Quick Links
With a low barrier of entry and a design that suggests plenty of ideas, experimenting with Google’s free Image FX AI generator takes just a few minutes.
Step 1: Sign In With a Google Account
Start by heading to theAI Test Kitchen website,where you will find ImageFX. You will need to sign in with your Google account to use the tool for free, so go ahead and click theSign in with Googlebutton.
Once logged in, you will see a short notice about ImageFX that points out its experimental nature, reminding you to take care with how you use it. After reading through the information, clickGot it, then you will arrive at the ImageFX AI image generator.
As of writing, ImageFX is only available in select regions including the US, Kenya, New Zealand, and Australia.
Step 2: Create a Prompt
On the left is a large text box where you can tell the AI generator what image to create, otherwise called a prompt.
To create a prompt, take a moment to imagine something—it could be a photo, painting, or illustration—and what you picture inside. Hold that image in your mind while you type out a description of it in the text box.
You have the option to go with something classic, say, “An oil painting of a cottage by a lake”. Or you can concoct something a little more absurd. Try, for example, “A human made of pizza illustrated in candy colors”.
When you’re ready, click theGeneratebutton and watch your images appear on the right.
There is a limit to how many images you can create each day. Unfortunately, this number isn’t disclosed, so you won’t know that you’ve hit your quota till you do.
Step 3: Make Variations Using Expressive Chips
After each generation, you will notice that some words are highlighted. Click on these to see other potential words you may use in their place. Google has named these options “Expressive Chips”.
Click on the expressive chips and change any word you see fit, then hit theGeneratebutton again. You can create more variations on your original idea using this function.
Step 4: Explore Different Ideas
The AI models used to power these AI generators are trained on real images and real art, alongside the jargon used to describe them. Knowing the right language can help with getting better results.
Look below the text box area to find a collection of words. You might see words like film still, watercolor, high contrast, handmade, abstract, baroque, cinematic, illustration, etc. Feel free to use these, either by clicking on the words to populate the text box or by manually typing them out.
This vocabulary list relates to image styles, ideas, formats, techniques, and so forth. So, even if you don’t know anything about art, you can learn how to generate an image in a certain style by applying these keywords to your prompt.
Another way to explore different ideas is to skim through existingAI art prompts, helping you to make a connection between the prompt and the generated image. You can copy them in whole or partly as you get familiar with how AI art generators work.
When you land on an image you really like, make sure to save a copy by downloading it.
Click on the image from the set of previews, then click the download button below it. The icon looks like an arrow pointing down.
Unfortunately, you don’t have as many options to control the download quality as you would whenusing Midjourney to create AI art. Similarly, if you want to extend your image in different directions, you might opt forusing outpainting in DALL-E.
Of course, with ImageFX, the upside is that it’s free to use.
It’s quick to go from creating your first image to creating your 100th since it’s both easy and addictive. You only need to delete your old prompt and start typing a new description to try out another idea.
Testing out ImageFX is about as easy as it gets, so use it while you’re able to to explore Google’s addition to the list of AI image generators currently out there.
