Uncrop is the AI tool that Adobe Photoshop needs ASAP
Apple didn’t give us a grand vision for artificial intelligence. It didn’t make us dream, and push humanity forward. But fear not, fellow humans, for there are plenty of dreams and magical visions in this week’s generative AI roundup to carry you all the way to creative nirvana.
Uncrop does exactly what it says
The new Photoshop Beta with Firefly can help you change the aspect ratio of an image by cropping it in any way you want and then selecting the empty zones to generate more imagery using a text prompt. It requires multiple steps and some trial and error, but it works.
I wish that process could be as easy as Uncrop, the new tool added to Stability.ai’s image tool suite, Clipdrop.
Uncrop is basically a clever user experience for “outpainting,” the ability to expand an image in any direction using generative AI. According to Stability, it’s based on Stable Diffusion XL, and the interface is as simple as Photoshop’s Crop tool, but it can work in reverse too, adding or cutting image information where needed to match the aspect ratio you can draw.
The company claims that it does so by “using advanced algorithms and deep learning techniques,” analyzing the content within the uploaded image and generating a visually plausible representation of what could have been there. It’s such an oh-so-simple and nice UX. Just go and try it yourself.
Google’s StyleDrop creates art just like you
Re-creating an image in the style of another is one of the oldest AI tricks in the book, but Google has taken this idea and made it so simple and powerful that it will enable any artist to create an unlimited number of images without even touching a pencil, a brush, or a mouse.
Its name is StyleDrop, and here’s how it works: If, for example, you are an illustrator, you can feed the system one single sample image of your work. Then, in a prompt, write anything you want to see and StyleDrop will generate an image that perfectly follows your style.
This can be applied to any type of visual artist. You can be a designer, a painter, a 3D animator, a photographer, whatever. Just feed this thing something that is representative of your style and generate an unlimited number of creative paths. In their research paper, the authors describe that StyleDrop outperforms Stable Diffusion and DreamBooth. Looking at the examples here, that appears to be true. The code is not available yet, but like everything AI, it won’t be long before it’s ready for all of us.
Skyglass: green screen magic on the iPhone
Add Skyglass to the list of insane AI-powered video apps that started with Roll.ai last week. This one can basically integrate any human into a 3D environment using a green screen, but without markers, trackers, or any professional equipment whatsoever. You just need an iPhone.
The app seems to even be able to correct the lighting so your live subject and the 3D background is seamlessly(ish) integrated. Think of the virtual sets you can see in election night coverage on CNN, or on the Weather Channel, or even in The Mandalorian without the background LED panels: your subject moves, your camera moves, and the set moves accordingly to match the perspective. The environments can be real 3D—rendered in the cloud using Unreal Engine—or generated with AI.
It’s not as good as the real thing, of course, but it looks pretty impressive. You can try it right now in the App Store.
Create an image that is a QR code
I’m not a fan of the QR code, but this is something so neat that I can’t pass: ControlNet for QR Code creates images that act like QR codes even while they are full-color images that have no discernible QR elements except for the three positioning markers in the corners.
You can see how it works with your phone and the following examples:
I really have zero idea how this magic works, but . . . the phone sees it and displays the URL to click on. The author says it works with a specially trained Stable Diffusion model that seems to create images that can fool your phone into thinking they are QR codes. I’m flabbergasted by it, and I expect this to invade our lives as soon as the tool becomes available in some commercial software or app.
. . . and now for some Runway Gen-1 eye candy
Here’s some really cool video made by the German self-described “AI-powered ‘director’” Martin Haerlin:
It just shows how incredibly powerful the Gen-1 video generator by Runway is getting just a few months after its initial public release. Impressive. Most impressive.
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