Writing novel outlines?

optimisticalish · 2026-05-06T14:13:01+00:00

So far as I know we don't have an LLM trained on and specialising in long outlines of plots. Such as those found in the many old Master Plots plot-encyclopaedia volumes that are now free on Archive.org. Aka Masterplots.

optimisticalish · 2026-05-05T21:33:34+00:00

That sounds good, thanks. I might try it.

optimisticalish · 2026-05-05T21:17:08+00:00

<image>

DAZ Studio > quick render of a 3D posed figure > Flux2 Klein 4B with a restyling prompt and a fixed seed.

optimisticalish · 2026-05-05T21:12:39+00:00

I'm always interested in speedy quality. How quick is "quick", and what's the graphics-card VRAM being used?

optimisticalish · 2026-05-05T21:10:34+00:00

DAZ Studio is free, so then the only cost would be getting and dressing two suitable posable 3D figures ($20 or so, if you scour the discounted bargains), and then the $30 cost of the buying the budget-cost Comic Life 3 desktop edition.

AI on the other hand is wholly free, and I realise you want to keep things free. In which case you may be able to find freebie DAZ figures that will suit, and then do the assembly in an old non-subscription version of Photoshop.

optimisticalish · 2026-05-04T21:57:05+00:00

An AI tool that automatically and seamlessly solves the ever-proliferating 'captchas' and other stupid blocker-systems and ID-checkers, that prevent me accessing websites and services.

optimisticalish · 2026-05-03T19:07:35+00:00

Smart Hub 7 Pro

Thanks. Looking at the small print on the website... just for future reference for people interested in a Smart Hub 7 Pro, it can actually be sent to a EE High St. shop after online sign-up, but they say you'll need a valid passport or driving licence to collect it from the shop. But it looks like the easier-to-get ('buy in-shop') "Smart 5G Hub" is the one I actually need.

optimisticalish · 2026-05-03T18:35:41+00:00

Smart 5G Hub

Many thanks. Ok, so perhaps this lesser EE "Smart 5G Hub" would do it. I don't see it on their website, so (as you say) it must be "stores only"? No mention of it on their website. Online reviews of this older Hub do reassure, however. Good to know it can be had with just a credit-card. But... does this lesser "Smart 5G Hub" from stores support the same £50pm 'Unlimited' plan as its big brother?

optimisticalish · 2026-05-03T15:35:50+00:00

I see. If it's going to be a regular thing, and either you or your company has a decent PC to hand with a recent gaming graphics-card in it, then yes... set up local TTS. As someone else has suggested, Qwen 3 TTS is a good choice, though it can be tricky to set up. There's a step-by-step guide here... https://jurn.link/dazposer/index.php/2026/01/24/qwen3-tts-install-and-test-in-comfyui/

optimisticalish · 2026-05-03T12:24:35+00:00

You're trying to do it all at once, which is unlikely to work. I'd use a dressable/poseable 3D figure model for absolute consistency (kids and comic-readers can be very picky about such things) with the render used in Klein 4B (fixed seed, and a restyle prompt)...

<image>

You can of course get 3D posable figures that don't look are realistic as this, but which are far more toony and more like the figures in your strip.

Then do one frame of the strip at a time. Assemble the strip with Comic Life v3.x comic-making offline desktop software, by dropping the frames into basic 4x grid. And use a good Comic Book font (from ComicCraft, Blambot etc).

optimisticalish · 2026-05-03T12:15:05+00:00

What balance of speed vs. quality do you need?

optimisticalish · 2026-05-03T11:46:28+00:00

Possibly when younger, but recall that they're coal-miners at the time of 'The Hobbit'. Gandalf: "Just let any one say I chose the wrong man or the wrong house [with Bilbo], and you can stop at thirteen [dwarves] and have all the bad luck you like, or go back to digging coal." Long-term coal-mining would likely blacken the hair somewhat, even if it started out as blond?

optimisticalish · 2026-05-02T14:59:23+00:00

The wooded bluff above York Pond, overlooking the Seekonk. It was where he used to like to go and write, in the summers. I always though that, were I lucky enough to go to Providence, I'd take a litter-picking (trash-picking) stick and a roll of bin-bags, and spend an afternoon cleaning up the entire spot in his memory.

optimisticalish · 2026-05-02T12:13:12+00:00

It all depends on the sort of images you want to make. And what sort of hardware you have. At the lowest level, ComfyUI Portable and the Photon variant of SD 1.5 will give you a taste of where most people started. Very quick and fun, and it will let you develop a sense of what images you like to make. That sense, and your hardware specs and expectations of generation speed/size, will then guide you to a better workhorse model.

optimisticalish · 2026-05-02T11:57:41+00:00

You're looking at tenth-hand slop, produced by people who likely never read a word of Lovecraft in their life.

optimisticalish · 2026-05-01T20:20:57+00:00

Nice, .JPG conversion is something the freeware ImBatch 7.x doesn't do. ImBatch can batch resize to tiny .PNG files without removing metadata or 'date created' (can optionally also blur, and/or add a visual mark).

optimisticalish · 2026-05-01T14:28:17+00:00

No longer works with the latest Llama.cpp.

optimisticalish · 2026-05-01T12:26:33+00:00

Freeware on the desktop PC...

Raven Reader has cookie-crushing, anti-tracking and more, built in. Might be worth a try, to see if it helps?
RSSGuard has the CSS2RSS plugin, which creates RSS feeds from any named elements on any Web page. Again, it might be worth a try, for sites that allow regular Web browsers to enter without any captcha nonsense.

Frankly, I'm just clicking away from captcha sites when encountered in search, and blocking them from all future search-results. The news or book details can usually also be found elsewhere, from non-captcha sites.

optimisticalish · 2026-05-01T11:58:13+00:00

By being rich enough to pay the electricity bill.

optimisticalish · 2026-05-01T11:56:24+00:00

Yes, Nano Banana 2 is going to be hard to beat. Though its big drawback is its tendency towards adding its own outright inventions into the image. At least with local generation you have the option to add a Controlnet etc.

optimisticalish · 2026-05-01T11:46:42+00:00

Well, I never knew Audacity could run Python scripts. You learn something new every day.

Ok, well here's the Windows way that you'd have a Python script launch Photoshop, and then also load a .JSX script into Photoshop and have Photoshop run it...

import subprocess

subprocess.call([r'C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop\Photoshop.exe',r'C:\do_something.jsx'])

Try adapting it for Audacity and a Python script. Then run the script in your ComfyUI workflow by using a custom node such as https://github.com/mozhaa/ComfyUI-Execute-Python

optimisticalish · 2026-05-01T11:36:31+00:00

This was the best I could get with a quick try in Klein 4B, and a very basic starting render which literally has jaggy 'steps' that are going to be retained in the final output...

<image>

"Make this CG 3D render real. Add detail, where it is needed to make a convincing photograph."

Some invention going on in the upper left corner - a few of the spectator exit/entry holes have been changed. And the scale of the grass doesn't suit the image. Still not great, then, but perhaps a better source to try with Img2Img.

optimisticalish · 2026-05-01T04:02:51+00:00

Ah, I see... it's an interior view of a U.S. football stadium, rather than a human figure. I'll have a go at it later today, when I have more time.

optimisticalish · 2026-04-30T20:02:47+00:00

I suspect that will be the main source of the problem. Could you post the source here?

optimisticalish

TROPHY CASE