Here's why I'm returning to the Deep Dream Generator to do all my A.I. work once again. I didn't see it coming, but I'm glad it did.
So this is an interesting turn of events. I've returned to the Deep Dream Generator (DDG) to do ALL my AI work once again, and I'm surprised to say that I couldn't be happier about it!
To be honest, I never actually 'left' DDG. What I did do was, (for the most part), stop publishing publicly there. I also stopped paying for my account and got by just by using the services with my free account afterward. If you've been following my AI adventures here at MisterX.ca you know why I did this, if not you can see why HERE, in an article I wrote about it a year ago.
In a nutshell, DDG's new algorithm had become hostile towards my published worX at the site because I wasn't sharing my prompts and I wasn't getting clicks on my TRY button as a consequence. It's still the same today, but it's what got me to cancel my paid subscription there and go shopping around for a new place to create at.
This lead me to find Playground.com, which gave me practically endless daily renders to create with, something I found to be an eXceptional tool when creating with AI. Don't like something? NO PROBLEM! Just keep changing your written prompt and try, try again until the AI gets it right! I absolutely LOVED this feature, (who wouldn't?), and became addicted to creating this way, (see HERE).
Playground had a downfall though. The images I created there just weren't as good as the images I made at Deep Dream Generator. I got around this by taking the images I created THERE and then bringing those images back to DDG to 'fine tune' them! I'd use them as a visual prompt to feed into DDG's system to get a half decent looking final image, and when DDG introduced their AI Upscaler, that was my new favorite 'toy' that would fiX up my images for me. I fell in love with DDG's AI Upscaler, but was limited to only 30 uses of it per month with my free account.
Somehow though I was getting by just fine and thought I had found my AI creator's heaven! I'd do all my artistic heavy lifting at Playground, then bring those images back to DDG to polish them up and make them 'just so'!
Then recently my PLAYGROUND CLOSED. I was quite devistated about it as it had become such an important part of my creation process. I knew that I'd have to find a way to replace it, but didn't know HOW to go about doing so. I had to start shopping around.
My first instinct was to go check out Midjourney and NightCafe, two of the most popular AI creating websites. I was turned off by both of them! I don't find Midjourney to be user friendly on their Discord server, and NightCafe is heavily invested in their 'share' culture, where everyone is encouraged to take your image and 'evolve' it. I continued to shop around, probably checking out another 10 or so online apps. I had continuous disappointment, as none of them produced images that were up to my standards.
After doing all this work seeking a new creation outlook, it suddenly dawned on me to look deeper into DDG. I had been so turned off by my past eXperiences with their algorithm woes that I hadn't really thought to seriously consider coming back 'full time' to the site. They had pissed me off so badly in the past that the thought really hadn't crossed my mind! Now that I think about it this really surprises me. I love the site, I love the people who use the site, I LOVE the AI Upscaler at the site, why was I trying to avoid the site?!
BECAUSE OF THE STUPID ALGORITHM AT THE SITE!!!
I guess I will NEVER get past the stupidity of using the TRY button in the algorithm's ranking system, it makes no sense to me. Why is an image, that should be judged on the way it looks ALONE, be pushed up the ladder of success because people share their prompts? Of course the answer is: It shouldn't be! Artwork should be judged on how it LOOKS and on how many LIKES it gets. Judging artwork on how many people COPY IT is like judging artwork on how much green it has. IT MAKES NO SENSE!
OK, sorry about that. I guess I still need to vent about it all! But this is the only reason I can think of that subconsciously was making me avoid DDG as my new full time creative home. I still contend that Deep Dream Generator has lost a TON of eXcellent artists over this, and will continue to do so as long as it is a factor there.
Anyway, that all aside, I remembered my love for DDG's AI Upscaler and how I was finding the 30 upscales per month with my free account 'limiting'. I decided to write to the DDG gods and ask them about their least eXpensive plan to see if that would suit my needs. DDG has always had eXcellent customer service, and in no time I received their reply. The $9.00/month plan would give me unlimited upscales and would bring my free 70 energy points up to 120 energy points. Before I stopped paying DDG, I was paying $20.00/month for this, so their prices had come down substantially since then. Also, the price in energy points to create images had also come down since I was paying for my account in the past. This was a BIG selling point for me! I decided to fork out 9 buX a month to DDG and try out a paid account with them once again.
WHY I'M GONNA KEEP PAYING THEM:
As mentioned above, this is more than 50% less eXpensive than what I was paying DDG when I stopped paying over a year ago. These are HUGE savings for me! Add that I get unlimited AI Upscales for this price, and it becomes an almost essential service for me! The canvas size I work with, 1024 x 796, only costs 3 energy points to upscale, so I get a LOT of freedom while creating with the upscaler.
ALSO, the price in energy points to create with the non-PRO options has come way down. Just 4 energy points to create with them. This isn't the near limitless renders that I once had at Playground, but it's close! My 120 energy points could give me 30 renders at this cost, and I would seldom hit that many at Playground while creating there anyway! I find the price is very reasonable.
FluX - This was a PRO option I didn't try out with my free account. Now that I've been playing with it, I'M IN LOVE with this option! Why aren't more people at DDG using this?! Here is the first image I created with it...
I had no idea that detailed and realistic looking worX like this could even be made at DDG! It costs a few buX to produce, but is well worth the charge in energy points, IMHO. It'll be a fantastic new tool for me moving forward. I still need to play with the other PRO options a bit, but FluX has won my heart over so far!
THINGS THAT CONTINUE TO TURN ME OFF AT DDG:
I'm sure it's no surprise to anyone that the broken algorithm at DDG is at the top of my list here! I will always be in the opinion that artwork should be judged for what it is: ARTWORK. The current system at DDG is a popularity algorithm that judges pictures by who makes them and who copies them, instead of how they look.
This has lead to much of the artwork on the site looking the same! So many people are hitting the TRY button these days that we aren't seeing a lot of originality at the site, and the works displayed are often subpar there. There is a serious COPY-CAT-CULTURE at Deep Dream Generator which is pushing images to the top of the site that often don't deserve to be there, (on their looks alone), which in turn brings the entire site and what it is capable of doing down, especially for new folks who might be checking out the site.
The above might also be responsible for the over use of the AI Vision option at DDG. Although not always the case, these AI Vision images often have a 'style' that is unique to the option, making the images look like they were all created by the same person! Some folks manage to get around/past this, but I haven't figured how HOW they are yet! For the most part though, AI Vision all looks the 'same' to me.
AS FOR ME, NOW THAT I'M BACK:
Well, I've only been back to DDG in a paid aspect for about a week now, but I really feel that I am back to stay, at least as far as my creation process goes. I love the AI upscaler, which I find superior to many other AI sites, and FluX is incredible and will keep me coming back for more!
As for publishing my work at DDG, I've tried a few pieces since coming back and it's the same old story. I get seriously penelized by the algorithm for not sharing my prompts and conforming to their rules, so my work gets pushed way down and doesn't get much eXposure. I'd like to publish publicly more often, but I just don't see myself going through that irritation on a regular basis :(
If you like my work come back here soon to see the new stuff, or follow me on Facebook, (whose algorithms also suck these days), as I post there also.
Anyway, it really feels good to me to be back at DDG in a full time capacity to create my work at. My love for the place and people there has never waivered, even though other things about it still tend to drive me bonkers at times! I got over them before though, and I'll get over them now too!
Happy Holidays to YOU!
"X"
Friday the 13th of December, 2024