lightweight-image-generation

name	lightweight-image-generation
description	Generate images without heavy local installs — free APIs (Pollinations.ai), pre-generated galleries (Generated Photos), and quick alternatives. MiniMax image-01 is now PRIMARY for Malay/SEA phenotype — this skill covers free fallbacks only.
version	2.0.0
tags	["image-generation","free-api","pollinations","ai-faces","lightweight","fallback","malay-phenotype"]
metadata	{"hermes":{"category":"creative","related_skills":["comfyui","minimax-cli","token-plan-image"]},"forge_policy":"/root/A-FORGE/forge_work/2026-07-20/model-selection-policy.md"}

Lightweight Image Generation

Free, no-install image generation for when ComfyUI isn't available or overkill.

🆓 Pollinations

Best option for quick AI image generation. No API key, no auth, no rate limit.

# URL-encode the prompt
curl -sL "https://image.pollinations.ai/prompt/YOUR_PROMPT%20HERE?width=512&height=512&nologo=true&seed=42" \
  -o /tmp/generated.jpg

Parameters:

• width / height — image dimensions (default 512)
• nologo=true — remove watermark
• seed — reproducible generation (any integer)
• Uses FLUX model under the hood

Tips:

• Prompt must be URL-encoded (%20 for spaces, %2C for commas)
• Timeout 30-60s typical — generous with curl --max-time 90
• Returns JPEG directly (not JSON)
• Good for: realistic portraits, scenes, objects, creative concepts
• Quality: comparable to SDXL, decent for social media / casual use

Example prompts:

handsome muscular malay man gym selfie realistic portrait
beautiful malay woman wearing hijab studio portrait professional
kuala lumpur skyline sunset photorealistic

👤 Faces

2.6M+ photorealistic AI faces that don't belong to real people. Gallery: https://generated.photos/faces

Downloading (Signature-Locked CDN)

# Step 1: Navigate to gallery in browser, get image URLs
# Step 2: Download with EXACT URL (can't resize!)
curl -sL -H "Referer: https://generated.photos/" \
  "https://images.generated.photos/<SIGNATURE>/rs:fit:256:256/<PATH>" \
  -o /tmp/face.jpg

Critical pitfalls:

• CDN URLs are signature-locked. Changing rs:fit:256:256 to rs:fit:512:512 returns {"detail":"Bad Signature"}
• Must use the exact URL as it appears on the page
• Must include Referer: https://generated.photos/ header
• Gallery is a SPA — URL params like ?ethnicity=asian don't work; must use in-page JS filters
• thispersondoesnotexist.com is DEFUNCT (domain for sale as of 2026-07)

Filtering by ethnicity/gender

The SPA filter requires JavaScript interaction. Use browser_click on filter buttons:

1. Navigate to https://generated.photos/faces
2. Click "Ethnicity" button → click "Asian" / "Black" / etc.
3. Get image URLs from browser_get_images()
4. Download with exact URLs + Referer header

Note: "Asian" category is mostly East Asian (Chinese/Japanese/Korean). Limited Southeast Asian / Malay faces.

🧭 Route

Canonical model-selection lives in minimax-cli. Policy: /root/A-FORGE/forge_work/2026-07-20/model-selection-policy.md

Need	Tool
Malay/SEA phenotype, realism	MiniMax image-01 — see minimax-cli 🧬 Phenotype
Quick free draft	Pollinations.ai
Pre-generated face	Generated Photos
Video	MiniMax (mmx video)

Selection rules: See minimax-cli 🔥 Generate for full capability matrix and contrast data.

⚠️ Edge Cases

1. Pollinations rate limit (disguised as image) — Returns JSON error {"error":"Too Many Requests","message":"Queue full for IP: ..."} as a ~1KB file with .jpg extension. Always verify output with file command after download. If it says "JSON text data" or file size < 5KB, it's a rate limit error, not an image. Fix: sleep 10 && curl ... with --max-time 120. Same IP can queue ~1 request at a time.
2. Pollinations timeout — some prompts take 60s+. Use --max-time 90 for first attempt, --max-time 120 for retry.
3. Generated Photos signature — NEVER modify the URL path. Copy exact.
4. Face detection bias — free face generators have poor Malay/SEA representation. Most are white/East Asian. When generating SEA/Malay faces, the model may default to East Asian features. Prompt with specific ethnic descriptors but accept the limitation.
5. Reverse image search — AI-generated faces from these services can sometimes be detected. For catfish detection, always recommend Google reverse image search.