Creating Consistent Characters with Midjourney's Character Reference

Midjourney now has a character reference feature. This lets you try to keep a character's look the same across different images. But does it actually work well? Let's look at how to use it and what results you can expect.

How to Use Character Reference

There are two main ways to use character reference in Midjourney: on Discord or through the web interface.

Using Character Reference on Discord

To use it on Discord, you add a command to your prompt.

• Start with `/imagine` and write your scene prompt.

• After your prompt, add `--c-ref URL` where "URL" is the web address of the image you want to use as a character reference. Remember, this command goes at the very end.

• To get an image URL from Discord, just click on the image, right-click, and select "Copy Image Link".

• You can also add `--cw` followed by a number from 0 to 100. This sets the character weight. 100 is the default. It doesn't change how much of the face is used, but how much of the rest like clothing, hair, and makeup is referenced. 0 means it will mostly just focus on the face likeness and ignore style details.

• Other parameters like `--ar` for aspect ratio still go after the `--c-ref` and `--cw` commands.

Using Character Reference on the Midjourney Web Alpha

The web interface makes referencing even simpler.

• Go to the web alpha interface.

• You can drag and drop your reference image or click to select one.

• Once loaded, mouse over the image.

• Click the icon that appears for "character reference". It looks like a small person icon. This links the image as your character reference.

• Type your prompt describing the scene you want.

• Most settings like aspect ratio are in the settings tab. The only parameter you might add directly in the prompt is `--cw` if you want to change the weight from the default 100.

This method is great because you don't have to describe the person over and over. You just reference the image and describe the new scene or style you want them in. Setting `--cw` to 0 lets you change the clothing and background completely while keeping the face similar.

Managing many character references and prompts manually can take a lot of time. For generating images faster and more efficiently, you might explore automation tools designed for Midjourney. Check out the TitanXT Midjourney Automation Suite to see how it can streamline your creative workflow.

Testing the Feature: How Well Does It Work?

The video showed some examples to see how well character reference works with different types of images.

Using Midjourney Generated Characters

It seems the feature works best when you use an image that Midjourney itself created as the reference. The test used an explorer character created in Midjourney. It showed:

• Likeness was generally kept across different poses and painting styles, though sometimes poses were twisted.

• In photographic styles, facial features like cheekbones or freckles could sometimes look more extreme.

• Changing the setting and clothing completely with `--cw 0` worked well while keeping the character's look recognizable.

• Changing art styles significantly, like to a coloring book style, still kept a decent likeness.

• Attempting different face expressions like smiling or laughing had mixed success. Smiling worked okay, laughing was pretty good (even if teeth were large), screaming was less clear.

• Sometimes you need to re-run a prompt several times to get the best result with a natural looking face.

Using Photos of Real People

The video creator tried using a photo of their own face. The result looked nothing like them. It created a nice image of a person, but not the person in the photo. So, don't expect to upload a photo of yourself or a celebrity and get images that look exactly like them.

Using Fantasy Characters

A test with a baby dragon character created in Midjourney also had mixed results. While some images had similarities and included features like clothes and a backpack from the original, others changed the features quite a bit (like ears or tail). This suggests it may not be as consistent for non-human or highly stylized fantasy creatures compared to human-like characters.

Generating consistent looks for characters, especially when exploring different styles and scenes, can involve many iterations. For a more efficient approach to managing these variations and speed up your output, consider leveraging automation. Discover how the TitanXT Midjourney Automation Suite can assist you in generating and organizing your creative results.

Summary and What's Next

Midjourney's character reference is a powerful new tool, especially for keeping consistent human-like characters that were originally generated in Midjourney. It allows you to put the same character into different scenes, styles, and even try different expressions with some success. While it has limits, particularly with real photos and some fantasy types, and sometimes requires re-rolls for the best faces, it's a significant step forward for creating consistent characters in Midjourney.

To take full advantage of features like character reference and manage your creative projects more effectively, exploring automation is a great idea. The TitanXT Midjourney Automation Suite offers tools designed to help you generate images faster and handle your workflows efficiently.