Kevin Convery / Android Authority
The arrival of the machine-learning marvel that is DALL-E was quickly followed by a slew of imitators. One in particular, Craiyon (DALL-E mini), developed by Boris Dayma in response to the original DALL-E, has gained popularity for being free and unlimited, both in the number of images you can make and in the content you can choose to depict. While it learned from a smaller set of data than DALL-E 2, it has gained a reputation for having better pop culture knowledge and is a great alternative to DALL-E. Let’s go over the features available to Craiyon users so that you can learn how to use DALL-E mini and get the most out of this fascinating new development in the worlds of both art and technology.
QUICK ANSWER
To use Craiyon, go to www.craiyon.com and enter some text in the window at the top of the page describing the image you want to see. Be as specific as you can, including details about the content as well as the style of art you want to see. Hit Enter and Craiyon will give you nine versions of what you described in a grid below the text box. Click on any one of the nine to zoom in.
JUMP TO KEY SECTIONS
- What is Craiyon and how does it work?
- How to use Craiyon
What is Craiyon and how does it work?
Craiyon is an image generation engine that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning, presenting an interface that will convert plain-language text to images. The AI was fed a database of images and text descriptions until it learned to associate words with not only shapes, but color combinations, line thicknesses, differences in perspective, and other elements of artistic style. The AI learned so well, it can duplicate, to a great extent, the style of well-known artists.
The database Craiyon used to learn is smaller than that of DALL-E or DALL-E 2, so the results are not as precise. Faces, in particular, come out contorted and not recognizable. On the other hand, users have noticed that Craiyon has better knowledge of pop culture phenomena. This might give Craiyon a leg up for users who want to create memes.
DALL-E 2 has restrictions on what kind of content you can generate. Specifically, any requests for nudity or sexual subjects will simply be canceled. Also prohibited are images of well-known people from any area. OpenAI imposed these restrictions to keep DALL-E 2 from being used to produce deepfake images. Craiyon does not have these restrictions, perhaps because its portrayal of faces is not good enough for deepfakes to be a worry.
It’s important to note that Craiyon is a work in progress, and will likely get better in the future — more precise, more knowledgeable, and with better, more recognizable faces. Among all the DALL-E imitators, it is already the easiest to use. With further development, it may end up as the best AI art generator on the web. Here’s how to use DALL-E mini.
How to use Craiyon
It couldn’t be any easier to use Craiyon. Just go to www.craiyon.com and click inside the text box at the top. Add whatever words describe the image you would like to see.
Kevin Convery / Android Authority
You can describe what the subject should be, in what context, from what angle, and in what style of art the image should be generated. Just about any look you can think of, from painting to pencil drawing, impressionism to pointillism is possible. You can depict your subject as a futuristic cartoon or as a stained glass window. If you have a favorite artist, you can have a painting made in their style.
Kevin Convery / Android Authority
If you like any of the nine images, you can click to zoom in on it. From here, you can click on Screenshot and copy the image to your clipboard to save. There is also an online forum you can share your images with.
Kevin Convery / Android Authority
Other DALL-E-derivative sites offer further features like upscaling the image or generating variations on a single result. Craiyon does not offer these extras. The image size and square shape presented to you in the results box is your only option. But the free and unlimited nature of Craiyon means you can go back and refine your idea as often as you like, using varying descriptors to home in on the desired look.
FAQs
DALL-E 2 is supported by its owners, OpenAI, who have a research budget. Craiyon comes from a much smaller organization, which means ads to support the site are necessary. They also accept donations.
That means too many people are trying to generate images at the same time and the servers are overloaded by the demand. You can just try the same search term again if this happens.
You can use them for any personal use, as long as you credit Craiyon for the image. Free commercial use depends on whether or not your company makes more than one million dollars in annual revenue.
Yes, there is a Craiyon app for Android available at the Google Play Store. There is no iOS Craiyon app as yet.
You might like
Guides
AI
