We turned four yesterday. Which is rad. 🎉
Writing a birthday post to ourselves feels weird though. 😂
To celebrate our birthday, this week I'm going to go through the reasons why marketing managers and business owners choose to work with us. 🎁
The Origin of Elsa's Revenge (AI-Generated)
When Cow Hemsworth rode his beloved steed, Elsa, into battle he didn't know it would be for the last time.
From that day forth, the adventuring party would forever be known as Elsa's Revenge.
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The lessons I learned here about Gen-AI:
- I wanted the last image of the series to be a group shot of the entire party sitting around a war table, but DALE-3 really can't do group shots. It kept adding extra characters. It also struggled to make changes to specific characters to make them look more lore accurate. I tried for about an hour and eventually gave up and decided to go with the story about how the adventuring party got it's name. Once I landed on that, we got to the final image pretty quickly. I started with the image of Cow from earlier this week as well as Tim Robbins' rain scene from The Shawshank Redemption as the references. It did initially make Cow look very human, so I fed it another reference of a Minotaur from Google to fix it. It nailed it.
- I used Photoshop AI to expand it out again. Nailed it in one.
- I love everything Runway did, but I ran it 6 times trying to get it exactly the way I pictured it. It never really got the camera movement I was looking for, but what it made was still pretty unreal. In some of the earlier iterations the horse changes shapes a little, and for some reason in a bunch of them random plumes of smoke would billow out from under the horse.
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Final thoughts on AI:
The AI tools I used produced some absolutely unreal results, especially when you consider that other than the Adobe AI feautres (which are included as part of our existing Adobe subscription) I only spent $51.86AUD to access both DALE-3 and Runway (plus an extra $14.81AUD for some extra Runway credits).
However, it's not perfect. And quite often there were things I wanted to do that the software just flat out could not do. It's not good enough yet.
I've worked with some amazing animators over
Katallan casting revivify on Raz Mataz (AI-Generated)
Adventuring is dangerous, and not everybody survives. But through the magic of a good cleric we can sometimes defy death.
It is for this very reason the Elven Cleric, Katallan, revived the Drow Warlock, Raz Mataz, by fusing a diamond to his chest.
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The lessons I learned here about Gen-AI:
- This one was an absolute nightmare from start to finish, and I'm still not happy with the final outcome.
- First I used DALE-3 to make a version of Raz using an image of the Dark Magician from YuGiOh, which was the initial inspiration of the character. I didn't love the results though, so I instead used a an image his player uploaded to Roll20 as the reference, which was much better. I then tried compiling a bunch of different scenes involving Raz from the campaign and struggled to find one that works. One of Raz rescuing Dave the Paladin-Intern after he had "fallen" from the edge of an airship showed initial promise, but the composition was way too complicated. Once I'd settled on the scene of Kat reviving Raz, DALE got it pretty quickly. I generated two identical versions, one with Raz's eyes open and one with them closed.
- I used photoshop to expand the images from DALE, but I'd burned so much time in DALE I was in a bit of a rush. I didn't notice the random candles floating in the air until after I closed Photoshop, and couldn't be bothered opening it again.
- Runway struggled. I went through 16 variations. I can't even begin to tell you the weird stuff it did. It continuously gender swapped Raz, often putting him in bright red lipstick. The camera would randomly zoom right into the diamond taking up the entire frame. Lights would appear in random places. It was chaos. I could also never get Raz's eyes to open or glow red. My initial plan was to use the two images from DALE-3 and merge them in Runway, but I couldn't find a way to do that. I tried switching out the images and had Runway try to open or close the eyes based on the startin
Drahir faces a Blue Dragon (AI-Generated)
We've spent so long walking the fine line between courageous and stupid that it has become hard to tell which is which.
This is Drahir, a wood elf rogue, moments before being blasted by a blue dragon's lightning breath.
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The lessons I learned here about Gen-AI:
- DALE-3 yelled at me on this one. The composition it had on one of the earlier versions was amazing, but some of the character details were a little off. I tried to many times to get it to remake the original version with the correct character details that I received this message "You're generating images too quickly. To ensure the best experience for everyone, we have rate limits in place. Please wait for 9 minutes before generating more images. Let me know if there's anything else I can assist you with in the meantime!"
