So, I will start this rant with a disclaimer, that I am on the losing team, clinging to values that are no longer relevant. I will stand alone and say what needs to be said. I like Adobe and want them to be free from this bind! We are still collecting hay to feed horses we no longer have because we drive cars but hey, it’s an honorable tradition.
Meanwhile, I am paying for the standing originator of computer design software and having to render images on “other” platforms because the fear mongering won. Yes, fear mongering.
It is impossible to believe that in 2024, people still don’t understand the internet. And then I realized, I have a very, very, very long history with the world wide web and that may not be the case with others.
Since its inception, the internet has collected data. We gave it data to share. We posted pictures, our business cards, our families, landscape, our pets. Since Google replaced Ask Jeeves, those images became part of a worldwide collective photo gallery. People went crazy using images from the internet that many began categorizing what was free to use and what was proprietary. This didn’t stop people. There’s an entire show dedicated to people stealing images and identities long before the Ai generation was available to the public. Catfish. The show is Catfish.
The result? AE and Firefly “People” images SUCK and It’s All your Fault. You Opted Out. It’s Tuesday. Let’s Taco About it!
My branded work was stolen by Nike and Ai had nothing to do with it. By convincing Adobe that allowing Firefly to train on our work is “stealing”, we have crippled and possibly dethroned Adobe as the graphic software leader. It will always be a legend, but it is close to being no longer in the game beyond human-generated art.
Holding its users to this standard is upholding an exclusive club standard. Those who can afford to hire people, teams, locations, scriptwriters will continue to dominate the industry. Those with creativity and limited resources will remain the contributors of ideas, rarely with a seat at the table and even more a scarcity, served a meal; receiving a “pat on the head” for the idea that they can never bring to life.
I am not saying these things to scare you, but to educate you on how your stance is actually harming the ability of many of your users to remain relevant and compete in today’s market.
And the crazy thing, the very people I would trust most with my work are the very ones precluded from every using it. I wanted to OPT-IN, but the OPT-OUTs won and now we have ugly images of people. I don’t mean unattractive. I mean disfigured, smudged, blurred, distorted.
So, if you are sitting back at home blaming Firefly, you are pointing your finger in the wrong direction.
This is all on the users’ folks. The second the majority voice or vote decided Firefly could not train on our work, we were limited to what stock Adobe had. So, your people may suck.
How does the Engine Work?
Understanding why your renders of people suck in Firefly, begins with understanding how engines that do use your work, generate versus Firefly.
There’s a law of average. There’s a math formula.
Your word formula (the prompt) is the same as writing what is 2+2? Each time the engine gives you “4”, you give it a positive rating. The engine saves that 2+2=4.
Now what if you have an engine that can’t save the results? You are now in the land of averages. It may within 10 answers, happen upon “4” but since no one can tell it the answer is “4”, we just sit and pray it gets it at least once so we can save it and move on to next phase of our design project.
Actual Example: Firefly
The prompt was simple but for Firefly, very complex. The prompt is:
“Photo of a cool fun girl wearing a pink hoodie and matching pink joggers and white sneakers, striking a pose on a busy street”.
To help Firefly, I uploaded both style and composition. Now to create the image, Firefly must
Query: Girl, cool, fun, hoodie, joggers, pink, match, sneakers, white.
Return: Girl, hoodie + joggers+ sneakers, no pink, no white, no cool
Command: mask girl sunglasses, mask hoodie pink, mask joggers, pink, sneakers mask white; merge to composition, overly on style.
Firefly has to pull from what it has and “make” your request. If over the years, Adobe stock included a girl in a pink hoodie, we are in luck. But if not, oh well.
Still hoping to utilize Firefly for some part of the project, I amend the prompt, removing all specifics-color, matching, shoes. The goal, hoping to increase Firefly’s likelihood of finding an existing image that matched, requiring the least amount of modification. Less modification, more realistic. Remember, it can’t learn, so it has to do its’ best guess.
Simpler Prompt: With the simple prompt (on the image), I increased my probability of the image existing. It isn’t what I needed for the project but if I can convince my client to add navy blue hoodies, then I have an image to use.
Bing Result:
Do you have any idea how it hurt my heart to admit Bing made a better image than Adobe? But if we remain silent, nothing is going to change. We didn’t have to throw the baby out with the bath water and the tub! Adobe users are essentially “ethical”. There is a reason beyond the tools and resources why a person chooses Adobe. Especially in an age when there are thousands of other options. It is because we believe what we choose to use matters. Clients are not afraid to have you use Adobe products. But now they are questioning quality. For abstract artists, things are fine. The collective data within Adobe stock for abstract art is limitless. So, kudos there. But people? Nope. And I need people.
Bing also has restrictions, configured differently, so it can give a bit more. But when I zoom in there are still imperfections. To get the image quality of professional production, I must venture even further into the world with minimal restrictions on training.
Alpha Mage:
On Alpha Mage, I finally get the image to the left. Using other sites keeps me focused and on my toes. I am careful what models I choose, which Loras I use with my prompt.
I wish Adobe was in a place to trust and also monitor their users with freedom before punishment. I didn’t do anything to lose the freedom to prompt cool folks in pink hoodies, but within Adobe, I have.
Still need Pink. Venturing Beyond Firefly
While I remain a “responsible” renderer, I am forced to use other applications in order to complete jobs. Since the release of Ai generative art, many underrepresented groups are requesting representation of themselves in marketing of their choice.
As these images do not exist in our collective history, Ai presented an opportunity to create and then directly impact human generated art. But Firefly is precluded from this. So, here, outside of the Creative Cloud I go.
Conclusion:
So, the next time you want to render people celebrating at a birthday party, just skip the photo-realistic option.
Succumb to the control you have surrendered and choose graphics, stick with illustrations and abstract images of fishes in tropical settings and galaxies and surreal animals. Heck, even robots instead of people. Just not people. For now, I hope.
