Visual Superpowers and is 3D Functionality Around the Corner? AIxC: 10
AI x Creative #10
Alright, we’re back with the 10th edition of the AIxC newsletter. We’ll get right to it.
Here's what we have in store for you today:
Crystal Ball: Sketching is Your Superpower
Strategy: Communicating With a Four Year Old
Tips: The Pan Feature
Community: Is 3D Closer Than We Think
01 / CRYSTAL BALL
Remember that Sketching is Your Superpower
I've been sketching since I can remember. I was drawing cartoons in grade school and comic books in junior high. In high school, I embarked on the creative path, enrolled in the art program every year and competing in district art competitions. My freshman year of high school even brought me my first paid art commissions (I sketched a series of dogs for a 75 year old lady).
College came next, made possible by a scholarship stemming from my artwork. I didn’t even know what industrial design was when I first arrived at MIAD! In hindsight, I believe that my sketching abilities bought me the time for my design sensibilities to catch up. Suffice it to say, sketching is a skill that I've honed my entire life.
Because it was such a prevalent part of my life, I took it for granted. A few years into my professional career, I remember attending a client meeting with my design director and mentor, Mark Kurth. I listened, took notes, but didn't sketch anything during that hour. On our drive back to the office, Mark told me, "Remember that sketching is our superpower. Our ability to visualize things on the fly is powerful. It’s a universal language that you happen to be fluent in, which allows you to communicate in a way words just can’t. You take it for granted because it’s second nature to you, and you are around it with your coworkers. But make no mistake, it’s a rare skillset. It makes you extremely valuable."
Over time, I learned he was right. Now, I never undervalue my ability to visualize what others have a hard time seeing.
With the advent of AI tools like Midjourney, visualizing has become easier. It provides people who haven't spent decades with a pen on paper, the ability to communicate with visuals.
It’s a language that I implore everyone to learn. I'll take on the role of Mark now and tell you that the ability to visualize will make you that much more valuable, and it’s never been easier to bring those ideas to life.
Now, does my ~40 years of sketching now hold no value? I’d argue it's the opposite. By sketching for so long, you learn so much about light, shadows, forms, proportions, composition. You learn to visualize feelings. To get ideas across. So no, if you’re a visual communicator, you’ll do just fine with the added enhancement these programs provide. It will make you a visual superhuman!
02 / STRATEGY
How to Communicate With the Slightly Drunk Four Year Old
I often describe conversing with AI programs like Midjourney as akin to interacting with a four-year-old who just happens to be the smartest person on the planet. Someone else drew the comparison to an "overly eager artist savant". Therefore, I'd say it's like communicating with a highly-intelligent, artistically gifted savant, slightly inebriated four year old!
Jokes aside, understanding its thought process and comprehension is vital if you want to guide it effectively.
Here is a brief example of what works and doesn’t work when talking to this AI.
I wanted to visualize a hydroformed aluminum bicycle frame. My initial strategy was to prompt it with the term: “hydroformed aluminum” as the descriptor. When I think of hydroformed, I instantly visualize shaped tubing and complex profiles.
However, as you can see, the term "hydroformed" is interpreted differently by the AI. To our four-year-old friend, it symbolized water, failing to link a manufacturing term to its visual outcome. It understood “hydro” and ran with it.
I then tweaked the term to "faceted aluminum", aiming for a more descriptive term. One word difference and the outcome was much more aligned with my vision.
So, when engaging with Midjourney, or any other Language Learning Model, consider communicating what you want in descriptive terms, instead of using esoteric processes.
03 / TIPS
Midjourney Pan Feature
Midjourney continues to enhance its functionality with a steady influx of features. The latest addition is the "Pan" feature, enabling you to create a new visual to the left, right, top, or bottom of your current image.
This new feature keeps the original image intact and utilizes the nearest half as the starting point for the new artboard.
Here is the prompt for the Sprinter van wrap concept above:
sprinter van wrap, profile view, minimal and industrial aesthetic, blue color, gloss finish --c 50 --s 500 --ar 4:3
I then turned on remix and did a pan right command. Turning on remix allows me to edit the prompt. I edited the prompt to this:
tradeshow display pop-up tent, company representatives --c 50 --s 700
Here is the result:
My remixed prompt was short and not very descriptive, but you can see how you can really build on a visual, utilizing the Pan options to build out the scene.
04 / COMMUNITY
Is 3D Closer Than We Think?
The other day, I was experimenting with Midjourney's new pan feature. I took a shoe design and panned down, anticipating an extended foreground. What I got instead was an entirely new shoe design, a relative, but still a different design.
I panned down again, and this time, the result blew my mind. It rendered another shoe, except this time, it displayed a design that’s 90%+ accurate to the previous version but in a different perspective.
Midjourney recently confirmed the upcoming launch of V6 this year. It will offer superior image resolution and enhanced natural language processing.
They also confirmed they are working on increased control over variations and 3D models.
Seeing the pan feature churn out a different perspective of the same shoe design was an eye-opener. It underscored the fact that we're on the cusp of being able to create multiple views of a single design. And following that logical progression, 3D is likely the next significant inevitable advancement.
The point I'm driving home is this: these programs are evolving every single day. For a professional who's quick to adapt and harness these advancements, I firmly believe it will be a game-changer and a significant competitive advantage.
Until next time,
Hector
Hi, I'm Hector, a seasoned industrial designer, brand builder, and entrepreneur, with 22+ years of diverse experience. I have worked in hard goods, soft goods, bicycles & micro-mobility, structural packaging, proactive innovation and even running my own consumer goods business.
My superpower aside from AI? Leveraging my dual-edged expertise in design and business to supercharge organizations. If you have exciting projects on the horizon, don't hesitate to drop me a message or catch me on LinkedIn and Instagram. Oh, and I’m on Threads now.