Midjourney's new web editor lets you tweak images uploaded from your PC

Many AI image generators let you edit and customize the images you create. Now, a new feature from Midjouney allows you to modify existing images stored on your PC. 

The new web editor, unveiled Wednesday, lets you upload an image from your computer and move, resize, repaint, and change its contents. You can also work with an online image by providing its URL.

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The interface for the web editor is split into two sections. In the Edit section, you can move or resize the image, erase parts of it, generate a prompt that describes it, scale it, or change the aspect ratio. In the Retexture section, you can modify the contents of the image by submitting a prompt.

That sounds cool — but for now, you’ll need to meet certain criteria before using the editor. 

Because the feature is brand new, Midjourney wants to ease people into it gradually. With this first release, the tool will be limited to the following groups:

• People who have generated at least 10,000 images
• People with annual memberships
• People who have been monthly subscribers for the past 12 months

If you meet one of those conditions, here’s how the editor works.

How to use Midjourney’s web editor

Head to the Midjourney website and sign in with your account. Click the Edit button on the left sidebar. You’ll then be given two choices: Edit from URL or Edit Uploaded Image. 

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Picking the second option lets you select an image from your PC. You can choose from a wide variety of graphic file formats, including JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIF, PSD, RAW, and WEBP.

After the image has been uploaded, you can play with the different tools. Moving the image shifts its spot on the canvas while cropping scales it down in size. Erasing removes any part of the image you choose, so you can then fill the deleted areas with new content. You can manually resize the image by dragging the Image Scale slider and changing the aspect ratio to 1:1, 4:3, 16:9, and other formats. 

You can also undo your last action or restore the image back to its original state.

Next, you can retexture the image. Just type and submit a prompt with any changes you want to make to the image. Midjourney describes this as a way to modify the lighting, materials, and surfaces of the image. 

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However, this tool proved more challenging — the resulting images that I tried to create were typically off base. For example, it often turned a portrait image into a landscape with the subject distorted. This feature might need further tweaks from Midjourney.

After you’re done, you can download the image as a PNG file to your computer. There, you can alter it further in the image editor of your choice, print it, share it with someone else, or add it to your photo library.

Midjourney did cite a couple of quirks with the new editor. If you ask something out of place or request to change a tiny region, you might not get what you want. And if you ask it to repaint a tiny head in a scene, the body may become too large.

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Beyond the new web tool, Midjourney has updated their AI moderator, which looks out for inappropriate or abusive content. Version 2 of the moderator is more intelligent at deciphering your prompts and images, according to Midjourney, reducing the potential for false positives.

“We hope you have fun testing these systems and watching the magic of Midjourney spill out into the world,” the company said on its update page. “We hope it inspires you to bring beauty to your surroundings, whether it’s remodeling your living room or imagining new kinds of fashion based on your personalized model and styles you love.”