The Nostalgic Hobbyist

The AI needs a bit of work, but it gave me both a win and a fail. There are things I really like about it but there are things that really annoy me as well!

The semi-win;

The fail;

I was only using this feature to remove stray hairs and marks, but started experimenting a little.

I was attempting to make Beauty Queen Barbie’s lips have a little colour, because they do need to be repainted. This is what happened when I prompted “tint lips pink”.

It did a lot more than tint the lips. Yikes. Not going to try anything like that again. 😳 Did…did she get a nose job?? Lip injections?? This thing gave her plastic surgery and did her makeup.

I got terrible results with other dolls when prompting it to remove a stray hair on the face. One try gave the doll some serious male pattern balding. I unfortunately forgot to screenshot those. I learned to do it the old way. Use the brush on the thing to be removed. Pretty simple!

Some criticisms.

As far as I can tell, the app has no option to colour or alter a place on the image, excepting dodge/burn. All or nothing.

A major problem is that if you spend time tweaking and finding a proper filter, then realise there’s something that needs removing, the AI will revert your image to it’s original unedited form. It won’t work with an already edited image! I tried getting around that obstacle by saving the pic to my camera roll and then importing it to VSCO as a fresh draft. The AI will exterminate the stray hairs and unwanted spots, yes. It will also screw up everything else! Colours, brightness, etc. I have learned to remove whatever I need in the AI before doing anything else, and pray I haven’t forgotten something. This is a new feature, so maybe it will become more intuitive as it’s developed further? I hope?

I have several gripes about the FX section. There are several categories, but only ONE can be applied. If you add light effects and also want to add a frame, nope. It’s one or the other. Same with filters. Only one. No layering. I’m considering contacting customer care and asking if I’m doing something wrong, being a new user who is not accustomed to everything in the app. In any other app (in the before times, in the long long ago, when all the good features weren’t trapped behind a sub, and free editing apps existed) or desktop program I’ve used, layering wasn’t a problem.

I’ll keep my sub for now, because I know there has to be things I haven’t discovered. I’ve thought of so many things that there aren’t options for. Not to mention the glaring lack of customisation with FX stuff.

I’m being so critical because of the value to cost ratio. In my experience, devs often listen to users because they really care about the app they worked so hard on and really want to improve it. Not sure if my suggestions would be passed on from customer care, though. I’m sure lots of subscribers have said similar.

Lastly….

Please do not fuss at me for using AI. I clean spots, hairs, and background distractions. I might even try a scene. Older apps do this. I hate some of the uses for generative AI, because it steals jobs, and other nefarious things.

But efficient photo editing? Seriously. I hate I felt the need to write a paragraph about something so friggin’ silly.

Aaaaaanyhoo, I still need to do the Minibrands/Miniverse post, as well as my hoarding of miniature drinks. Just have to make the photos presentable. The lighting in this house is terrible at best. I have an actual photo backdrop now, but the lighting or lack thereof still ruins everything. I dont do those in VSCO. I use iPhone’s primordial choice of filters. I got a 16 the other day, and while the megapixels jumped dramatically, I don’t think they added more filters. I’m super happy about the new higher quality! My old phone did me dirty with some of the last batch. Filthy, even. 😐

New post incoming. Peace!✌️