Mastering Midjourney Versions – Quick Start Guide

Reflecting on our prior exploration, we’ve discovered the transformative influence of AI on creativity and grasped the nuances of setting up Midjourney. Now, as we progress, we’ll dive deeper, much like a musician understanding their instruments. Imagine having an array of musical tools at your disposal. Knowing the distinct sounds and characteristics of each can profoundly impact the final symphony. In a similar vein, understanding the evolving iterations of Midjourney allows artists and tech enthusiasts to produce content that resonates best with their creative vision.

Each version of Midjourney, from its inception to its recent advancements, represents a milestone in technology and possibilities. Knowledge of the Midjourney versions isn’t just about utilizing a tool; it’s a deep dive into its journey, understanding how each evolution can impact your creative pursuits.

In this chapter, we&...

Technical requirements

To make the most of this chapter and follow along with the hands-on activities, you’ll need to ensure you’ve set up everything we covered in Chapter 2. Here’s a quick recap:

• Midjourney account: You’ll need an active account on Midjourney. If you haven’t registered yet, refer back to Chapter 2 for a step-by-step guide.
• Discord installation: Ensure you have Discord installed on your device since we’ll be working with it alongside Midjourney. Again, the installation guide is available in Chapter 2.
• Payment plans: At the time of writing, Midjourney has no free or trial plan. A Midjourney paid plan is necessary. Please ensure you’ve selected the most suitable plan for your needs.
• Server creation: Having your own server can significantly enhance and expedite your experience with Midjourney. If you’re yet to set up a server in Discord, Chapter 2 covers the process in detail.

Imagine and prompt

As you explore AI art in more detail, it will become clear that creating a precise and effective prompt is a skill that is central to the process of generating what you intend. The connection between your imagination and the AI’s visual representation transforms simple words into captivating images. As we proceed through this section, we’ll provide you with the following:

• An understanding of the art of AI prompt construction
• Proficiency in the structure and elements of influential prompts

While Midjourney can effortlessly churn out visuals based on prompts, the quality and relevance of the generated image heavily rely on how effectively the prompt is crafted. It’s not just about telling the AI what to do; it’s about communicating a vision.

Midjourney prompts are no ordinary strings of text. They are structured commands that guide the AI, much like how a compass guides a ship, ensuring the resulting visuals align with...

My first prompt – now what?

Every time a prompt is sent to the Midjourney Bot, four images are generated (note that even using the same prompt, Midjourney will never generate the same image more than once). By default, the images that are created are generated in the latest Midjourney model, which is 5.2 at the time of writing.

Below the four-image grid are two rows of buttons:

Figure 3.5 – The upscale and variation buttons

The numbers following the U (upscale) and V (variations) letters match the images: 1 and 2 for the top images and 3 and 4 for those below. In earlier Midjourney models, these images were produced in low resolution, so the U1 to U4 buttons were used to upscale our chosen image to a higher resolution. Since V5, images generated in the grid are now at their highest resolution, 1024 x 1024 pixels, approximately 36 cm x 36 cm at 72 DPI (more) on this in Chapter 9). The U buttons serve to isolate the chosen image(s) to get...

Beyond /imagine – command list

Now that we’ve had our first interactions with Midjourney and have begun to understand the mechanics of how it works, let’s explore the existing commands that will not only enhance our workflow but will also allow us to personalize our preferences.

You can interact with the Midjourney Bot on Discord through these commands, which serve to produce images (as you saw earlier with the /imagine command), modify settings, monitor user information, and more. They’re applicable in any bot channel, on private Discord servers where the Midjourney Bot is permitted, or when directly messaging the Midjourney Bot. To trigger any type of command, simply type /, followed by the command in question, in the message box and hit enter. It’s important to note that Midjourney interprets these commands with a high degree of precision and does not tolerate any mistakes, such as grammatical or spelling errors. This strictness is in contrast...

Taking a journey through Midjourney’s evolution

The beauty of any evolutionary journey, especially in technology, is seeing how the roots set the stage for today’s advancements. Midjourney, today’s digital powerhouse with legions of Discord fans, wasn’t born as the polished platform we know now it to be. Its humbler beginnings in the early days of 2022 were full of excitement, discovery, and a bit of that rough-around-the-edges charm.

V1 and V2

When Midjourney V1 was launched in February 2022, it was like watching the first steps of a toddler – fascinating and full of potential. We all stood amazed, even if what was being produced was basic. By the time V2 rolled around in April, the toddler had begun to jog, showing off a few more tricks, revealing its potential even more clearly.

In this section, we’ll walk down memory lane, reminiscing about Midjourney’s early versions, V1 and V2. We’ll understand not only their functionalities...

Summary

This chapter provided a deep dive into the world of crafting meaningful prompts with Imagine and prompt, where we learned that the structure and details within a prompt are paramount in ensuring the AI produces an image closely aligned with our vision.

In My first prompt – now what?, we navigated the steps following your initial prompt creation, demystifying the process of the Midjourney console interpretation.

Progressing further, Beyond /imagine – command list offered a detailed guide on a myriad of commands, ensuring you’re well-equipped to get the most out of your image generation endeavors. We retraced Midjourney’s development journey through Model versions 1 and 2, learning about their foundational stages, and then moved forward to uncover the enhanced capabilities of Model versions 3 and 4.

With technological advancements in full swing, Model versions 5 to 5.2 highlighted the latest and most innovative features, underscoring Midjourney...