I wasn't going to do this but after today I couldn't help it. I have grand ambitions for 2026 and Hive. Well "GRAND" may be a stretch but for me it is grand so that is what I am calling it.
And to that end, I have now officially (Blockchain official at least) trademarked #Project2026 to better document my project which I originally wasn't going to divulge but it's too late to put the cat back in the bag.
Vague / Brief overview
#Project2026 is the brainchild of mine that I came up with last year. It involves a lot of my hobbies all together in 1 project. The project is not 'for' anyone or to get anything from it. I am creating it for me, to prove to myself that I can do this thing to the level of detail and professionalism that I hope I can do.
I am combining all of the following into 1 project:
- Use my Local AI instances
- Only using local AI LLM and GenAI instances for initial project creation and digital file modification and creation.
- Blender - 3D modelling
- I want to get better at using Blender software for my own 3D printing needs.
- 3D printing
- I have been slowly upgrading my 3D printer (better plates, nozzles, filament types, etc)
- Woodworking
- I have always loved working with Wood and creating things from Wood (thanks to my Grandfather for that).
- Blockchain/Web3
- I love the Web3 space and in 2025 I re-fell in love with the Hive blockchain so this project is focused on just Hive blockchain.
Playing around with local AI
Look, I am not a AI expert. But what I am a expert in is trying something and failing and then trying something else. Rinse and Repeat until I get the process down. To not get too much into the weeds, I run ComfyUI locally on my desktop to utilize my RTX 5070 TI. I was running a specific workflow in ComfyUI using the 'Flux 1' model. Well 'