How to Create a Desktop Background Using AI

Publish date: 2024-07-30

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Key Takeaways

To create a beautiful desktop background using an AI art generator, there are a few key settings to tweak, such as the aspect ratio and image resolution. Here's what the process looks like from start to finish.

Step 1: Choose an AI Art Generator

You have plenty of AI art generators to choose from for this tutorial, whether you're hoping to find something for free or one with advanced abilities. Some models, like Dream Studio by Stable Diffusion, have handy built-in sliders to change the aspect ratio, a feature that will prove useful for getting the image to fit the dimensions of your computer screen.

On the other hand, DALL-E by Open AI is one of the most simple and beginner-friendly AI image generation websites you can use. Choose this option if you want to avoid getting lost in detailed settings that might be confusing.

We have used DALL-E to create phone wallpapers in the past and the same method can be applied to creating desktop backgrounds. But for this guide, we'll be opting for Midjourney, because it arguably produces the most stunning images of all the AI art generators.

Step 2: Craft an AI Prompt for Your Desktop Background

If you've never used Midjourney before, we've put together a quick start guide on how to use Midjourney to create AI art if you need help.

Head to the Midjourney server on Discord and click on one of the channels named #general or #newbies that appears in the navigation panel on the left.

In the message box, type the command /imagine, then press the spacebar on the keyboard to automatically add the prompt tag.

Now you can start typing a description of the image you want to create in the prompt field. Don't hit Enter just yet, as we're going to add a parameter to the end of the prompt in the following step.

Deciding what kind of image you should create can be a surprisingly hard task, so if you find inspiration lacking, browse our list of AI art prompt ideas.

Step 3: Change the Aspect Ratio of Your Background

Now, we want to add the --ar parameter to the end of our prompt. This will change the dimensions of the image to better fit our desktop.

The aspect ratio you use will depend on your screen size. Here are a few common aspect ratios you can try:

Add one of these parameters to the end of your prompt, then press enter on the keyboard to start generating the image.

Midjourney will generate four images based on the prompt, and you can select the one you like for the next step.

Before moving on, however, here are a couple more examples of different aspect ratios and the prompts that we used to create the images:

/imagine prompt many vegetables spread out on a long table, neutral background, oil painting --ar 16:9
/imagine prompt luminescent mushroom in a dark overgrown forest, enchanting, beautiful, fairytale --ar 21:9

Step 5: Upscale Your AI Image

Once you have chosen an image you like, it's time to upscale it to the highest possible resolution. The buttons underneath the set of four images, labeled U1 to U4, correspond to the four images from top left to right, and bottom left to right. Click the one that matches your image.

After that, the image you have chosen will reappear in the channel on its own, and you will have some more options to alter the image. Now you can click Upscale (4x) to start the process.

It's easy to lose sight of your image in the continuous flow of posts in the chat. So a quick tip for finding your lost image in Discord is to click the Inbox button located in the top-right corner of the window. Click the Jump button to get back to your image.

When you're ready to upskill, check out our tips for writing better Midjourney prompts.

Step 6: Download Your AI-Generated Desktop Background

Once the image has finished upscaling, it will appear once more in the Discord channel with a few different buttons below it.

Click on the image to preview it, then click Open in Browser to see the image in full resolution in your browser. Right-click on the image and hit Save Image As to download it to your computer.

All that's left now is to locate the downloaded image on your computer and set it as your desktop background!

Once you're familiar with the process, creating new desktop backgrounds in Midjourney is a simple task, and a great way to put your AI art to good use. And creating your own backgrounds using AI means you'll never have to settle for the same boring background as everyone else.

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