Since two or three years ago some platforms have emerged on the internet that were a bit different. They allowed people to generate images, just by sharing their ideas and what they had in mind. Although it was incomplete at the beginning and had a lot of shortcomings, they were the first of its kind and indeed mesmerizing.
It always seemed so far-fetched to me before that, we got to describe something and it would appear before our eyes after seconds, something that would have taken hours maybe to be done. In this article, without any more generalization and background talk, let’s dive into the world of Artificial Intelligence in terms of image generation.
You must have had an experience at least once, I mean who does not get curious after hearing that there is equipment that visualizes and creates the image that you desire?
For designers, content creators, and video game designers such a tool would be a dream, particularly if you are in control of the style and the genre! My own curiosity grew more towards art, trying to imitate famous artists in history or check out their ability in form or technique such as oil painting, watercolor, sketching, etc.
Nonetheless, gradually I witnessed their advancement in depicting the details being instructed to them which made it possible to generate detailed info written images without a single penny being cost, at least for a while… I decided to go with some criteria one by one so that you can have a better overview of the whole thing, and be able to use them more efficiently later on.
Quality
The first thing that comes to mind when seeing an image is always how sharp or visible it is. If objects or people are easy to recognize. There is a hot ever-lasting debate in the forums, among visual arts experts regarding the fact that which AI generator is better in quality. Through personal experience, I admit that the resolution matters in the initial impression indeed. However, there could be other crucial factors as well such as the accuracy of forms and their compatibility with the prompt.
The idea behind and the form outweighs the so-called alleged quality in many aspects. Of course, this applies to me or maybe other experienced visual artists since they can always use other tools to edit the output yielded by the AI image generator. On the contrary, that is not the case for ordinary people who might be inexperienced, maybe for the first time visiting the website and do not really know how things go around here.
| AI GENERATOR | DEFAULT QUALITY |
|---|---|
| Mid-Journey | High Quality -Various Criteria (Model) |
| Ideogram | High quality for the results high-quality mode -20 seconds to generate |
| Microsoft Designer (powered by DALL-E 3) | Microsoft Designer (powered by DALL-E 3) |
| Night Cafe | Perfect Details and Accurate Geometrical Correlations if necessary |
Leonardo AI allows you to freely customize the characteristics of your generated art in matters of resolution, size, contrast, etc. The options involved express the scale of movement and nature of control clients do possess which are not few I admit. The image below depicts the settings involved:
Leonardo tends to allocate a certain amount of coins to visitors to use in every creation. Moreover, the coins regenerate by day for each person. The variety of the items involved varies so much which in my opinion shows the extent of respect for the clients.
Firefly, also one of the most well-known AI image generators, is vastly capable of production in different genres. And in implementation, it is believed to be one of the competent ones among the rivals. With Firefly there is a sense of transparency and confidence that is exotic and bold.
Ethics
- Ideogram – With constant monitoring in addition to great effort against extremism, discrimination, and biased attitude and content. The copyright content also meets the guidelines on this platform. More eco-friendly infrastructure has also been noted as one of the most remarkable differences among art generators. The photo-text below is a sample of part of Ideogram policies on their website.
- Microsoft Designer (powered by DALL-E 3) – The same goes with the Microsoft Designer or the former Bing Image Generator which has more strict guideline policies and a better platform in terms of being environmentally friendly.
- Night Cafe – At least has articles in its blogs in this regard and is increasing awareness, the overall sensitivity and measures being taken seem to be really promising.
The other AI Image Generators such as the Mid-Journey, DAL-E, Leonardo, etc. all claim to be in-lined by following certain guidelines. Nonetheless, there are some criticisms about some of them such as Mid-Journey. Actually the US government recently announced that they are fully prepared to take action on AI-biased produced content.
In fact in many articles referring to AI as a means of providing for our family, especially in www.financeaims.com you are able to see the vast potential and possibilities at hand that could be applied in different directions.
- How to Make Money Using AI on YouTube
- How to use AI for crypto trading (A complete guide for beginners)
- How to Make money using AI
Cost
Here’s an updated comparison of AI image generators, including Ideogram, NightCafe, and Craiyon, in terms of cost:
| AI IMAGE GENERATOR | COST | DETAILS |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Designer’s Image Creator: | FREE | Powered by DALL-E 3 |
| Ideogram | FREE | Ideogram is a free AI tool that generates realistic images, posters, logos, and more |
| Leonardo | FREE | Including image generation + canvas editor + real-time canvas, etc. |
| DALL-E 3 (OpenAI): | Included with ChatGPT Plus subscription ($20 per month) | Available for free through Bing Chat in the Microsoft Edge browser |
| Imagen 2 in Gemini (Google): | Varies | Pricing details are not explicitly mentioned, but it is integrated with Google’s services |
| Stability AI’s DreamStudio: | Based on the models | Users pay based on the number of images generated |
| Night Cafe | Free with optional in-app purchases | Provides unlimited base Stable Diffusion generations and daily free credits for more powerful models |
| Wombo Dream: | Free with optional in-app purchases | Offers a free version with additional features available for purchase |
| MidJourney | Subscription-based (starting at $10 per month) | Offers various subscription tiers depending on usage need |
When it comes to such services, I mean the image AI generators, the first question that comes to people’s mind is whether they are free. Many people might log in from distant countries from which the payment methods might not be that convenient such as some African countries or some in the Middle East.
Through this lens of criteria,
IDEOGRAM & NIGHT CAFE
They both equally satisfy one’s needs and allow clients to produce a proper number of generations. I have never been upset about not being able to generate enough free high-quality images on these two platforms.
COPILOT (Microsoft Designer)
It has become equal to the previous ones, meaning that you are able to freely produce as many images as you please.
| TOP THREE COST EFFICIENT | THE LEAST COST EFFICIENT |
|---|---|
| IDEOGRAM | MID-JOURNEY (No Easy Access) |
| NIGHTCAFE | DAL-E-3 (Only One Image Allowed) |
| COPILOT |
User-interface & Accessibility
Being user-friendly, not seeming a bit terrifying and confusing at first in my opinion is one of the main principles that business owners in this field should bear in mind while designing their homepage since including many options and subcategories not only would not help but also could drive the customer up the wall in a way that they drop it all together and look for a simpler and easier to use website.
The list below is gathered in order of clients’ comfort and ease in working with these platforms I rated them out of 10:
| AI IMAGE GENERATOR | RATING (OUT OF 10) |
|---|---|
| IDEOGRAM | 10 |
| MICROSOFT DESIGNER (COPILOT) | 8 |
| CRAIYON | 8 |
| NIGHTCAFE | 7 |
| PICSART | 7 |
| DEEP AI | 6 |
| LEONARDO | 6 |
| MIDJOURNEY | 2 |
| DAL-E-3 | 2 |
Rest assured that all the items above have been used multiple times and the order might not be fully accurate, but the general view is fair from a client’s point of view who finds it difficult even to describe what they want let alone go through multiple options and stressful adjustments with unusual names.
For instance, when you enter DAL-E-3, you realize you must be redirected to Chat GPT 4 Mini and after signing in and the whole story, you end up being able to produce only one free photo! How would you feel in the end?
Prompt Accuracy Live Test
Sample prompt used in all websites listed below:
“All the skylines which we are offer are depicted at night and feature futuristic cityscapes with tall hi-tech buildings coated with numerous digital billboards showing stock exchange rates and financial news Each scene is inspired by a city skyline today but painted with an Post Apocalyptic vision of tomorrow The foreground displays business people of diverse origins dressed in business outfits interacting with holographic tablets and charts.”
IDEOGRAM
As you can see IDEOGRAM has been the only one, capable of working out the letters despite the fact that most AI image generators have difficulties considering the ending parts of a longer prompt. Nonetheless, being in the last sentence literally, the ideogram was able to consider the command fully.
Leonardo
Leonardo seems to have kept a standard for the general criteria in the image being yielded. The type of reflection and perspective being expressed has an interesting feeling.
Copilot (Microsoft Designer)
Microsoft always surprises you, yet, the ratio was not there in easy access to be changed, therefore, the generated image turned out to be square which had to be cropped into the right size as the others.
Deep AI
The minimal plain surfaces seem to work out in digital arts. As you see here in DEEP AI, the image has a form of narrative or story-telling form which draws attention and keeps the eye on the frame.
Night Cafe
Night Cafe never ceases to amaze me in every way, with great detail, and composition in addition to perfect colors being put next to each other.
All in all, as you can see each generator has its own merits, special features, and probable shortcomings that might stem from a subjective point of view. What is clear is the convenience expected in the user-interface, the cost, and the quality that seems to be the first priority of the majority. I suggest trying them yourself to see which one best fits the bill and meets your needs.
