Experiments

008

The laugh the retouch erased

What happens when I ask the AI to improve a face that was already fine?

Part 01

An automatic step

When I like an image, I do two things. First I make it twice as big with an upscaler called AnimeSharp. Then I run a face retouch: a module called FaceDetailer finds the face and paints it again with more detail. To paint it, the module needs a text that says what the face looks like. I used the same text for every image.

The one I pickedThe one I published: retouched with a text that describes her laugh.Krea 2 · AnimeSharp 2x · FaceDetailer, face and eyes · seed 812207 · 2048×2560

4 attempts

Four versions of the same face

In this image she laughs with her mouth open and her eyes closed. My usual text said “a beautiful adult woman's face” and nothing about laughing. The retouch did what I asked: a beautiful face, and a serious one. Then I changed only the text and described the laugh. I tried it with two seeds.

Each frame is an attempt. ✕ it didn't work · ✓ it worked · ○ starting point.
  1. F1Starting point

    The enlarged image, with no retouch. She laughs with her eyes closed.

    AnimeSharp 2x · no retouch
  2. F2It didn't work

    Sharper, but the laugh is gone. It opened her eyes and closed her mouth.

    FaceDetailer · face 0.35 · eyes 0.20 · my usual text
  3. F3It worked

    I described the laugh and it came back. But it is not the same laugh: now her eyes are open.

    Same settings · text that describes the laugh · seed 812207
  4. F4It worked

    Another seed, same text. She laughs too. In all three retouched versions her earrings changed.

    Same settings · text that describes the laugh · seed 812217

What I learned

  1. The retouch does not improve the face that is there. It paints the face the text describes.

    Attempts: F1, F2

  2. If the expression matters, I describe it in the text of each image. The laugh came back in 2 out of 2 tries.

    Attempts: F3, F4

  3. Even then it changes things I did not ask for. Here it opened her eyes and swapped her earrings.

    Attempts: F1, F3

  4. In other series the same step changed the eye color and added grain to the skin. So now I check every face before and after.

  5. If the face is already fine, I leave it alone. Sometimes I retouch only the eyes. Sometimes nothing.

    Attempts: F1

The next question

Can I retouch only what I want, without touching the earrings?

Experiments

The next experiment

007

The “no” that isn't there

How do I say “no” to a model that has no negative?

Open

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Every experiment goes up as it happens: the picked images, the clips in motion and the batches that didn't work.

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