A Closer Look at the New Midjourney inPainting Feature

The landscape of AI image generation is rapidly evolving, and Midjourney has once again pushed the boundaries of innovation with its latest offering: the inPainting feature.

While similar to the inpainting features of Dall-E2 and Stable Diffusion, Midjourney’s game-changing addition has generated a buzz within the creative community, and rightfully so. Imagine having a tool that lets you effortlessly improve your images without having to struggle through multiple rerolls. That’s exactly what Midjourney inPainting offers. It’s a powerful feature that lets AI artists, promptographers and prompt engineers easily tweak, fix, or even change elements in their images.

In this comprehensive guide, I will delve into every aspect of Midjourney’s inPainting, from its capabilities to its practical applications, unlocking the full potential of this game-changing tool. Let’s break it down.

Harnessing Midjourney inPainting Capabilities: A Step-by-Step Guide

Before going any further, you will want to make sure Remix Mode is activated in your /settings menu.

1. Replacing an Element

The ability to replace elements without the need for Photoshop skills opens up a world of creative possibilities. Midjourney‘s inPainting feature makes this process intuitive and (almost) effortless. By simply modifying the prompt in the designated box, you can make significant alterations to your images. For instance, let’s consider the following example where I change the model’s clothes in this portrait.

I started with the following prompt:

portrait photography of beautiful young woman sitting on a park bench. autumn foliage, soft sunlight. nikon z7ii 85mm lens f/2.8 --ar 3:2

While you can edit your prompt to include the edit, keeping everything else intact, you can also delete your entire prompt before the parameters, and describe the change you want in the selected area.

The result? A seamless transition from one element to another, offering a fresh perspective on image composition and design possibilities.

To achieve this transformation:

1. Once you have upscaled your image, click on “Vary (Region)” to initiate the editing process.
2. Use either the rectangle or lasso tool to select the area of the image you’d like to change. The rectangle works well for large areas while lasso is great for added precision.
3. Replace the existing prompt with the desired alteration, in this case giving the model black clothing instead of the flowery blouse.

2. Adding an Element

The ability to introduce new elements into an image opens the door to endless creative scenarios. By selecting the desired area and incorporating the new element into the prompt, users can seamlessly blend new elements into their compositions. Consider adding people to your landscapes to give it a greater sense of scale.

I started with this simple prompt:

wide angle photography of sweeping Icelandic landscape, cinematic, northern lights, nikon z7ii, 16mm, f/11 --ar 3:2

Did I mention I am head-over-heels in love with Iceland? I love that Midjourney does a pretty good job with its landscapes. In my own photography, I’m fond of including people in some landscape shots because it demonstrates scale and puts the whole scene into perspective. Sure, I could definitely simply prompt Midjourney to include people from the get go, but for the sake of this example, let’s say the best result was missing them. inPainting solves that problem with just a quick edit.

3. Removing an Element

Eliminating unwanted elements from an image can significantly enhance its visual impact. You can achieve this by highlighting the specific item to be removed and excluding that area from the prompt.

If I hadn’t been sold on the feature yet, this would have done it. The model’s expression changed a bit because my rectangle selection covered part of his face, but the result is otherwise seamless.

4. Repairing an Element

Correcting imperfections within an image is another facet of inPainting’s capabilities. Whether it’s fixing misshapen hands or refining problematic areas, the process remains straightforward. By selecting the specific area that requires attention and clicking the confirm arrow, you can effectively redraw and repair the element in question. This method proves particularly valuable when precision is paramount. For this, you don’t even need to modify the prompt. Think of it as a reroll on just that particular part of the image.

I gotta say, I’m fairly pleased with the result of the fix on that janky hand. I know janky hands are just part of the AI image generator experience, but I can never let them go. inPainting has definitely changed things.

Pro Tips for Optimal Results

To make the most of inPainting’s capabilities, here are some expert tips to keep in mind:

This feature works best on large regions of the image (20% to 50% of the image)

It’s not a magic fix and often it may be best to do a Vary(Subtle) instead

Changing the prompt will work best if it’s a change that’s more matched to that image (adding a hat on top of a character) versus something that’s extremely out of place (a dolphin in a forest)

In a best-case-scenario you can use the ‘prompt remixing’ feature as a general purpose inPainting system.

—from Midjourney Discord announcement

In Conclusion

I must admit that Midjourney’s inPainting feature is a super impressive addition to what’s easily considered the king in AI image generators. The ability to fine tune your prompt and edit your image with inPainting will also go a long way for those of you creative a narrative with a character design. With the buzz of Midjourney V6 looming on the horizon, I’m doubly excited to keep experimenting with this feature, because I have no doubt it will only get better. I hope this guide is helpful and inspires you to experiment with your Midjourney creations.

Happy prompting!