[2025 Latest] Diffusion Chinese Beginner's Guide: 5 Steps to Take You from Zero to Proficient in Image Generation

For many newcomers to AI painting, the term "Diffusion" might sound technical and distant. However, the generative AI technology it represents has become the core engine driving the vast majority of current AI painting tools. Understanding its basic operating logic is key to transforming you from a mere "user" into a "creator."

This guide will abandon complicated theories and take you through the entire process from installation and configuration to proficient creation in five core steps, so that you can clearly understand the "why" and "how" of each step.

Step 1: Setting up your creative environment – Local deployment versus cloud platform

The first step in embarking on your AI painting journey is choosing your "studio." Currently, there are two main options:

1. Local DeploymentThis is the method that offers the greatest control over the creative process. You need to install a complete operating environment on your computer, among which the most popular and well-supported by the community is [insert name here]. Stable Diffusion WebUI (AUTOMATIC1111 version)。
   • advantageCompletely free (except for electricity costs), no limit on the number of models generated, you can freely install any model and plugin, high privacy, and all creation data is stored locally.
   • shortcomingIt has certain computer hardware requirements, typically requiring an NVIDIA graphics card with at least 8GB of video memory (AMD cards can also be supported with specific configurations, but the NVIDIA ecosystem is more mature). The installation and configuration process has a learning curve for beginners.
   • suggestionIf your computer has the necessary specifications and you wish to explore AI painting in a long-term and in-depth manner, local deployment is your best choice. Numerous "one-click installation packages" are available online, which can greatly simplify the initial setup process.
2. Cloud PlatformsIf you don't want to tinker with hardware and configurations, or just want a quick experience, cloud platforms are an excellent entry point. These websites have everything prepared for you; you only need to register and log in to start creating.
   • advantageIt has no local hardware requirements and can be used smoothly on mobile phones, tablets, and regular computers. The interface is usually more user-friendly and quick to learn.
   • shortcomingThere is usually a free quota limit, and you need to pay after exceeding it. It offers less flexibility in models and plugins compared to local deployment, and some advanced features may require a subscription.
   • Recommendation Platform：
     • SeaArt.aiIt is very beginner-friendly, with a relatively generous free quota, an active community, and a large number of ready-made models and LoRA available for direct use.
     • Leonardo.AiIt is a powerful tool that can not only generate images but also train its own models. Its style leans towards European and American games and fantasy art.
     • MidjourneyWhile not strictly a Diffusion WebUI platform, its unique artistic style and high-quality output, as a benchmark for AI painting, make it worth experiencing for any enthusiast. It interacts through the Discord community.

Step Two: Choosing the Soul of Your Brush – Understanding and Selecting the “Model”

If WebUI or cloud platform is your art studio, then "model" is the soul of your paintbrush, determining the basic style and upper limit of your work.

• What is a model? In simple terms, a model is a huge file (usually several gigabytes in size) trained on massive amounts of image data. It learns the style, composition, and element relationships of this data. The prompts you input actually guide this model to combine the images you want from its "learned" knowledge base.
• Model Classification and Selection：
  • Base ModelAs officially released SD 1.5、SDXL 1.0They are "generalists," possessing broad knowledge and high adaptability, but lacking a particularly distinctive style. They are typically used as the foundation for training other models.
  • Fine-tuned ModelThis is the main force behind community creation. Creators use data of specific styles (such as anime, realistic photography, ink painting, etc.) to "retrain" the base model, making it a "specialist" in a specific field.
    • Realistic Recommendations：ChilloutMix, Realistic Vision
    • Anime/Manga Category Recommendations：Anything series, Counterfeit
  • Where can we find models? Civitai(Commonly known as C-site) is currently the world's largest and most active community for sharing AI painting models and resources. Here you can find and download almost all types of models, LoRA, and excellent sample works with hints. There are also similar sites in China. LiblibAI Excellent platforms are available for selection.

Part Three: Learning the Art of Communication – Mastering the Grammar of Prompts

Chat endlessly with AI characters and start your own story.

