Software - Printable Version

Software - Printable Version

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RE: Software - JasonB - 24th-Nov-25

I wan't really sure where to put this, but...

I'm not a big fan of the idea of AI, but then, I thought I ought to at least dip my toes in and see what it's all about.

I was aiming to find a useful way for people to produce posters to promote their slot car events. I was hoping that some snazzy AI would be able to produce the whole thing for us from a text description, for free. Well, that didn't happen, but it wasn't a completely wasted attempt.

I found a completely free, no log in reqired site, which will turn your text description into an image, https://perchance.org/ai-text-to-image-generator. Needless to say there are a few caveats, which may be deal breakers...

It won't create accurate versions of a particular car
It doesn't do text or numerals vey well, which is a bit bizarre, since they are fairly simple and well established
The maximum image size is 768 x 512, way too small for a printed poster, but maybe just about okay for forums and socials.

So, if that hasn't put you off completely, let me show you some examples.

I searched for 1990s saloon racing cars. The software also has several settings to produce different styles, and in this case I set it to 'Professional Photo'

[attachment=44858][attachment=44859]

A search for 1970s F1, pulp art, produced these.

[attachment=44860][attachment=44861]

Prompting the AI with Racing cars Le Mans in a painted anime style provided these results

[attachment=44862][attachment=44863]

Racing cars vintage Le mans, painted anime.

[attachment=44864][attachment=44865]

Racing cars vintage Le Mans, concept sketch style

[attachment=44866][attachment=44867]

Dakar rally, 60s photo style, also finding that adding smoke to the prompt can add some drama.

[attachment=44868][attachment=44869]

I tried 1970s rally, with a cinematic style, and for the second one added splash and smoke to the search terms.

[attachment=44870][attachment=44871]

Then I searched for 1950s NASCAR, added crash, smoke and sparks, and also asked for a newspaper headline page. Mixed results, it doesn't do text very well.

[attachment=44872][attachment=44873]

Finally, rally cars in a 'franco-belgian comic' style, wth added "VROOM" text in honour of Michel Vaillant.

[attachment=44874][attachment=44875]

RE: Software - Kevan - 24th-Nov-25

AI tools are developing at a fast pace, the genie is out of the bottle whether we like it or not so embrace it.. especially if it's free.

RE: Software - JasonB - 25th-Nov-25

You can also enlarge images with https://perchance.org/image-upscaler

The results seem pretty good.

RE: Software - GT40Racer - 26th-Nov-25

I have found the AI 3D generators quite useful - take an image and turn it into a 3D stl file.

I have mainly used them for making small parts - I needed an exhaust for a car and was able to take a photo of the exhaust and then create a 3D model of it and print it out. I have also had success with wheel inserts and side mirrors. You could probably do other things like dashboards and fuel caps - while some of these are available to buy - for me that usually means from overseas with the expensive postage charges. I haven't tried doing engine detail yet but think it would work for making a rear engine detail from the 60s Le Mans type cars.

The other thing they are good for is making figures - still working my way around getting the best output for this but I was able to make a usable 1/48 scale train driver for my On30 Trains - I haven't done a race car driver yet as I have some good files that was able to source from 3D sites. I suspect that I will find to more useful from my train modelling than slot cars.

I don't think they are there yet for making a full car (maybe the paid version which allows multiple photos would do this)

RE: Software - Kevan - 26th-Nov-25

AI photo-to-3D solid is already passably good.

I've been experimenting with this since alerted to the possibilities by Trevor Ford.

RE: Software - woodcote - 16th-Dec-25

Thanks Jason for the post about the perchance AI image generator. I had a play with it, just in case I got asked to do the posters for next year’s Slot Rally GB events.

I wanted to place a rally car in the location of each of the rounds and it sort of worked - not being very familiar with any of the towns, apart from Worthing. And when I got to Worthing, I could see how AI doesn’t get it right at all…

A sandy beach (it should be pebbles), hills (it’s pretty flat round here), a very odd-looking pier and wind turbines not on the horizon that I was expecting (over the hills, rather than out to sea). But to someone not very familiar with the Worthing area, it might be perfect.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun to do and I did get asked to do the posters - and you’ll see the five of them in due course. This is the one for the full season…

[attachment=45246]

For those interested, I opened the image generated in perchance in a new tab, saved it and then imported into a DTP program where I could increase to A5 size and reformatted the image to prevent pixelisation. I then added the text and logos and exported as a jpeg.

RE: Software - JasonB - 16th-Dec-25

Looks good. Glad to hear it's proving useful Andy. Thumbup