Sec-Ops

Hermit King

Hermit King

Banded Mongoose

Sec-Ops (35 pages)​

In the lawless corners of space, where crime syndicates, rogue AI, and rebel factions threaten civilization, Security Operations (Sec Ops) stands as the last bastion of order. Funded by interstellar corporations and authoritarian governments, Sec Ops is an elite, high-tech enforcement division tasked with maintaining control—at any cost.

The Power Behind Sec Ops​

Sec Ops wields some of the most advanced military and security technology in existence. Their presence is marked by the ominous hum of Riot Control 367B droids, the predatory silence of RK9 Sentry Units, and the unwavering discipline of their Augmented Strike Teams. They can deploy overwhelming force to quell uprisings before they even begin.
legacy.drivethrurpg.com

Sec-Ops (Mongoose 2e Traveller) - Mongoose | Travellers' Aid Society | DriveThruRPG.com

Sec-Ops (Mongoose 2e Traveller) - Sec-Ops (35 pages) In the lawless corners of space, where crime syndicates, rogue AI, and rebel factions threaten civili
legacy.drivethrurpg.com legacy.drivethrurpg.com
 
Hermit King said:

Sec-Ops (35 pages)​

In the lawless corners of space, where crime syndicates, rogue AI, and rebel factions threaten civilization, Security Operations (Sec Ops) stands as the last bastion of order. Funded by interstellar corporations and authoritarian governments, Sec Ops is an elite, high-tech enforcement division tasked with maintaining control—at any cost.

The Power Behind Sec Ops​

Sec Ops wields some of the most advanced military and security technology in existence. Their presence is marked by the ominous hum of Riot Control 367B droids, the predatory silence of RK9 Sentry Units, and the unwavering discipline of their Augmented Strike Teams. They can deploy overwhelming force to quell uprisings before they even begin.
legacy.drivethrurpg.com

Sec-Ops (Mongoose 2e Traveller) - Mongoose | Travellers' Aid Society | DriveThruRPG.com

Sec-Ops (Mongoose 2e Traveller) - Sec-Ops (35 pages) In the lawless corners of space, where crime syndicates, rogue AI, and rebel factions threaten civili
legacy.drivethrurpg.com legacy.drivethrurpg.com
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Can't buy it. I would rather support human artists as opposed to AI. Apologies.
 
MasterGwydion said:
Can't buy it. I would rather support human artists as opposed to AI. Apologies.
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While i understand how you feel AI is the only hope for small publishers. Just to get a cover piece would cost more than i will make on the book. I also think too much is made of ai art. all of us use ai every day, we just dont think about it. anyway i understand and i wish i could hire artist but us small time writers just dont have that kind of cash flow.
 
I can't draw for crap, but I've always thought that if I had to publish something, computer assisted art would have been a good option.

That is only going to improve, and flood the market, in any event.

The overriding issue might be copyright, eventually.
 
Virtual Digital Photography. I use Daz Studio, but I have seen great renders from Blender. Both programs are free... the models cost a varying amount for their use in art, but many are free.
3d models, manual posing, manual lighting, position the virtual camera, adjust settings.
Post processing in a program like Gimp or Paint Ship Pro, because free - $40 bucks is cheaper than Photoshop.
 
AI assistants will sometime be a mandatory part of your computer, just like networking is now mandatory.

The Internet is for people who cannot get published by the big publishing houses, and

AI assistants are for folk who need greater productivity.

Then there is herd instinct - you have to get it because a whole crowd of others have accepted this as a norm.
 
Arkathan said:
Virtual Digital Photography. I use Daz Studio, but I have seen great renders from Blender. Both programs are free... the models cost a varying amount for their use in art, but many are free.
3d models, manual posing, manual lighting, position the virtual camera, adjust settings.
Post processing in a program like Gimp or Paint Ship Pro, because free - $40 bucks is cheaper than Photoshop.
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Computer software has to be free because nobody believes in supporting the human programmer?
 