Interact with a vast array of 2D and 3D characters and experience truly unlimited AI role-playing dialogue. Join now! New users receive 6000 points upon login!

How to play?Try it for free now →

Cue words serve as a bridge for communication between humans and AI. Their quality directly determines the lower limit of the output image quality. A good cue word structure is typically:

Positive PromptTell the AI what you want.

• Structured writingIt is recommended to follow Image quality keywords + subject description + environment and background + style and artist + composition and lighting The order.
  • Example：(masterpiece, best quality), 1girl with long silver hair, standing in a magical forest at night, fireflies glowing around, by Makoto Shinkai, cinematic lighting, dynamic angle.
• Quality affixes：masterpiece, best quality, ultra-detailed Words like these can effectively improve the overall quality of the image.
• Weight syntax:use (word:1.2) Increase the weight of the word, or [word] Reducing the weight allows for more precise control over screen elements.

Negative PromptTell the AI what you don't want.

• effectFilter out "bad habits" that the model may learn during training, such as broken hands, extra limbs, and low-quality images.
• General TemplateA good set of negative keywords can greatly improve the quality of the output image. For example:(worst quality, low quality:1.4), bad hands, extra fingers, mutated hands, disfigured, text, watermark, blurry. You can find many excellent reverse suggestion word templates that can be directly copied and used in communities such as C-site.

Step 4: Mastering the Control Panel for Creation – Understanding Core Parameters

If the prompts are the script, then the parameters are the director's control panel, which determines how the script is performed.

• Sampling method (Sampler)The process of AI generating images is a gradual process of "denoising" a pure noisy image to make it clearer. The sampling method is the algorithm followed in "denoising". Different algorithms will bring subtle differences in style and speed.
  • Recommended for beginners：Euler a (Fast-paced, creative, suitable for initial exploration)DPM++ 2M Karras (Stable image output, good detail, suitable for final output).
• Number of sampling stepsThis refers to the number of "noise reduction" steps. Too few steps may result in a blurry image; too many steps offer limited improvement and are time-consuming. 20-30 Step is the dessert area that balances speed and quality.
• CFG Scale (Cue Word Relevance): Control the AI's "compliance" with your prompts. The lower the value (e.g., 4-6), the more free the AI is to play, and the visuals may be more artistic but deviate from your description; the higher the value (e.g., 8-12), the more strictly the AI follows your description, and the visuals are more accurate but may appear slightly rigid.7 It is a very common starting value.
• SeedEach AI image generation begins with a random "seed" value. If the seed is set to -1, a completely new image will be generated each time. If you get an image you're happy with, you can copy its seed value and fix it. This allows you to fine-tune the cue words while keeping the main composition and characters of the image unchanged, which is crucial for character consistency and style exploration.

Step 5: Towards Free Creation – Understanding LoRA and ControlNet

Once you've mastered the above steps, you might encounter new challenges: How do you get AI to draw specific characters? How do you precisely control the character's pose? At this point, you'll need to learn about two advanced tools:

• LoRA (Low-Rank Adaptation)Think of it as an external "style/character patch." It's a small file (usually tens to hundreds of MB) that, once loaded, allows your main model to learn to draw a specific character, outfit, or art style. This is the most common method for achieving character consistency.
• ControlNetThis is a powerful plugin that allows you to precisely control the composition, pose, and outline of the generated image using a single image (such as a stick figure pose, architectural line drawing, or depth map). It further hands over creative control to you, achieving a leap from "semantic guidance" to "geometric control."

Conclusion

Learning AI painting is more like an experiment full of exploration and fun. Don't be intimidated by numerous parameters and concepts. Start by choosing a cloud platform you like or setting up your local environment. Select a model you like, and then boldly try, modify, and combine your prompts. Every click of "Generate" is a new discovery. When you can consistently create the images you envision, you are already a qualified AI creator.

Chat endlessly with AI characters and start your own story.

Interact with a vast array of 2D and 3D characters and experience truly unlimited AI role-playing dialogue. Join now! New users receive 6000 points upon login!

How to play?Try it for free now →