Manny Goes On Vacation

Mr. Wombo's Neanderthal.

 In my previous blog post, I described my use of the WOMBO cloud-based CLIP-guided image generating software to make an illustration depicting Tyhry making use of futuristic teleportation technology. With the Eternity teleportation equipment back in full operation, Tyhry's planned trip to Alastor Cluster can focus on other technological issues such as finding medical nanites that could be used by the Mind Clones to enhance their telepathic abilities. However, Manny has her own agenda, which includes providing Tyhry with an appreciation for the fact that development of human telepathy began with the Neanderthals. 

When I asked "Mr. Wombo" to generate an image depicting a Neanderthal, I got the image shown to the right. In my imagination, the Neanderthals had a rudimentary telepathic ability that helped support social cohesion.

Neanderthals fishing.

Imagine that Manny takes Tyhry and Marda into the Reality Simulation System so that they can experience what life was like for the Neanderthals. When I asked Mr. Wombo to provide an image depicting Neanderthals fishing, I got the image shown to the left.

Manny teaching Tyhry and Marda
how to survive in the past.

I asked Mr. Wombo for a "closeup" view and was eventually able to obtain the image shown to the right.

I've learned that the "Flora V2" style of the WOMBO image generator can be useful for providing alternative perspectives on a scene. I used "Flora V2" to generate an alternate version of the fishing scene.

Figure 1. "Flora V2" style

In the image to the left, Mr. Wombo inserted a bird and a boat on the lake. I edited that image and began using this text prompt: "Neanderthal women cooking, wearing animal skin clothing, Margot Robbie is a Neanderthal woman, Meg Ryan is a Neanderthal woman, Kriti Sanon is a Neanderthal woman".

cool shades

One of the big problems for Mr. Wombo in generating this scene was his desire to make a shiny modern frying pan and provide either Tyhry or Marda with sunglasses.

Also, I did prefer versions of this cooking scene in which Marda was holding the pan with her left hand and Manny was not touching the pan, as shown to the left. Mr. Wombo preferred Manny holding the handle of the pan, as shown in Figure 1.

Other problems for Mr. Wombo included: 1) his desire to randomly insert an additional bird into the scene, sometimes perched in Marda's hair, 2) often the boat would either disappear or turn into a spiffy 20th century speedboat.

Dinner time: 40,000 BCE.

I'm fairly satisfied with the image shown to the left, although this is a composite with Tyhry having been generated in a different image than the right hand side of the scene. It was essentially impossible for Mr. Wombo to generate all of the hands correctly for all three women in a single image.

One of the challenges of working with the "Flora V2" style of WOMBO is that it will often convert a human figure into animal form, particularly in this case where I was asking for human figures dressed in animal skins.

Manny takes on animal form.

Manny the bumpha is composed of zeptites and she is able to take on any convenient physical form. Maybe while instructing Tyhry and Marda in the ways of the Neanderthals, Manny might find it useful to take on animal form as in the image to the right.

Guest appearance by a cat.

With the "Flora V2" style persistently inserting animals into images, I ended up with a cat included on an image that was meant to illustrate a "field trip" conducted by Manny inside the Reality Simulation System.

Asterothropes, Wombo style.

For the Exode Saga, I imagine that Asterothropes are a human variant. I asked Mr. Wombo to make a depiction using this text prompt: "painting of Asterothrope women, Margot Robbie is an Asterothrope woman, Kriti Sanon is an Asterothrope woman, Asterothropes are a human variant created by genetic engineering".

Figure 2. Three Asterothropes.

I thought it was possible that this image was in the Stable Diffusion image database, but apparently not. I tried providing the image shown to the keft as a reference image. 

The resulting images generated by Mr. Wombo were mostly unusable because the image-generating algorithm could not correctly construct the left leg of the Asterothrope female (because the Asterothrope hermaphrodite, in green, was in front of her).

Mr. Wombo's version of Figure 2.

The image to the right had to be modified with Photoshop, but I did not have the patience to fix problems like Yenti's swollen left foot. I think the "Womboized" version of Figure 2 is better, so I replaced the original image on this web page for my story Telepaths of Site Q. Also, see the updated image on this page.

telepathic alien at sundown

In the image shown to the left, Manny introduces Tyhry and Marda to an alien telepath on a planet in Alastor Cluster. As the sun sets and clouds roll in, the alien can still guide Tyhry and Marda through the dark night to their destination.

alternate telepathic alien

An alternate version of this scene is shown to the right with a different style of alien. I'm not sure what is the best way to show a low light level for this scene.

Tyhry's dream of "Big Blue".

 Tyhry's Dreams Part 4. The image to the left shows one of Tyhry's dreams that was created by information flow from the future. Tyhry is able to access information in the Sedron Time Stream. Tyhry had this dream when she was seven years old. Yes, that is Tyhry's mother Zeta dressed in black.

From an early age, Tyhry knows that she will have contact in the future with replicoids and travel to exoplanets.

Thyry1 and Tyhry2 welcome Marda
to the nanite research laboratory
inside the Reality Simulation System

 Nanite Research Laboratory. Tyhry makes use of the Reality Simulation System to establish a nanite research laboratory in a fork of the Ekcolir Reality. After Marda graduates from college, Tyhry finally shows her the secret research laboratory.