Daz3D is like an ink jet printer. They make their money selling the models, not the part that makes art. But they draw you in with free stuff. The free ones will only get you started.
I don't use Gimp. I tried it so I could tell others how it works, but did not like the work flow at all.
I won't pay for Photoshop when Paint Shop Pro is only a couple of years behind in features and is 1/5 the price (or less).
When the poster says he can't afford artists, I'm not going to recommend software solutions that cost more than an artist would.
Especially when there is a learning curve and you might not like the same workflows that someone else uses.
 
Yeah i use paintshop pro myself, i have since it was owned by jersaic. now as to AI i really think people dont understand it. first off we use ai every single day. thats what makes a smart phone work, then you have siri, alexa and the like. Lets face it ai is everywhere. And if you look at the stuff i have done its original. made by computer but its not directly copy a real artist. The AI brain looks at the artwork out there and uses ideas. Now look at a real artist vincent van goughs starry night. i have see it copied on shower curtains, book covers, tshirts EVERYTHING. is that any better? Music and movies the saem. people look see whats good and use those ideas.

Also i am not just grabbing the artwork and done theres a LOT of post process that goes on to make it work. I full respect peoples dislike of AI we all like what we like. Im just saying AI is everywhere and no one things anything about it till you mmention AI art. And trust me if i could hire a real artist i would but this book i just published it might MIGHT net me 100 bucks if im lucky. it would cost more than that to get one piece of art. So my books USE AI and im ok with that. my books look awesome because of AI. One last thing about AI and im done. so a artist decides he wants to pain a picture, he grabs a paintt brush and creates. I create with words! they are my tools and you have to get those words right or you still garbage. lol trust me for every pic you see there are 100 that did not turn out.
 
I think, just be open about it.

I would say you cross the line when text is generated by artificial intelligence.

Not just the traditional copy and paste.
 
MasterGwydion said:
As far as I am aware, the OP was very open and honest about it.
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yes i tell peopole up front that my art is ai. i do not use ai for the writing. yes i do admit i use things like spell checker and such but i do the writing. i have ask ai to write something for me one time because i was thinking about writing an adventure so i had ai write an outline on what parts and in what order i needed to write. lol trust me if ai was doing my writing it would not be so verbose. i am long winded and have had complaints about it before. but i do the best i can and people seem to enjoy my books
 
Arkathan said:
Virtual Digital Photography. I use Daz Studio, but I have seen great renders from Blender. Both programs are free... the models cost a varying amount for their use in art, but many are free.
3d models, manual posing, manual lighting, position the virtual camera, adjust settings.
Post processing in a program like Gimp or Paint Ship Pro, because free - $40 bucks is cheaper than Photoshop.
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I thought that you do not use AI, that is what you said in a different post. Unless you take pen to paper you did not draw it. The power behind these programs is computer assisted content, AI of a sort, still not your art.

So it all comes down to the purity of the concept of writing and art.

Mongoose uses computer assisted content. I am sure that they do not sit down and draw every line by hand when the produce the layout of the ship.

Varying degrees of acceptance.
 