- I attempted some Photoshop AI. I tried to use it to make the sword into more of a rapier, but the results were absolutely horrific. Completely unuseable. So what you're seeing here has no Photoshop AI.
- What you're seeing here is Runway's first attempt, which I like, but I thought we could improve. I tried a few times to make the dragon roar, and to make Drahir move a little bit, but then things got weird. The sword changed shape. Drahir randomly fell over. Lighning started shooting out of the sword. All types of weird stuff. Every time I improved one element, something else would break. I also tried a camera movement that wasn't on the list of approved camera movements "dolly zoom". It didn't really do one. In hindsight, this might have been causing the other dramas.
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Prompts used:
DALE-E 3 - "Show me a rogue wood elf with a red cloak and wielding a fencing sabre. He has shoulder length brown hair, and is wearing winter hiking boots and brown leather armour. On his back is a quiver with arrows. In the scene he is standing opposite a large blue dragon. The dragon is generating lightning from it's mouth, as if it i
Dexter and Ulysses rob the Golden Goose vault (AI-Generated)
While on board the Golden Goose Riverboat Casino, Dexter - a human fighter battle master/rogue assassin, and Ulysses - a high elf Rogue/Artificer Artillerist, made their way down to the casino's safe.
Against all odds they both walked away very rich men.
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The lessons I learned here about Gen-AI:
- First things first. Human error is still a factor. I forgot Ulysses was a high elf. So he looks very human. I also forgot Ulysses was an Artillerist and did, in fact, carry a gun. I spent a bunch of time trying to convince DALE that he did not.
- This was by far the most complicated to make in DALE. I first used a sketch drawing of Ulysses as a reference to make a photorealistic version of the character. I then, in the same feed the gnomes from yesterday were created in, used a reference photo of Dexter and asked it to generate a version of that character as if he had been dressed by the gnomes. Once I had both those characters I reuploaded those as references and asked DALE to generate an image of both of those characters walking away from a bank vault. DALE struggled here a few ways. Firstly, Ulysses has a moustache, but DALE insisted on giving him a full beard. Secondly, Ulysses walks with a cane, and DALE kept either turning the cane into a stick with a gun handle, or not putting the cane in his hand but instead having it float next to him. Thirdly, I believed Ulysses did not carry a gun, despite western-aesthetic. DALE kept sneaking guns onto him, even though I told it not to. It did eventually stop, but flat out refused to remove the gun holsters, and instead put what look to be knives in there. And fourthly, for some unknown reason DALE insisted on having huge cheesy looking dollar signs on the sacks of gold. Similar to Stick's broken arm, no matter how many times I asked DALE to remove it, it failed (but would then tell me something like, "Here is the revised image with no dollar signs on the bags")
- Because DALE really dropp
The Gnome Tailors (AI-Generated)
The adventuring party managed to get their hands on some tickets to The Golden Goose - an exclusive Riverboat Casino. The only problem was the tickets weren't for them.
They knew if they were going to be able to pull off the deception and board that boat, then they needed to look the part.
So they visited two gnomish tailors, renowned for creating exquisite garments for high-society.
These are those gnomes.
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The lessons I learned here about Gen-AI:
- I went with a more iterative approach on this one. The reason was I wanted to see what DALE would come up with when really left to its own devices. It nailed the gnomes in most attempts, but the suits in the first few attempts were quite modern. I worked my way back to a 1940's style, but it still wasn't what I had in mind. I then went for medieval times, which it did, but it felt more like they were tailoring for commoners. Once I mentioned they were servicing high-society it got it. It only took a few iterations to get where I wanted to go, and it took roughly the same amount of time as when I dump heaps and heaps of info. So I guess the lesson is there are multiple ways of working that get the job done.
- Again, Photoshop AI smashed it on the first attempt. It gives 3 options, and I didn't even look at the second two options.
- I initially didn't specify that the welcome should be subtle. So of course Runway went with a wave. I think it's pretty well established AI doesn't handle hands very well - and it sure didn't! It had the right amount of fingers which was nice... but the thumb was on the wrong side. 😂
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Prompts used:
DALE-E 3 - "Show me a photorealistic image of two gnomish suit tailors sitting in the store"
"make it as if it's the 1940's"
"Can you make it look like they are tailors from medieval times"
"make it cinematic"
"Can you keep it Medieval but make the gnomes look fancy. Like they tailor for high-society"
Photoshop - "a hig
Elkadyke and Cow flee from Waterdeep Guards (AI-Generated)
Elkadyke is a law-abiding Oath of Vengeance Paladin, and Cow Hemsworth is a vegan Minotaur Barbarian with a penchant for chaos.
