Anhalt-Zerbst and More Experiments with AI. . .

The next unit to go under the brush. I give you the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment!

Apropos of nothing, I found an AI that, among other things, easily removes backgrounds from photographs, leaving just the subject in the foreground to paste into or against another background. Pixelcut.ai it is for anyone who might like to mess around with it to see what it can help you produce.

Otherwise, just wrapping up summertime activities before various meetings and things kick in Monday morning at 9am with classes beginning the following Monday the 25th. While I well and truly enjoy working with (most) undergrads, my colleagues, developing/revising courses, and the scholarship of teaching and learning in general, I really could do without the departmental and program meetings which always go on far too long and come at less than convenient times whether in-person, or online. Sigh.

I know, I know. Lots of people in the world right now with far worse problems, so I should hush and be thankful. Back to toy soldiers!

I am leaning toward adding another infantry regiment to the Electorate of Zichenau's forces, this time the based heavily on the Anhalt-Zerbst regiment as it probably appeared during the American War of Independence. I'll use a batch of 60 or so Minden Austrian line infantry from the infamous Drawer o' Lead to my immediate left here at my desk in Zum Stollenkeller. An hour or so this evening to stick 'em to temporary bases ought to do, and I've already got a very nice speculative flag designed a few months back by David of the Not by Appointment blog, who really does some amazing work with his secret blend of source materials and technical know-how.

On a related note, there is a neat Facebook page belonging to a group of reenactors who model the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment. The photographs alone are well worth a look. Of particular interest is the fact that much of the nominally white pieces of uniform are in fact a creamier shade of off-white wool or linen. A point worth keeping in mind for those of us painting white uniforms. I might have to revise ever so slightly my current approach which involves damp-brushing white over a light gray undercoat.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Gotta check the stock of temporary card bases for painting and maybe cut out a few more strips to hold five or six figures each, making painting a bit easier. Huzzah!

-- Stokes

Here are the recently finished von Polenz Cuirassiers with the background neatly and quickly removed using Pixelcut.ai. Haven't figured out what to do with the image next, but just consider the possibilities.

And We're Off!!!

Arrrgh! Gotta go back into camera settings on my iPhone to bring all of the frame into focus. Blast! Painting is underway on the 60 or so Minden Austrians, which are slated to become my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment of AWI renown. More or less indistinguishable from Austrians of the era really, right down to the red facings and turnbacks, but the eventual flags (already in my files) will set them apart. I went ahead and based-coated all of them over a couple of days lthe last week of August, using a mix of light gray and white acrylic gesso, before next applying my usual basic alkyd oil flesh tone to the faces and hands. In a day or two, I'll hit that with Army Painter Flesh Wash to tone things down a bit and bring some definition to the faces and hands. As usual, the plan is to focus on about 20 figures at a time, splitting the regiment roughly into thirds along with the color party and regimental staff. Depending on ...

Sunday Morning Coffee with AI. . .

A rmed with a second cup of fresh, strong coffee, I messed around a bit this morning with artlist.io using its image to image function in an attempt to convert my hand-drawn map from September 2006 to something that more resembles an old map from the mid-18th century. And just like my experiments with Ninja AI in June, the results are mixed. The above map is pretty good, but Artlist keeps fouling up the place names and has trouble putting a faint overlay of hexes across the entire area. Hexes, admittedly, are not likely to be found on any genuine maps from the era in question, but there we are. Frankly, I prefer the appearance of the Ninja map, but there were problems getting it to correct its errors. Grrrr. As is the case with so much having to do with the various AI's out there now, the output generated is a direct result of the prompts entered. For text alone, and when you develop a lengthy, highly detailed prompt, it is...

Continued Regional Map Revisions. . .

F ooled around a bit more with the revised map just before and after dinner this evening, using the Fotor app to reinsert missing text . I also removed a few other things using the 'Magic Eraser' function, which works surprisingly well. Now, we're getting somewhere. I just have to figure out how to ensure that the text is all a uniform font style and maybe figure out a way to add a few bunches of trees to suggest forested areas, Ninja AI is not always entirely cooperative to the tune of "I'm sorry Dave. I can't do that." -- Stokes

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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