What is the best AI for generating high-quality photorealistic images?

Question

I've been trying to get this side hustle off the ground doing digital staging for a realtor friend here in Seattle and I'm honestly hitting a wall with the tech side of things. I need images that look 100% real because if a client sees a weird finger or a floating chair they're gonna think the whole project is a scam.

Right now I'm torn between Midjourney and Stable Diffusion. Midjourney seems to have that amazing lighting out of the box but the subscription is a bit steep if I want the private mode and I hate using Discord for everything. Then there's Stable Diffusion which people say is better if you have a good GPU—I've got a decent gaming rig with a 3080—but the learning curve looks like a nightmare and I've only got about a week to get this sorted before my first official gig. I also looked at DALL-E 3 but it feels a bit too digital or illustrative sometimes? My budget is capped at like 40 bucks a month for tools so I can't really sub to everything at once.

If you guys had to pick one for absolute realism for interior design stuff which would it be? Is Midjourney v6 really that much better than a tuned SDXL model or am I just overthinking the tech...

wgzvgnuxmx · Accepted Answer

> I also looked at DALL-E 3 but it feels a bit too digital or illustrative sometimes? Yeah, unfortunately DALL-E 3 is a total letdown for professional real estate stuff. It has that weird plastic sheen that makes everything look like a Pixar movie... no client is gonna think those rooms are real. Even Midjourney v6 can be a major headache because it loves to ignore your specific furniture placement, which is basically a nightmare when you are on a deadline and just need a couch to stay put. If you want something easier than local SD but better than DALL-E, maybe try Leonardo.ai Pro Plan. Their PhotoReal engine is decent for interiors, though it still struggles with weird artifacts sometimes. Another practical move is Adobe Photoshop with Generative Fill. It is about twenty bucks a month. It is not perfect, but it actually handles perspective and lighting of the original room properly, which is huge for staging. It saves you from fighting with prompts all night.

DownsviewDerby · Answer

Honestly, with that NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 10GB you already have, just run Stable Diffusion XL locally. It costs zero dollars once it's set up.

No monthly sub fees

Runs fast on a 3080

Total privacy for client files Try Fooocus. It uses the SDXL engine but simplifies the UI. It's way easier to learn than base SD and perfect for photorealistic staging without the Midjourney price tag.

svohxoujmo · Answer

just catching up on this thread and yeah i definitely agree that running stuff locally is the move since you have that 3080. honestly there is zero reason to pay a monthly sub when you have that much vram just sitting there and it saves you so much money in the long run. i have been super satisfied with how the newer flux models have been performing lately for interior stuff... it handles lighting and shadows way more naturally than midjourney v6 does in my opinion. if you go the local route you should definitely spend some time on civitai for specific models. basically its a huge community library where people upload custom weights for different styles. searching for stuff like architectural realism or scandinavian interior will give you way better results than the base models ever could. i also found that using a dedicated upscaler is the real secret sauce for making it look 100% real for clients. nothing screams ai like blurry textures in the corner of a room or weird artifacts on floorboards so definitely look into things like tiled diffusion for higher resolutions. its a bit of a learning curve for sure but once you get your workflow down its way more reliable than fighting with discord prompts all day. plus you can save your settings so if a realtor wants a slight change to the furniture you dont have to start from scratch every single time. good luck with the staging gig... seattle real estate is crazy so i bet youll stay busy once you nail the tech side.