I Built an AI Children's Book Generator (PictureBooks.io) - Looking for feedback!

[Thunderfall]

BTW these are the character avatars created from the forum avatars for danjuno and amadeus:

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[amadeus]

I don’t want to feature creep you into a million new things but (here comes the danger phrase) what would be neat is if we could make coloring books too.

 

[Thunderfall]

I don’t want to feature creep you into a million new things but (here comes the danger phrase) what would be neat is if we could make coloring books too.

That's certainly doable! In fact, you may be able to do it now if you just specify something like "make a coloring book..." about something! (I haven't try it)
It should respect that instruction.

 

[Thunderfall]

Here you go:

In the story prompt, I used:

A clean children's coloring book page illustration of construction vehicles. strictly black and white vector line art. thick, bold outlines with no grey shading, shadows, or solid black fills. The background is a simple line art landscape of a construction site with dirt piles and cones. friendly, cartoon style.

And the book created:

The Construction Crew's Big Day | PictureBooks.io

A personalized picture book story created with PictureBooks.io

picturebooks.io

In this case, the prompt used is important. If I want to allow user to easily create color books, I could add it as an art style.
This way user just need to enter "Construction vehicles" as the prompt and then select 'Coloring Book" as the art style.

(As you can see, while we provide 8 default art styles, users can easily specify the art style they want for the book and it will respect that)

 

[choxorn]

The pop-ups at the top of the site are annoying.

I sometimes hear "if you don't like AI just ignore it" and I don't know how I'm supposed to when it's constantly being shoved in my face all the time

 

[amadeus]

I come from a bygone era of when a pop-up meant a separate browser window would pop up on the screen, and some of them would pop up, or under your current window, and some would be in the corner of your window so you’d have to drag them to close them. And this was before 56k modems, so that 10 or 20kb of data meant a five or ten second wait. And there were no things that you could click to get rid of them permanently.

It could be that there's just no room in this modern world for an old man and his ducks.

 

[Gorbles]

I come from a bygone era of when a pop-up meant a separate browser window would pop up on the screen, and some of them would pop up, or under your current window, and some would be in the corner of your window so you’d have to drag them to close them. And this was before 56k modems, so that 10 or 20kb of data meant a five or ten second wait. And there were no things that you could click to get rid of them permanently.

It could be that there's just no room in this modern world for an old man and his ducks.

It's almost like language can change over time or something. Maybe that's why you're so dazzled by AI

(but yes, jokes aside, interactive banners are a new design pattern in an age when most / all browsers block pop-ups by default)

 

[Theov]

I sometimes hear "if you don't like AI just ignore it" and I don't know how I'm supposed to when it's constantly being shoved in my face all the time

You can start by going to the AI discussion thread instead of hijacking a thread about children books.

 

[amadeus]

It's almost like language can change over time or something. Maybe that's why you're so dazzled by AI

I get the joke but the point buried in my micro-rant is that a lot of online ads today are much less obtrusive on the whole. Just offering my perspective as a middle-aged man with little better to do with his time than wax on about stuff nobody cares about anymore.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Moderator Action: Back to the topic please.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[beezany]

BTW these are the character avatars created from the forum avatars for danjuno and amadeus:

View attachment 751773

why are you using our names and avatars in your commercial product? being the site owner doesn't give you permission to use our identities, especially not to mock us. wtaf? everything about this tool is irresponsible but this is just a straight-up personal attack

 

[Thunderfall]

I am more than happy to remove that book if danjuno felt insulted by that and requests its removal.

 

[beezany]

using other folks' likenesses in your commercial product is a case where you need to be asking permission, not forgiveness

this is just another example of disrespect for other people and our work. you've been criticized for it multiple times in this thread, and you ignore or brush off the criticism. again it's clear you weren't serious when you said that you welcome negative feedback

 

[amadeus]

Commercial product? I didn’t know I was that hot of a seller.

I guess I need to protect myself.

The identity of amadeus™︎ is the intellectual property of the Nisegaisha Corporation, Osaka, Japan, ©︎ 2026. All sales final. Warranty void if seal broken. No refunds. Use only genuine GM parts. Caution: contents are hot. Offer not valid in MA. Prolonged exposure may cause headaches. Beware of dog. Rated R. Smoking is permitted only in the designated area. No tickee, no shirtee. Please don’t squeeze the Charmin. Valid only at participating stores. Cash value 1/20¢. Accept no substitutions. No shirt, no shoes, no service. Must be 18 years of age or older. Batteries not included. Call is 35¢ per minute for the first seven minutes. Consult a physician if you have any questions. The white zone is for loading and unloading of passengers only, there is no stopping in the red zone. Offer redeemable by 3/23/88. No CODs. Limited time offer. Objects in mirror may be larger than they appear. Not for resale. Mamma Mia, that’s a spicy meat-a-ball.

 

[Thunderfall]

beezxany, clearly you are not a fan of AI or AI story generator. This is perfectly fine. It just doesn't mean other people feel the same way as you do.
I have no intention of convincing you that AI is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

In fact, if you search for AI story generator, you are going to see quite a few sites that offer this kind of service already.
My tool is a bit late to the party.

The only reason I am making this tool is because I have a need for such a tool, and I happen to have lots of fun making it and learning about AI along the way.
Profit is secondary at this stage.

In this day and age, you have to understand that no matter what you do, you are going to have haters.
You cannot be easily affected by comments on an online forum.
It's something you have to develop after posting on forums for so long.

 

[beezany]

you’re using other people’s names and work, without our consent, to create and promote your product

your response so far has been to say that there’s nothing we can do about it, and that we should just get used to it. which means that the consent violations are deliberate and that you have no intention to stop

this is abusive behavior, please stop

 

[danjuno]

I am more than happy to remove that book if danjuno felt insulted by that and requests its removal.

For the record, I was being sarcastic when I said:

You've already used TTTE, why not get another multinational on your case with Rockstar (L.A. Noire publishers)?

I would appreciate it if you did not use anything relating to me in this.

 

[Sonereal]

Sure, this technology is environmentally destructive, strongly linked to severe cognitive decline in its users, and is going to make the Dot Com Bust look like child's play when Anthropic and ChatGPT are forced to massively jack up API costs on downstream users when the VC cash dries up next year. I get that, but I think the naysayers are missing something here. As a parent of a small child (who I hate and do not respect despite sharing my first and last name/being four years old), I just print off PictureBooks output for him to look at all day. He asks me if he can read Dr. Seuss instead and I love watching the wonder leaving his eyes when I tell him no. I've replaced his mother with ChatGPT.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Watching TF in this thread

 

[Thunderfall]

For the record, I was being sarcastic when I said:

I would appreciate it if you did not use anything relating to me in this.

That's too bad. Still think that book is super funny.
Removed now.