What is Midjourney?
Midjourney is an AI art generator that allows users to create stunning visuals simply by providing text prompts. It has quickly become one of the most popular AI art tools.
News & Statistics
Midjourney experienced meteoric growth since launching in 2022. The Discord server already has over 15 million members as of early 2023. Estimates suggest Midjourney has between 2-3 million active users. The company appears to be self-funded and profitable.
AI Model & Dataset
Very little is publicly known about Midjourney’s AI model and training dataset. It likely uses a diffusion model trained on millions of images scraped from across the internet without consent. The lack of transparency is controversial.
Getting Started
Beta Phase
Midjourney originally launched in a closed beta in early 2022. Demand to access the AI art generator skyrocketed as initial samples spread across social media. Midjourney transitioned to a public beta in July 2022, allowing anyone to sign up.
Discord Server Link
New users must join Midjourney’s Discord server to access the AI bot. The invite link can be found on their website. Setting up an account only takes seconds after joining the server.
Beginner’s Guide
New users should check out beginner tutorials to learn how Midjourney works. Helpful guides explain core concepts like prompts, commands, and parameters. This allows new users to start generating images quickly.
Add Midjourney Bot to Your Server
The Midjourney bot can be added to other Discord servers beyond the official one. This allows generating images in a private environment. The process only takes a few steps.
How to Use Midjourney?
Commands & Parameters
Mastering Midjourney involves learning commands and parameters to control outcomes. Experienced users can make highly detailed, customized images by tweaking settings. Common adjustments include style, quality, aspect ratio and more.
Prompts
Writing effective prompts is key to generating great images. Prompt engineering guides provide examples and tips to create better prompts. Prompt builders and AI assistants also help streamline prompt creation.
Styles
Leveraging different art styles and techniques expands Midjourney’s capabilities. Users should research how to accurately describe drawing styles, lighting, and emulating famous artists when prompting.
Inpainting & Outpainting
Although Midjourney lacks native inpainting and outpainting, these edits can be done through Stable Diffusion or DALL-E integrations. This allows users to expand on Midjourney creations.
Upscaling
Mastering Midjourney’s upscaling methods is important for printing or editing. Options like regular upscaling and “uplight” optimize images for applications like canvas prints.
Experimental Features
Midjourney has experimental features like “test” and “remaster” parameters. Remix mode also provides advanced image editing capabilities within Midjourney.
Patterns & Tiles
The “–tile” parameter generates seamless patterns ideal for merch and prints. This opens new commercial applications for Midjourney art.
Deleting Images
Unused images can be deleted easily from the Midjourney app. This declutters user accounts over time.
Banned Words
Midjourney prohibits offensive content and bans certain words. Understanding these policies ensures accounts remain in good standing.
Algorithm Versions
Switching between Midjourney versions like v3 and v4 provides different results. The newest v5 version produces striking, hyperrealistic images.
Examples & Inspiration
The Midjourney community feed showcases examples from top creators. This provides inspiration and ideas for novice users learning how to maximize Midjourney’s capabilities.
API Access
Midjourney currently does not offer official API access. However, developers have found workarounds to build third-party tools and integrations.
Industry-Specific Guides
Anime & Manga
“Niji mode” tailors Midjourney’s AI specifically for anime/manga styles. This makes it easier for new creators to generate cohesive results.
Architecture
Midjourney can quickly ideate building designs and concepts. The results push architectural creativity in new directions.
Character Design & Storytelling
Users can create consistent characters with the right prompting techniques. Methods like theme infusion also improve character depth. Integrations with ChatGPT enable story generation.
Game Development
Midjourney accelerates concept art and asset creation for indie game development. This provides a productivity boost to small teams.
Logo & Graphic Design
Businesses use Midjourney to easily iterate logo designs and marketing assets. However, final designs still need human refinement.
Photography
Midjourney opens possibilities like effortless product knolling shots. But limitations around consistent portraits remain.
Product Design
Agencies use Midjourney to present clients with design concepts much faster. This reduces development and revision costs.
Merch & Print-on-Demand
Patterns, apparel illustrations, and other Midjourney art are widely used in print-on-demand businesses. The art cuts production costs.
Subscription & Pricing
Using Midjourney for Free
New users get a free 25-image trial. While limited, some stretch trials via multi-accounts. Free accounts cannot use images commercially.
Pricing Plans & GPU Time
Midjourney offers monthly subscription plans ranging from $10 to $30. More expensive tiers provide additional AI processing speed and features. “Relax mode” saves fast GPU time.
How to Subscribe & Cancel
Subscriptions are purchased and canceled through the Midjourney site or Discord. Cancellation prevents auto-renewal charges to the payment method.
Ravjar Said is an engineer passionate about social impact. In his spare time, he runs Snowball AI – a YouTube channel exploring the intersections of artificial intelligence, education and creativity. Through innovative projects, he hopes to make AI more accessible and beneficial for all. Ravjar loves helping bring people and technology together for good.