Elkadyke and Cow journeyed to Waterdeep to break up an underground animal fighting syndicate - an honourable endeavour.
As it sometimes goes with Cow, things did not go as planned.
To cut a long and very violent story short - the mission concluded with the pair fleeing Waterdeep pursued by a bunch of angry guards.
This is that moment.
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The lessons I learned here about Gen-AI:
- DALE-3 absolutely nailed the brief on the first attempt. I did ask for it to be photorealistic, and what I got was a very Pixar-style Cow and Elkadyke, but I kinda loved it. I did iterate for a more realistic version with angrier looking guards, which I also made videos of, but it's not as good.
- No Photoshop AI on this one. Got exactly what I needed from DALE.
- In all iterations Runway immediately turned Cow's hoofs into boots. It also really struggled with running physics and faces - particularly the guards. In the more realistic version, one guard in particular would run into and get taken out by the corner of a building and nothing I could say would make it stop.
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Prompts used:
DALE-E 3 - "Show me a photorealistic image of a female human paladin in heavy plate mail armour running along side a minotaur. They are being chased down a medieval city street by guards. Make it a wide shot, with the characters in the middle of the frame and the medieval city buildings on the left and right of the frame. The guards are in the background. The style is cinematic. The woman's facial expression is fear. The minotaur's facial expression is joy."
Runway - "tracking: the camera tracks backwards with the subjects. A woman and a minotaur are being chased through a city street by angry guards. The woman's facial expression is fear. The minotaur's facial expression is joy. It's in slow motion, and cin
Sticks in the Forest (AI-Generated)
Peter here and this week I'm testing gen-AI to find out how scared I need to be of our robot overlords who will one day replace us all.
To do this I'm using a combination of OpenAI's DALE-E 3, Adobe Photoshop's Generative AI tools powered by Adobe Firefly, and Runway AI to generate 5-second video clips. Occasionally I have provided DALE-3 a reference image, some of which was also generated using another AI - but I don't remember which one I used. The AI-generated reference images are old.
As inspiration I will be recreating moments from a long-running DnD campaign I've been involved in.
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First is Sticks, previously known as CM-22, a Warforged Artificer Armourer.
CM-22 (Combat Medic, Unit 22) was built to act as a combat medic, repairing and enhancing his injured Warforged compatriots on the battlefield. In battle, CM-22's unit was over run and his arm was cut off.
CM-22 fled into a nearby forest to recover. On the brink of death, he was rescued by druids of the Emerald Enclave. The druids treated CM-22 with kindness and provided him a safe space to repair himself.
To repay his debt to the Emerald Enclave, CM-22 decided to join their faction, and in honour of this renamed himself Sticks.
This video is of Sticks in the forest, moments before being rescued by druids.
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The lessons I learned here about Gen-AI:
- I've noticed this previously with other AI's too, but DALE-3 really struggles depicting any kind alterations to the humanoid form. In Stick's case, at this moment he is only supposed to have one arm. DALE gave me 14 iterations, ensuring me the next one would definitely only have one arm, but never delivered.
- Photoshop AI took the initial image Dale-3 produced and expanded it into a wide shot. It did it in one attempt. Very impressed.
- Runway really struggled to see Sticks against the tree. It kept superimposing it's own version of him on top of the one already there until I specific
Finding the perfect song for an edit
Finding the perfect song for an edit can be tricky!
But when you find it 😘🤌
Wrestlemania
Google made it very clear that Jack Russell dogs and cats don't mix.
Google was wrong. Stella is my mum's Jack Russell, and her and Ninja are best friends.
Every December they have their annual wrestling match.
Ninja is yet to win one, but I have high hopes for this year.
Ninja is the fitness king
Ninja takes his fitness regime extremely seriously.
Working with @ruckus.studio on this 3D piece for Trout Creative was a blast! Proof that you don’t need to be in the same city to create some movie magic. 🛞 💨
