It has been quite some time since MidJourney last released an update to its AI models. Recently, most of the news in the AI world has been about neural networks that generate videos and language AI models.
A few days ago, MidJourney released a minor update for Niji, its model for generating anime-style images. While not revolutionary, this update brings some long-awaited improvements.
For those who are not yet familiar with Niji, it is a MidJourney model specifically designed to create Eastern and anime aesthetics. I’m not a big fan of anime, but I’ve been following the development of Niji since 2022.
What’s new in Niji 6?
The new updates are primarily focused on text rendering and image quality improvements.
Updates to the new model:
- Improved Japanese text rendering. This is ideal for users who want to include authentic Japanese text in their images.
- Ability to render Chinese characters. The model not only displays short Japanese text in kana well, but in some cases can also display text that includes simple Chinese characters.
- Improved image detail. One notable improvement is the structure of anime eyes. Any anime artist knows that eyes play a crucial role in conveying emotion and character, so this improvement is particularly interesting.
- Fixed some image artifacts that previously affected a very small number of generations.
How to enable Niji Model V6
At this time, it is not possible to switch to the Niji model from MidJourney Alpha, and features such as drawing, panning, and zooming will be available in the full release in about a month.
Bring up the settings menu by typing “/settings” and pressing Enter. From the list of models, select “Niji Model V6 [ALPHA]”.
After that, you can start creating anime-style images.
Niji remains an interesting tool, especially for those working on anime illustrations or graphic design. Improvements in image quality and detail, such as the improved structure of anime characters’ eyes, will surely be appreciated by artists working in this field.
In any case, I’m still looking forward to when the MidJourney team finally unveils its AI video generator or AI 3D tool. When are they going to release it? I can’t wait to try these tools out.