Those images are not AI, any more than a Mongoose artist who digitally painted their work used AI. In that and the other post, I spelled out exactly what I what I did.
What I did not do was go to an AI and say give me a picture of this.
Your argument is like saying that taking a photograph is not art. You are also saying that because something is typed on a word processor, that it is AI. That is what you are arguing.
Unlike a photographer, I had to manually shape the models to get their look, then I had to adjust shaders to be inclusive. Then I had to dress them and pose them, and then adjust the clothes to remove poke through. Then I had to set up the lighting rig, positioning each light around the virtual space, just like a photographer would do. Then I have to position the virtual camera, manually adjusting the focal length and f stop.
Once that is done, you render a scene, which is just digitally developing film, like a Polaroid.
Or is it your stance that because someone who takes a picture doesn't mess with a mercury slurry on a tin plate that they didn't do anything?
Once that is done, post production in Paint Shop Pro. Now, with digital film in cameras these days, did you think that photographers do not run filters on paint over blemishes? The name Photoshop kind of gives a clue as to the program's intent.
There is a huge difference between using a word processor to write original material and having a bot write it for you, just as there is a difference between pushing a make art button and stepping into a virtual world that you arrange to suit your needs, often manually - that cup is not going to set itself on a table, and certainly doesn't know where the surface is. Just because I don't build a sci-fi set in my back yard, only to tear it down and build it again doesn't mean I am using AI... And if I did build those sets, I'd still be using a digital camera, going to the computer to get the results.
And after all of that, I gave them away for free instead of charging for them. I have only sold three pieces, and in each case, the buyer came to me. A Battletech poster for a sanctioned event and two computer backgrounds for a now defunct web show called Nerd Core.
 
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But you didn't draw the arm, the Program did. You used a tool to fill in for your lack of ability to take ink to paper. Photography is an art form, the person that took the picture is a photographer not an artist.

As stated everyone has their limits to acceptable computer assistance for creations. You acceptance level is rearranging digitally drawn objects to make a picture. Others acceptance limit is to have the computer do the whole thing. There is no pure artistry in either instance.
 
Hardwire said:
But you didn't draw the arm, the Program did. You used a tool to fill in for your lack of ability to take ink to paper. Photography is an art form, the person that took the picture is a photographer not an artist.

As stated everyone has their limits to acceptable computer assistance for creations. You acceptance level is rearranging digitally drawn objects to make a picture. Others acceptance limit is to have the computer do the whole thing. There is no pure artistry in either instance.
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To make a fine distinction, a program that ethically does this work that others then pay for isn’t bad. It’s when a company scours the internet and steals everything in sight to do it that a problem comes in.
 
Arkathan said:
Then any ship designed with a spreadsheet is AI, requiring no imagination.
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You forgot architects. They use CAD, so they must not be artists either. /s

Also, being a purchaser of art does not make one an artist. If I commission an architect and give them My ideas and inspirations. An architect is an artist. They create from their own mind an interpretation of the instructions given. Once an architect is done creating the visual look and feel of the structure that I want and I approve it, it goes to an engineer who makes sure that it does not fall down. The architect is an artist. The engineer is an analyst. A computer AI "artist" is an analyst, not an artist. If you tell a computer to paint Joy, how will it interpret that? What makes a computer feel Joy? It has no frame of personal reference for the feeling of joy, so the computer can only use other peoples' ideas of joy. It has none of its own. You can tell any human to paint what makes them happy. Even the most horrifyingly bad painting done that group of humans painting Joy, is better than absolutely all of the results a computer could return. The humans can give you art. The computer can only analyze your request from the standpoint of other people's emotions.

Hope this helps to clarify things.
 
MasterGwydion said:
You forgot architects. They use CAD, so they must not be artists either. /s

Also, being a purchaser of art does not make one an artist. If I commission an architect and give them My ideas and inspirations. An architect is an artist. They create from their own mind an interpretation of the instructions given. Once an architect is done creating the visual look and feel of the structure that I want and I approve it, it goes to an engineer who makes sure that it does not fall down. The architect is an artist. The engineer is an analyst. A computer AI "artist" is an analyst, not an artist. If you tell a computer to paint Joy, how will it interpret that? What makes a computer feel Joy? It has no frame of personal reference for the feeling of joy, so the computer can only use other peoples' ideas of joy. It has none of its own. You can tell any human to paint what makes them happy. Even the most horrifyingly bad painting done that group of humans painting Joy, is better than absolutely all of the results a computer could return. The humans can give you art. The computer can only analyze your request from the standpoint of other people's emotions.

Hope this helps to clarify things.
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My post was to highlight the absurdity of changing definitions in order to win an argument.
 
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