skytoast
Videomaster
I have been messing around with AI. I'm sure many of you have in one form or another. And yes, I know it's contentious topic right now at the time of this write up which I don't want to go into discussion here. This is a natural evolution of computing technology, predicted and dreamt by many in ages past, now becoming reality and rapidly growing to transform the world as we know it. If leveraged correctly, AI can be a powerful tool. It is no different to what digital did to type font, charcoal and paper, oil and canvas, lens and film. Now it's diffusion models, "denoising" and inference that's changing the landscape. I've waited years for something like this to be a practical possibility.
The level of image generation, manipulation and control is something mind-blowing next level - everything from objects, environment, lighting, particles, physics, material textures, camera control, lenses and optics can all be deployed to a level of complexity with its limitation only dependent on the trained model and your imagination.
It's still early days right now and it's not perfect but it's getting better and better exponentially. Things that could use improvement like interface, cost of usage, creative freedom/censorship, standardization, cloud vs local usage, could be improved upon. But I believe these will be all resolved given time as technology scales, becomes ubiquitous and hopefully cheaper (when manufacturing supply / demand improves). And God knows whatever other bonkers yet to be discovered applications this has potential for.
As for my renders here, it isn't a one click deal. I'm using the same techniques I did years back when I used to make Soul Calibur machinima films and photographic edited stills. So there is still the aspects of acquisition in game - think photography and cinematography, having that background helps frame your shots. Then pool that into AI allowing its diffusion model to do its magic. Control is mostly done through descriptive text based prompting at the current time, hopefully someone or some company creates a killer app with sliders and such. Closest we have to such a program at the current time are node based interfaces like Comfyui which gives you some level of refined control for local open source and closed proprietary models through API's. Then I take that generated output and further refine it - through compositing and adjustment in After Effects, Photoshop and/or Lightroom.
Anyhow, rumor has it the next installment of Soul Calibur is being worked on? Lucky 7? We can only hope.
Until those rumors can be abated, here's a glimpse of what the next series of games could look like - if perhaps we ever see a Soul Calibur VIII, IX and X if we're lucky? And if I still live long enough to see that through... (yeah... I'll admit. Always had it in the back of my mind, what Ivy would look like in real life).
If interested, you can grab higher resolution of these images @ 4K free on my deviantart gallery: https://www.deviantart.com/skytoast/gallery. Also notes on each of these embedded in image file's metadata IPTC info.
Cassandra ~ I'mmm Back!
Ivy ~ Studio Session / Ivy Valentine ~ Cinematic Photorealism Study #1
Notes: Exercise in Lighting - the holy trinity of lighting: key lights, rim lights, & fill lights. And maybe some kicker lights and bounce lights to break that trinity.
Ivy ~ Violet Tempest / Ivy ~ Whiplash
Notes: Throwback to classics - Soul Calibur V. The second image inspired by a screenshot from the game I used years ago as my wallpaper on an early Surface notebook computer.
Ivy ~ Holding Her Ground / Ivy ~ Calm Before the Storm / Ivy ~ River Wild
Notes: Throwback to classics - Soul Calibur IV. Raft ride on the river moat of Ostrheinsburg Castle.
Hildegard von Krone ~ Solitude and Contemplation
Siegfried ~ Taste My Flaming Sword
Raphael and Amy ~ Overprotective Father
Xianghua ~ Just Kidding
Taki ~ Rekki Maru no Mekki Maru
Setsuka ~ Blossom / Setsuka ~ Blossom at Night
The level of image generation, manipulation and control is something mind-blowing next level - everything from objects, environment, lighting, particles, physics, material textures, camera control, lenses and optics can all be deployed to a level of complexity with its limitation only dependent on the trained model and your imagination.
It's still early days right now and it's not perfect but it's getting better and better exponentially. Things that could use improvement like interface, cost of usage, creative freedom/censorship, standardization, cloud vs local usage, could be improved upon. But I believe these will be all resolved given time as technology scales, becomes ubiquitous and hopefully cheaper (when manufacturing supply / demand improves). And God knows whatever other bonkers yet to be discovered applications this has potential for.
As for my renders here, it isn't a one click deal. I'm using the same techniques I did years back when I used to make Soul Calibur machinima films and photographic edited stills. So there is still the aspects of acquisition in game - think photography and cinematography, having that background helps frame your shots. Then pool that into AI allowing its diffusion model to do its magic. Control is mostly done through descriptive text based prompting at the current time, hopefully someone or some company creates a killer app with sliders and such. Closest we have to such a program at the current time are node based interfaces like Comfyui which gives you some level of refined control for local open source and closed proprietary models through API's. Then I take that generated output and further refine it - through compositing and adjustment in After Effects, Photoshop and/or Lightroom.
Anyhow, rumor has it the next installment of Soul Calibur is being worked on? Lucky 7? We can only hope.
Until those rumors can be abated, here's a glimpse of what the next series of games could look like - if perhaps we ever see a Soul Calibur VIII, IX and X if we're lucky? And if I still live long enough to see that through... (yeah... I'll admit. Always had it in the back of my mind, what Ivy would look like in real life).
If interested, you can grab higher resolution of these images @ 4K free on my deviantart gallery: https://www.deviantart.com/skytoast/gallery. Also notes on each of these embedded in image file's metadata IPTC info.
Cassandra ~ I'mmm Back!
Sophitia ~ Battle Stance
Ivy Valentine ~ Eye on You
Notes: Knock your socks off - that incredible stare. Great close up shot of Ivy brought to life.
Ivy ~ Angel Throw / Ivy ~ Cold Morning
Notes: Glamming her up, soft diffused lighting FX along with glow in the pose. Second image: More candid shot of Ivy appearing more natural with less make-up in this low-shot to give her a more life-like human appearance.
Ivy ~ Guarded Resolve / Ivy ~ Stretching the Seven Seas in Halcyon Harbor
Notes: Aiming for that cinematic look.
Ivy ~ Frozen / Ivy ~ Immaculata Serpentica
Notes: More stylized but keeping cinematic realism.
Ivy ~ Studio Session / Ivy Valentine ~ Cinematic Photorealism Study #1
Notes: Exercise in Lighting - the holy trinity of lighting: key lights, rim lights, & fill lights. And maybe some kicker lights and bounce lights to break that trinity.
Ivy ~ Violet Tempest / Ivy ~ Whiplash
Notes: Throwback to classics - Soul Calibur V. The second image inspired by a screenshot from the game I used years ago as my wallpaper on an early Surface notebook computer.
Ivy ~ Holding Her Ground / Ivy ~ Calm Before the Storm / Ivy ~ River Wild
Notes: Throwback to classics - Soul Calibur IV. Raft ride on the river moat of Ostrheinsburg Castle.
Hildegard von Krone ~ Solitude and Contemplation
Siegfried ~ Taste My Flaming Sword
Raphael and Amy ~ Overprotective Father
Xianghua ~ Just Kidding
Taki ~ Rekki Maru no Mekki Maru
Mitsurugi ~ Shishiō - Always My Trusted Blade / Mitsurugi ~ Shishiō - Always My Trusted Blade (B&W Kurosawa version)Setsuka ~ Blossom / Setsuka ~ Blossom at Night
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