Re-imagining BG2 companions with AI Art

Zeno_42

So after completing a series of posts re-imagining all the BG1 companions - together with some imagined interactions with each other, my own characters, and Imoen - I'm starting a new set for the BG2 companions.

BGEE thread for BG1 companions:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/88614/re-imagining-baldurs-gate-npcs

My web site, which has more of all of the above. Plus various tips and tricks for doing this sort of thing yourself.
https://zenosziggurat.com

The first set is Jaheira, Minsc, Yoshimo, and Aerie:









And a taste of duo scenes - Minsc and his new "witch":

Zeno_42

Just made my next entry, this time covering four more companions:

Imoen (BG2):


Viconia (BG2):


Keldorn:


Jan Jansen:

Zeno_42

Continuing on with the series, I have now posted Mazzy, Valygar, Nalia, and Anomen:

Mazzy:


Valygar:


Nalia:


Anomen:

Khyron

The ones of Viccy and Valygar are my favorites so far!

Zeno_42

Thank you! Those did come out well. Working on Haer'Dalis, Neera, Cernd, Rasaad, and Wilson for the next set.

Zeno_42

Just finished another set at my website zenosziggurat.com: Haer'Dalis, Neera, Cernd, Rasaad, and Wilson

Haer'Dalis:





Neera:





Cernd:





Rasaad:





Wilson:

Zeno_42

And just completed the set at my website with Edwin, Hexxat, Korgan, Dorn, and Saverok

Edwin:





Hexxat:





Korgan:





Dorn:





Saverok:

Dharius

Not sure what the process is for generating AI art…but I’m very impressed with what you’ve done with Hexxat, Edwin and Korgan. Nalia and Minsc also look very convincing. I like the Neera pics too which are very much in keeping with her character.

The “serious looking female” pictures look very similar however e.g. scarred Imoen vs. Jaheira, as do the cheerful looking ones e.g.Neera vs Aerie vs the Imoen pics you did for BG1. Something about the similarities in the eyes. As I said I don’t know the process for generating these images, but do they come from similar sources? Maybe I just need to get some eye glasses…

Great job though, especially on Hexxat, Korgan and Edwin. Sarevok vs Abazigal looks very mythological too

atcDave

I don't mean to answer for Zeno, I'm sure he can engage you on plenty of the specifics.

But a couple of quick comments. For one, this is a really early generation of this sort of thing. The first commercial AIs of this sort came out summer of 2023 (?). Most of them function from a few lines of written text and turn it into the picture you see. There are of course, several issues with this. An obvious one, it will try to "paint" what you said, not what you meant. So a big part of this is finding the right terms to get what you want. It can be baffling the things it understands, interprets, or doesn't understand! There also seem to be certain preferences the AI has, like wanting to fill a scene with extra (and sometimes unwanted) details. And it likes lining characters up for a group portrait, you have to fight to get any sort of specific scene built. I tried to "illustrate" a whole party and their run through of IWD with this sort of art (see "Bull and the Slaves: Enhanced Edition") and have learned a lot of interesting and frustrating lessons!

I believe this is all done entirely with Microsoft/Bing Co-Pilot Image Generator. Which, no surprise, is pretty sophisticated and can generate some amazing results.
But it doesn't know what a crossbow is! It struggles with bows too.
It has filters that block violent content. Or anything that maybe might be violent.
It has even more restrictive filters on anything that might be racy or suggestive.
Seriously, those filters are harsh! Never mind "R" rated content, it can be a struggle to get "PG" rated content.

So this is sort of an early phase for this sort of thing. Some awesome results are possible. Some results require A LOT of tweaking to get what you want.
What the future holds will surely be amazing.

Zeno_42

Yep. As Dave said. Its also a matter of simply having chosen rather similar images for Jaheira and Imoen above. I also used similar ethnicities for those in particular- As Jaheira as Czech (as is Viconia, actually, as her model was Czech) and Imoen is Ukrainian.

For contrast , this is my normal image for Jaheira BG1:

Prompt: "czech half-elf warrior woman,one raised eyebrow,cocked head,druid,age 40,athletic,tanned,skeptical,dark brown eyes,sarcastic,medium honey blonde hair curtained with rows of short braids with small beads,leather scale armor;in the forest;oil paint,drawing,dark fantasy,rpg portrait,minimalist features,d&d,dark shading"

Whereas for Imoen I usually run this:

Prompt:"ukrainian girl,age 18,impish smile,mischevious expression,giggling,thief,short pale red hair,purple leather armor;oil paint,drawing,dark fantasy,soft focus,d&d,blurred,dark shading"

But even "serious Imoen" can also look like this:

Prompt: "ukrainian woman,age 21,sad,determined expression,thief,vertical scar through right eye,dark eyes,short pale red bob cut hair,purple leather armor,purple hood;in an old tower;paint,drawing,dark fantasy,d&d,dark shading"


Its just that in BG2 both of them are looking rather more shell-shocked. On my web site there's a series of images for everyone, so you can see how much variation there is even with a single prompt.

Zeno_42

Note that my website includes pages about AI concepts, how to generate portraits yourself, etc. In fact the whole point of it is as a resource to help folks get started doing this sort of thing for themselves.

Dharius

Very interesting…thanks for sharing these and always good to see new images of these characters. There’s clearly a lot of potential with this software.

Zeno_42

I've been chronicling my current run through BG1 & BG2 with my own characers - Keira and Kord - in the Challenges and Playthroughs section.

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/88621/keria-and-kord-head-to-baldurs-gate/p1

There's an index on my web-page specifically dedicated to that run with a lot more pictures illustrating highlights as they go through areas like Umar Hills, the Planar Sphere, and Spellhold.

https://zenosziggurat.com/rpg-character-sketches-keira-and-kord-bg2-index/