You can already use genAI to do similar things. The whole point, however, was to see what I could do using traditional techniques. The other benefit is that it's something you can run locally without needing a lot of resources, and have full control over the shape of the output. You can also combine this with generative models, and have a model generate a picture, then have this repaint it. Ultimately the point was to have some fun and play around with combining these techniques.

From the article

> In the days of generative image models, it's still fun to see what can be achieved using traditional image transformation techniques.

> But the really fun part of the project was in combining a number of techniques, such as Perlin noise, wavelets, and edge detection, that I played around with previously in isolation. All these different tricks came together for this project, making it possible to build something greater than the sum of its parts. I find these are the most rewarding types of experiments where you can build on things you've previously learned and combine them in novel ways to make something new and unexpected. I hope you enjoyed the journey as much as I did working on the project.

I used my own photos for the input, I find images with the subject isolated to be more visually pleasing, hence most of my photos are in this style. But there wouldn't be any difference to the algorithm if the image was full of detail as you can see with my photo of Hong Kong at the end.

Thanks, it was a really fun thread to pull on. :)

Glad you liked it!

Neat, watching it paint as an animation is pretty fun.

It was more of a stylistic choice on my part. I could add more layers to flesh out background details. And it's Hong Kong actually. :)