In the image shown to the right, Marda is startled when a second copy of Tyhry appears in the laboratory. Tyhry has made several copies of herself in order to accelerate her nanite research.

Mr. Wombo's space elevator

 Space Elevator. I asked Mr. Wombo for a "photograph of a futuristic space elevator". The resulting image was completely useless (see the image to the left). 

looking at a space elevator

I then asked for: "photograph looking at a futuristic space elevator, view from ground level looking up". The image shown to the right is also useless, but it illustrates the challenges involved in trying to get Mr. Wombo to be useful in illustrating science fiction stories.

Marda and the space elevator

With some effort and some Photoshop massaging, I was able to produce the image shown to the left.

In my imagination, this is on a planet of Alastor Cluster in the future of the Asimov Reality, a time and place when space elevators are in use by technologically advanced worlds. Maybe hierion-based composite materials allow for super-strong elevator cables that can guide ocean-liner-sized elevator cars carrying thousands of people at a time. Marda is on a stratospheric observation platform such as the one shown here. The full-sized image is available here.

Flora's space elevator

As usual, "Flora V2" style of the WOMBO image generator provided its unique view of a space elevator (see the image to the right).

anti-gravity sports

While visiting Alastor Cluster, Marda (a rock climbing enthusiast) takes Tyhry and Manny to an antigravity-assist rock climbing park (see the image to the left). Tyhry already has experience using anti-gravity hierions in the clothing that she designs.

 Back in the Nanite Laboratory. I wanted an illustration showing Tyhry, Manny and Marda in a laboratory setting, examining newly collected nanites that have been returned to Earth from a simulation of Alastor Cluster.

Nanoscopy by Tyhry and Marda.

 Previously, Mr. Wombo helped me make some illustrations for Tyhry in her lab while she is working to develop hair nanites (also see the end of this blog post). For the image to the right, I asked Mr. Wombo to make a scene for confocal microscopy, but I can pretend that Tyhry and Marda are investigating submicroscopic nanites.

Exoplanet setting.

 Let's Get Serious about Aircars. I asked Mr. Wombo to provide an image for: "photographic closeup of a flying aircar with passengers inside, science fiction setting, looking into the aircar through a window, exoplanet background, show passengers inside the aircar".

Tyhry and Marda in an aircar

Eventually, I got the image shown to the right. Mr. Wombo does not have the concept of symmetry for the wings of an aircar. Also, I had to paste the human figures into the aircar.

aircar by Flora

When I turned this image over to the "Flora v2" style engine, Mr. Wombo turned things around, sending the aircar in the other direction (see the image to the left). Now Marda gets to pilot the aircar. The decorations on the side of Flora's aircar are pretty cool.

another aircar model

Here is another aircar model that Mr. Wombo came up with (image to the right). I had to suggest that the aircar be made to look like a van. Maybe Tyhry and Marda are in the back compartment with the autopilot in control of the aircar.

arrival at a floating city

I like the idea that there could be floating cities in the stratosphere of some planets in Alastor Cluster. The image to the left shows an aircar landing at a floating city (off screen, right).

back view

Here is one more view of a flying aircar (image to the right) provided by Mr. Wombo.

VFX aircar

To shake things up, I sequentially used the the WOMBO fantasy style, retro style, and then VFX. The resulting aircar (shown in the image to the left) seems hopelessly untrustworthy, but it looks impressive. 

The "HDR" style for WOMBO had some interesting ideas for aircars.

how to get around the town

The image to the right was initially generated with the "HDR" style and then fed back through the VFX style for the final version.

aircar night landing

For the Exode Saga, Marda and Tyhry have to carry out some of their mission at night. When Marda infiltrates a nanite research facility and obtains a sample of the nanites, Tyhry arrives in the middle of the night for a dramatic extraction of Marda from the secret research facility.

Tyhry picks up Marda

Once again, Miss Flora had her own ideas for how to depict this scene (see the image to the right). Flora can't resist adding animals to scenes, so here we get some kind of night bird above the aircar.

flying aircar above road

I like how Mr. Wombo was able to provide some interesting lighting for these night-time scenes. I don't have the patience to correct all of Mr. Wombo's idiosyncrasies such as where he decides to draw lines down the roadways.

Marda reaches the aircar.

Here is one more depiction of Marda's escape as generated by Mr. Wombo (image to the right). There were some "interesting" versions of this depiction with Marda seemingly jumping over the aircar. Maybe Mr. Wombo is also experimenting with anti-gravity nanites.

tool-using aliens

 Manny's Precards Part 2. In the past, I've illustrated several alien creatures from Alastor Cluster. I asked Mr. Wombo to provide me with an image of, "a photograph of two flying aliens using tools, the aliens have monkey heads, the alien talons look like human hands" (see the image to the left).

Figure 3. Tyhry's dream vision

With her access to the Sedron Time Stream, Tyhry has a childhood memory of a dream in which she was on an exoplanet where there were large flying aliens (see the image to the right).

Figure 4. Manny's precard

That dream memory (see Figure 3) was not a happy one for Tyhry. When Manny is trying to warn Tyhry about potential dangers in Alastor Cluster, Manny shows Tyhry a "precard" with a similar image (see Figure 4).

Tyhry asks Manny if she can "see the future", but Manny simply says that the bumpha are able to "fully process" the data provided in the Sedron Time Stream.

Next: the Bing chatbot.

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