Quote:
Originally Posted by cinemaodyssey
I don't see any resemblance between the AI result and what Smith looked like in reality. There are several very good photos of him since he played for many years in the big leagues. I've attached one from 1896 (which was his best year in the majors) and in 1900.
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I get where you're coming from, and I appreciate the quality of the photos you shared—having played several years, Smith definitely has more good photos available than most players from that era. That said, it's important to understand the difference in purpose between a photo and a facegen. I don’t use photos directly in-game because, for me, it doesn’t make much sense to have a static image that doesn’t age or change uniforms as a player moves through teams. The point of a facegen isn’t to be an exact copy of a single photo—it’s to create a good likeness that blends naturally into the game environment.
A photo like the one you attached is obviously realistic—it's a real snapshot in time. But when it comes to creating a facegen, you can't just drop in a photo untouched. If you do, you end up with something that looks like the clunky facegens we were making ten years ago. Even the best photo will come out different once it goes through the FG Modeller—it manipulates the image automatically, so some changes are inevitable.
I've been making facegens since the feature was added to the game, and from the beginning, photo manipulation has always been part of the process. Back then it was Photoshop, now I use tools like ChatGPT because it gives me more control in one place instead of switching between five or six different programs that don’t always give consistent results. It's really just an evolution of the same process.
That said, I do appreciate your perspective as a “photo guy.” Your work digging up images of old-time players has helped me more than once. In the end, we’re all trying to represent these players as best we can in our own way.