InvokeAI/docs/features/VARIATIONS.md

title
Variations

:material-tune-variant: Variations

Intro

Release 1.13 of SD-Dream adds support for image variations.

You are able to do the following:

1. Generate a series of systematic variations of an image, given a prompt. The amount of variation from one image to the next can be controlled.

2. Given two or more variations that you like, you can combine them in a weighted fashion.

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This cheat sheet provides a quick guide for how this works in practice, using variations to create the desired image of Xena, Warrior Princess.

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Step 1 -- Find a base image that you like

The prompt we will use throughout is lucy lawless as xena, warrior princess, character portrait, high resolution.

This will be indicated as prompt in the examples below.

First we let SD create a series of images in the usual way, in this case requesting six iterations:

invoke> lucy lawless as xena, warrior princess, character portrait, high resolution -n6
...
Outputs:
./outputs/Xena/000001.1579445059.png: "prompt" -s50 -W512 -H512 -C7.5 -Ak_lms -S1579445059
./outputs/Xena/000001.1880768722.png: "prompt" -s50 -W512 -H512 -C7.5 -Ak_lms -S1880768722
./outputs/Xena/000001.332057179.png: "prompt" -s50 -W512 -H512 -C7.5 -Ak_lms -S332057179
./outputs/Xena/000001.2224800325.png: "prompt" -s50 -W512 -H512 -C7.5 -Ak_lms -S2224800325
./outputs/Xena/000001.465250761.png: "prompt" -s50 -W512 -H512 -C7.5 -Ak_lms -S465250761
./outputs/Xena/000001.3357757885.png: "prompt" -s50 -W512 -H512 -C7.5 -Ak_lms -S3357757885

---

Step 2 - Generating Variations

Let's try to generate some variations. Using the same seed, we pass the argument -v0.1 (or --variant_amount), which generates a series of variations each differing by a variation amount of 0.2. This number ranges from 0 to 1.0, with higher numbers being larger amounts of variation.

invoke> "prompt" -n6 -S3357757885 -v0.2
...
Outputs:
./outputs/Xena/000002.784039624.png: "prompt" -s50 -W512 -H512 -C7.5 -Ak_lms -V 784039624:0.2 -S3357757885
./outputs/Xena/000002.3647897225.png: "prompt" -s50 -W512 -H512 -C7.5 -Ak_lms -V 3647897225:0.2 -S3357757885
./outputs/Xena/000002.917731034.png: "prompt" -s50 -W512 -H512 -C7.5 -Ak_lms -V 917731034:0.2 -S3357757885
./outputs/Xena/000002.4116285959.png: "prompt" -s50 -W512 -H512 -C7.5 -Ak_lms -V 4116285959:0.2 -S3357757885
./outputs/Xena/000002.1614299449.png: "prompt" -s50 -W512 -H512 -C7.5 -Ak_lms -V 1614299449:0.2 -S3357757885
./outputs/Xena/000002.1335553075.png: "prompt" -s50 -W512 -H512 -C7.5 -Ak_lms -V 1335553075:0.2 -S3357757885

Variation Sub Seeding

Note that the output for each image has a -V option giving the "variant subseed" for that image, consisting of a seed followed by the variation amount used to generate it.

This gives us a series of closely-related variations, including the two shown here.

I like the expression on Xena's face in the first one (subseed 3647897225), and the armor on her shoulder in the second one (subseed 1614299449). Can we combine them to get the best of both worlds?

We combine the two variations using -V (--with_variations). Again, we must provide the seed for the originally-chosen image in order for this to work.

invoke> "prompt"  -S3357757885 -V3647897225,0.1,1614299449,0.1
Outputs:
./outputs/Xena/000003.1614299449.png: "prompt" -s50 -W512 -H512 -C7.5 -Ak_lms -V 3647897225:0.1,1614299449:0.1 -S3357757885

Here we are providing equal weights (0.1 and 0.1) for both the subseeds. The resulting image is close, but not exactly what I wanted:

We could either try combining the images with different weights, or we can generate more variations around the almost-but-not-quite image. We do the latter, using both the -V (combining) and -v (variation strength) options. Note that we use -n6 to generate 6 variations:

invoke> "prompt" -S3357757885 -V3647897225,0.1,1614299449,0.1 -v0.05 -n6
Outputs:
./outputs/Xena/000004.3279757577.png: "prompt" -s50 -W512 -H512 -C7.5 -Ak_lms -V 3647897225:0.1,1614299449:0.1,3279757577:0.05 -S3357757885
./outputs/Xena/000004.2853129515.png: "prompt" -s50 -W512 -H512 -C7.5 -Ak_lms -V 3647897225:0.1,1614299449:0.1,2853129515:0.05 -S3357757885
./outputs/Xena/000004.3747154981.png: "prompt" -s50 -W512 -H512 -C7.5 -Ak_lms -V 3647897225:0.1,1614299449:0.1,3747154981:0.05 -S3357757885
./outputs/Xena/000004.2664260391.png: "prompt" -s50 -W512 -H512 -C7.5 -Ak_lms -V 3647897225:0.1,1614299449:0.1,2664260391:0.05 -S3357757885
./outputs/Xena/000004.1642517170.png: "prompt" -s50 -W512 -H512 -C7.5 -Ak_lms -V 3647897225:0.1,1614299449:0.1,1642517170:0.05 -S3357757885
./outputs/Xena/000004.2183375608.png: "prompt" -s50 -W512 -H512 -C7.5 -Ak_lms -V 3647897225:0.1,1614299449:0.1,2183375608:0.05 -S3357757885

This produces six images, all slight variations on the combination of the chosen two images. Here's the one I like best:

As you can see, this is a very powerful tool, which when combined with subprompt weighting, gives you great control over the content and quality of your generated images.