture, die brücke, dark cyan and emerald, vibrant, high-energy imagery --q .25
Midjourney "Describe" suggestion 4. That's actually not terrible, but still pretty far from what I made.
Prompt:
an image of a spaceship flying in space, in the style of fantastical contraptions, daz3d, whimsical cyborgs, die brücke, airbrush art, changelingcore, radiant clusters --q .25
The next two use the original image itself as part of the prompt, as well as a hand-crafted text prompt based on the "describe" suggestions. This one is in the Niji engine, which is tuned on anime.
Prompt:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/989274712590917653/1096443036503920720/spaceship08.jpg a space ship and several other spaceships flying in space in the background, in the style of fantastical contraptions, digital airbrushing, vibrant, high-energy imagery, bugcore, sci fi ships are flying over a colorful galaxy --q .5 --niji 5
Identical prompt, but in the Midjourney V5 engine. I liked these results better.
Prompt:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/989274712590917653/1096443036503920720/spaceship08.jpg a space ship and several other spaceships flying in space in the background, in the style of fantastical contraptions, digital airbrushing, vibrant, high-energy imagery, bugcore, sci fi ships are flying over a colorful galaxy --q .5 --v 5
The next thing I tried was taking the image prompt out. It seems to have mostly increased the detail level and made the ships in the background not just identical copies of the central focal ship, which is a nice touch.
Prompt:
a space ship and several other spaceships flying in space in the background, in the style of fantastical contraptions, digital airbrushing, vibrant, high-energy imagery, bugcore, sci fi ships are flying over a colorful galaxy --q .5 --v 5
The ships seemed a bit too much goofy fantasy, so I switched out the style for "hyper-realism" which brought us closer again.
Prompt:
a space ship and several other spaceships flying in space in the background, in the style of hyper-realism, digital airbrushing, vibrant, high-energy imagery, bugcore, sci fi ships are flying over a colorful galaxy --q .5 --v 5
Now we're starting on the fine-tuning. I recalled that one of my inspirations for the original image was the huge detectors in the Large Hadron Collider, so I added "LHC details", though this mostly seems to have made it more busy.
Prompt:
a space ship and several other spaceships flying in space in the background, in the style of hyper-realism, digital airbrushing, vibrant, high-energy imagery, bugcore, sci fi ships are flying over a colorful galaxy, LHC details --q .5 --v 5
Another of my style experiments had "metallic rotation" as a prompt fragment, so let's throw that in too.
Prompt:
a space ship and several other spaceships flying in space in the background, in the style of hyper-realism, digital airbrushing, vibrant, high-energy imagery, bugcore, sci fi ships are flying over a colorful galaxy, LHC details, metallic rotation details --q .5 --v 5
We're pretty far from the big blank reflective black chrome in the original image, so the next few were working toward getting that back. This one just seems to have turned the frenetic detail up to 11 though.
Prompt:
a space ship and several other spaceships flying in space in the background, in the style of hyper-realism, digital airbrushing, vibrant, high-energy imagery, bugcore, sci fi ships are flying over a colorful galaxy, LHC details, metallic rotation details, black chrome panels --q .5 --v 5
"large smooth black chrome panels" is closer, but still not quite right.
Prompt:
a space ship and several other spaceships flying in space in the background, in the style of hyper-realism, digital airbrushing, vibrant, high-energy imagery, bugcore, sci fi ship flying over a colorful galaxy, LHC details, metallic rotation details, large smooth black chrome panels --q .5 --v 5
"large smooth organic curved reflective black chrome panels" isn't quite doing it either.
Prompt:
a space ship and several other spaceships flying in space in the background, in the style of hyper-realism, digital airbrushing, vibrant, high-energy imagery, bugcore, sci fi ship flying over a colorful galaxy, LHC details, metallic rotation details, large smooth organic curved reflective black chrome panels --q .5 --v 5
The original ship is dominated by the huge central engine, which is also where the black chrome is concentrated, so I tried focusing there.
Prompt:
a space ship and several other spaceships flying in space in the background, in the style of hyper-realism, digital airbrushing, vibrant, high-energy imagery, bugcore, sci fi ship flying over a colorful galaxy, large smooth organic curved reflective black chrome engines with LHC details and metallic rotation details --q .5 --v 5
That prompt was pretty close, so for this final one I cranked up the quality to see what Midjourney was capable of doing with this idea. Not bad!
Prompt:
a space ship and several other spaceships flying in space in the background, in the style of hyper-realism, digital airbrushing, vibrant, high-energy imagery, bugcore, sci fi ship flying over a bright colorful galaxy, large smooth organic curved reflective black chrome engines with LHC details and metallic rotation details --q 1.25 --v 5
Comparing the final results to my original Space Trip image.
I can see several significant differences, and not all of them positive.
Right off the bat, the AI version is more fun to look at. Brighter colors, better composition, excellent distribution of detail.
My original has a lot of intentional design elements that the AI doesn't know how to pick up on. The multi-layer sail-like shield seperating the habitable "shuttle" portion from the main "engine" portion. The delicate open engine contrasted with the beefy cowling. The unique pulsed contracting torroidal drive plume, which kind of reminds me of the Jetsons now that I think about it. The exposed reactor and tubing. The strict symmetry, broken only by the external tanks. None of those elements were present in the AI description, and I doubt the AI could have come up with a convincingly integrated design even if it could recognize the components.
If I were to do it again, I would certainly use the AI to make a general composition, and generate concept ideas. But as a finished product, the AI art appears to be all form and no function.
Just for fun though, here's the final prompt with my critique integrated.
Prompt:
a space ship and several other spaceships flying in space in the background, in the style of hyper-realism, digital airbrushing, vibrant, high-energy imagery, bugcore, sci fi ship flying over a bright colorful galaxy, large smooth organic curved reflective black chrome engines with LHC details and metallic rotation details, The multi-layer sail-like shield seperate the habitable "shuttle" portion from the main "engine" portion. The delicate open engine is contrasted with the beefy black cowling. The unique pulsed contracting torroidal drive plume, like the Jetsons. The exposed reactor and tubing. The strict symmetry, broken only by the external tanks. --q 0.75 --v 5
Like nearly all other artists, Midjourney does not respond particularly well to critique.