AI image generators have been brewing (generating?) up a storm for more than a year. If you’ve been on social media, read magazines, or even watched shows recently, then it would have been impossible to have missed an AI-generated image. If you recall the time the AI version of the image of the Pope found its way to the internet, then you are familiar with the workings of artificial intelligence.
These images have been made possible by the availability of tools which were before now not available. But not just images alone, AI has taken over the creative world, everywhere you look now, there’s a new tool to help you create chatbots, AI-generated images, or blog posts from text prompts.
But for this article, we will be focusing on AI-generated images. There are many AI image generators converting text to images using artificial intelligence algorithms. These AI tools can be a great way to quickly turn your ideas or concepts into visual representations in just a matter of seconds.
Although it is mesmerising how AI can just turn your ideas in text into an accurate and apt image, the possibilities that abound with these tools have become unimaginable and will instantly blow you off with their outcomes.
So, just in case you have not tried it yet and you are relishing creating a perfect image from your ideas, which may suit the content you want to create, or maybe you are thinking of creating the AI version of your image, here are 5 AI tools that you can use to get the best text-to-images.
Read also: Open AI now enables users to have voice conversations with ChatGPT
What is an AI image generator?
The AI image generator is a tool that can be used to generate realistic images from text. This kind of tool is based on a deep learning algorithm that has been trained on a large dataset of images and their corresponding descriptions.
AI image generators can be used for various purposes, such as generating inspiration for your creative projects, visualizing your ideas, exploring different scenarios or concepts, or simply for fun with the AI.
You can use AI image generators to quickly create images of landscapes, animals, objects, characters, 3D models, or anything else you can imagine, and modify them with various customization options and details.
DALL-E 2
DALL·E 2 is arguably the biggest name in AI image generators—and with good reason. It was the first AI-powered image generator that was good enough to create wildly interesting images and was widely available to enough people to go viral. And while first doesn’t necessarily mean best, DALL-E 2 has a lot going for it.
The biggest thing is that DALL·E 2 is ridiculously simple to use. Type what you want to see, click “Generate”, and within a few seconds, you’ll have four AI-generated variations to choose from. Unfortunately, DALL·E 2 is no longer free to try out, but at $15 for 115 credits—that’s around $0.13 per prompt or $0.0325 per image variation—it’s still worth considering.
While very simple to use, DALL·E 2 has some powerful features. The image editor (which is also in beta) enables you to add additional generated frames, so you can expand an image, whether you generated it using DALL·E 2 or uploaded it. This technique, called out-painting, means you can create larger works of AI art. There’s also an eraser, so you can remove bits of an image and replace them with AI-generated elements (this technique is called in-painting).
In addition to the DALL·E 2 web app, OpenAI offers an API, which allows developers to build apps that integrate with DALL·E 2. The image generator has also been integrated into the popular AI chatbot, ChatGPT, now allowing the bot to create images for content.
Read also: Top 5 ChatGPT plugins for students, bloggers, business owners
Nightcafe
Nightcafe is the ideal AI photo generator from text to create authentic and creative images with simple words. This impressive tool has several styles and creatives that are useful in generating versatile digital art. For example, the neural style transfer allows you to convert real-life photos into an artistic masterpiece.
It is also one of the most popular AI text-to-image generators on the market. It is said to have more algorithms and options than other generators. It comes with 2 conversion models- Text to Image and Style Transfer.
With Text to Image, you just need to enter a description text, and NightCafe will automatically generate an image of the corresponding scene based on your description. On the other hand, with Style Transfer, you upload a picture to NightCafe, and it can turn your pictures into the style of famous paintings.
With its easy-to-use software, Nightcafe is ultimately beginner-friendly. The appealing and convenient website interface allows anyone to create and enhance pictures with a single click. Moreover, every creation you make is saved permanently in your account, so you do not have to worry about storing it separately.
NightCafe is based on a credit system. The more credits you have, the more images you can generate. You can earn credits by participating in the community or purchasing.
Midjourney
Released on July 12, 2022, the Midjourney AI picture generator took the world by storm with its capability to create spectacular images. This wildly popular platform boasts 14.5 million registered members (as of June 2023), out of which around 1.1 million are active at any given time.
With Midjourney, the images created seem more coherent, with better textures and colours—and overall, the results are just more interesting and visually appealing. In particular, people and real-world objects look more lifelike and natural than they do with other AI image generators, at least without lots of prompting, and the latest version can even get hands kind-of right. It’s telling that it was the first AI image generator to win an art competition.
As the service is only accessible via Discord, users need to have a Discord account to begin with. They have not released an API for public usage, but sources say they working on it. You can make a good amount of variations and upscale the desired images to a much higher degree. We personally loved how Midjourney gives the output. It arguably is the most realistic AI image generator out there.
By default, every image you generate is posted publicly in Midjourney’s Discord. It gives everything a cool community aspect, but it means that anyone who cares to look can see what you’re creating. While not necessarily a problem for artists, this might be a dealbreaker if you’re looking to use Midjourney for business purposes.
Dream by WOMBO
Dream by WOMBO is a mobile AI art generator app that lets you turn words and photos into AI-generated art. This app is designed for creatives and artists who want exciting images and AI art. Plus, with a built-in community, you can learn how to create AI-generated art that fits your needs or get general tips on the art generator.
Unlike most other AI image generators, Dream By Wombo offers unlimited image creation without any restrictions on its features. Users are delighted by the way it picks colour and style. Its ability with masterful abstract design makes it a great choice to create NFT art. Moreover, its ability to organize art into different albums or collections makes it even more convenient. This AI generator is the best option for people on a budget and who are not tech-savvy.
It is very easy to use, and the process of using Dream by WOMBO is very similar to NightCafe. Write a sentence, choose an art style, and let Dream by WOMBO generate the image for you. One of the best parts of Dream by WOMBO is that it allows you to upload an image as a reference, so you can generate images that better match your vision.
DreamStudion (Stable Diffusion)
Unlike DALL·E 2 and Midjourney, Stable Diffusion is open source. This means anyone with the requisite technical skills can download it and run it locally on their own computer. It also means that you can train and fine-tune the model for specific purposes.
Currently, Dream Studio, also known as Stable Diffusion, is one of the most popular text-to-image AI generators. It is an open-source model that converts text prompts into images in mere seconds. Additionally, it can produce photorealistic artworks by combining an uploaded photo and a written description.
DreamStudio gives you a huge amount of control over the various aspects of generating an image with AI. When you type in your prompt, some sliders allow you to determine how large the final image is, how closely it matches the prompt you give it, how many steps the diffusion model takes, and how many images are generated.
But here’s the catch: you get limited credits as a new user, and once you run out, you’ll have to purchase more to continue. But considering its decent feature set and the ability to generate some solid results, it’s worth using the 25 free credits to test the app.
The process of generating images is pretty similar to that of the other apps on this list: you enter a prompt, choose a style, enter negative words, upload an image, adjust the other options, and finally hit Dream.
Technext Newsletter
Get the best of Africa’s daily tech to your inbox – first thing every morning.
Join the community now!
