How Does Stable Diffusion Work

Ghost
3 min readMay 23, 2023

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Ever wondered how AI generative art tools work? Well this article has been created to help you have more understanding as to who AI art tools create the images you see. The main focus on this articles is “how does stable diffusion work” so if you are a fan of this amazing AI generative tool why not find out how it works.

If you can’t run stable diffusion from home it might be best that you try the online version dream studio

This image was created using stable diffusion

How Generative Art Tools Work In General

Generative art refers to the creation of artwork using algorithms, mathematical models, or computational processes. Diffusion-based generative art tools often employ a simulation of diffusion processes to create visually interesting and evolving patterns.

Here are a few simplified explanations of how a diffusion-based generative art tool might work:

Grid Initialization: The tool starts with a grid or canvas divided into discrete cells or pixels. Each cell represents a location in the artwork.

Initial Conditions: The tool assigns certain initial values or properties to each cell, such as color, brightness, or other visual attributes. These initial conditions serve as the starting point for the diffusion process.

Diffusion Step: The diffusion process begins, where the values of neighboring cells interact and influence each other. The exact mechanism of diffusion can vary depending on the specific tool or algorithm being used. One common approach is to simulate a diffusion equation, such as the heat equation or the reaction-diffusion equation, which describe how quantities spread and change over time.

Iteration: The diffusion process is iterated over multiple time steps. During each iteration, the values in each cell are updated based on the values of its neighboring cells and the specific diffusion algorithm being employed.

Visual Representation: The updated values from the diffusion process are mapped to visual attributes, such as colors or shapes, to generate the final artwork. This mapping can be based on predefined rules or user-defined parameters.

Evolution and Interactivity: Depending on the tool, the diffusion process may continue to evolve and change the artwork over time. Additionally, interactive elements can be introduced, allowing users to modify the initial conditions or adjust parameters to influence the diffusion and generate unique variations of the artwork.

Overall, diffusion-based generative art tools leverage the principles of diffusion to create visually captivating patterns, textures, and forms. The precise implementation and specific features can vary depending on the tool or algorithm employed, as there are numerous approaches and techniques within the field of generative art.

Now that we have a brief understanding let’s move onto how stable diffusion works. If you are struggling to use stable diffusion why not check out our stable diffusion cheat sheet.

But How Does Stable Diffusion Come up With it’s Images

Datasets, large, extremely large datasets. Stable diffusion has absorbed millions of images in it’s original dataset in order to come up with the images you see today.

Here is a simple example: if you were to train a robot on pictures of sausages millions of them and then tell it to draw a picture of one, it’s going to do that right? That’s the main principle behind stable diffusion. You can check out a more in depth view on How Stable diffusion works here. It goes a little more in depth about custom models and how to use prompts.

Thank you for reading my post!

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