What Stable Diffusion XL is?
Stable Diffusion XL is the latest image generation model version released by Stability for its open source generative AI, Stable Diffusion. It is a great leap in quality with respect to its previous versions 1.5 and 2.0 which places it at the level of competitors such as Midjourney or Dalle 3.
Let’s know in more detail what is this improvement that will help us in the creation of digital artworks.
![Stable Diffusion XL - samples](https://www.deividart.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/stable-diffusion-xl-1024x620.jpg)
What are the differences from previous versions?
As soon as we try Stable Diffusion XL we will be able to see remarkable differences, the most obvious being the quality and precision with which it is able to interpret our prompt. In previous versions the results could be somewhat ambiguous. Now, Stable Diffusion XL is versatile enough to run many different styles.
An higher resolution of the created image, up to 1024×1024. A better framing of the requested image, framing it and avoid it from being cut off at the margins.
This new version has more parameters (3 times more) than its base version, which gives us much better images. In fact, the Stable Diffusion XL model consists of 2 models, a base model, which is responsible for giving life to our prompt and then a refiner (Refiner) that, like ImageToImage, is responsible for improving the details of the image generated with the base model.
![Stable Diffusion XL supone un gran salto de calidad respecto a sus versiones 1.5 y 2.0, que la sitúa al nivel de Midjourney o Dalle3](https://www.deividart.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/stable-diffusion-xl-modelos-1024x620.jpg)
How can we use it for free?
Stable Diffusion XL is an Open Source tool, many tools have already integrated it into their websites, so you can already use Stable Diffusion XL on sites like Playground or Leonardo for free until the available credits are used up (a good option to start testing the possibilities offered by this new model).
If you have a good computer (it is highly recommended to have a good graphics card with 8GB of RAM) it is ideal to install it on your PC to have full control of Stable Diffusion XL. In the following link you have a tutorial on how to do it.
Another option is to access through Google Colab. It is a good option that will allow you to use this tool for free, although every time you want to use it you will have to go through the whole installation process. Here is the link.