And, shortly after my last DALL-E related post, I finally got access to the full product!
And what better way to start off with the full-fat version than by running the same requests as my last post and comparing the outputs.
Clive Sinclair drawn by HR Giger
And, in the first round, it’s a clear win for DALL-E Mini! The images produced by the full-fat DALL-E neither bear a particular resemblance to Clive Sinclair or to the art style of HR Giger.
Score:
1 – 0 to DALL-E Mini.
Captain Kirk holding an iMac
And, again, I think I’m going to have to go with DALL-E Mini. Whist both the figure and the computer produced by DALL-E are of significantly higher quality, the figure produced by DALL-E Mini is far closer to an image of Captain Kirk. The DALL-E figure? Possibly someone from an interwar cinema sci-fi serial.
Score:
2 – 0 to DALL-E Mini.
The Queen holding a Thinkpad.
And it’s the first win for DALL-E! We have a Queen (even if it’s not The Queen) and a very ThinkPad-like laptop. The three realistic women feel very human with faces and limbs that feel coherent and well formed, and the fourth cartoon-like figure wouldn’t be particularly out of place in artwork for a lower budget game.
Score:
2 – 1 to DALL-E Mini.
Clive Sinclair relaxing with a ZX Spectrum.
The DALL-E Mini images feel far more Sinclair-like, even is they are more deformed. Another point to DALL-E Mini.
Score:
3 – 1 to DALL-E Mini.
Doom Guy having a Party
Had the prompt been ‘Guy having a Party’ then DALL-E would be the clear winner. Alas, it was ‘Doom Guy having a Party’ and, on that basis, the point has to go to DALL-E Mini.
Score:
4 – 1 to DALL-E Mini.
Old English Sheepdog playing on a PC.
A win for DALL-E – the images it produced are on target and of better quality than those produced by DALL-E Mini.
Score:
4 – 2 to DALL-E Mini.
An Old English Sheepdog is the Universe
Neither really hit the target, so I’m going to split the score and award 0.5 points apiece.
Score:
4.5 – 2.5 to DALL-E Mini.
A Cat in the Style of HR Giger
While both sets of images quite clearly show cats – and the DALL-E images are very good – the full-fat DALL-E images are not particularly Giger-esq. Another win for DALL-E Mini.
Score:
5.5 – 2.5 to DALL-E Mini.
HR Giger Duck
DALL-E: Yes, they’re ducks. No, they’re not Giger-ish ducks.
DALL-E Mini: Duck-like and horrifying. Just as requested.
Score:
6.5 – 2.5 to DALL-E Mini.
Steve Jobs by HR Giger
And a double set to finish with. And, again, I’m afraid that, while the DALL-E images are technically better, DALL-E Mini is closer to the actually requested spec. And so, again, DALL-E Mini gets the point.
Score:
7.5 – 2.5 to DALL-E Mini.
Conclusion
So, what have we learned? Well, the first thing is that the full fat DALL-E really doesn’t like HR Giger! The second thing is that I generated far too many Giger-related images whilst I was playing with the original DALL-E Mini.
Beyond that, DALL-E is massively better at generating images of faces and of animals that really do look like the thing you have requested it create. This is especially true for the Old English Sheepdog images I requested it produce. Several of the generated images are, at the resolutions provided, so realistic that I have wondered if they’ve come straight out of a database of real photos. It’s only flaws in the backgrounds that really betray that they are synthetic.
I still seem to have unlimited access to the full-fat version of DALL-E and I’m going to continue to play around with it and to see what I can produce.