After a year of silence, Midjourney is introducing the new V7 release of its AI image generation platform. New features include fast personalization and a Draft mode for faster and cheaper image generation.
After a year of development silence, Midjourney is introducing a new Alpha version 7 of its image generation platform. According to Midjourney CEO David Holz, this V7 version has a completely different architecture than previous versions.
Midjourney V7 uses much smarter text prompts, the image prompts look better, the image quality has visibly improved and the images show much more coherence in the details.
Faster personalization
An important new feature is the much faster personalization of users’ image generation preferences. Where previously users had to generate about 200 images to define their visual preferences, the personalization process now takes only five minutes. This personalization process starts by default the first time the V7 model is used.
Once the Midjourney V7 model has been personalized, the visual preferences are considered every time the model is used. Users can also enable or disable these preferences as desired.
Draft mode
The new version also offers another interesting user feature: draft mode. This allows users to generate images up to ten times faster at half the cost.
The feature allows users to quickly adjust an image without a prompt, in ‘conversational mode’ or via a voice command. In addition, the feature can be used by adding the extension ‘—draft’ after a prompt.
Draft mode then manipulates the prompt and starts a new command. Even when commands such as ‘improve’ or ‘vary’ are given, the image is immediately adjusted in full quality.
Holz indicates that this Draft mode helps users think through their initial ideas about images. He does warn, however, that images generated via Draft mode have a lower image quality than those generated in standard mode. Behavior and aesthetics are consistent.
Two speeds and limitations
The Midjourney V7 model is available in two speeds: Turbo and Relax. The Turbo version costs twice as much as a normal Midjourney V6 assignment, and draft assignments cost half as much as V6 assignments.
Midjourney expects to offer a Standard speed version for v7 soon. This option is not yet available because the standard speed mode needs more optimisation time.
Furthermore, Midjourney V7 has a number of other (temporary) limitations. For upscaling, editing, and changing the texture, the new model still relies on the functionality of the earlier V6 model. These features will be updated soon.
The CEO indicates that the work for mood boards and SREF and their performance will also improve with the next updates.
Midjourney plans to update the V7 model weekly over the next 60 days. The biggest new feature for this latest model is a new V7 character and object reference.
Also read: OpenAI’s wildly popular image generator is now free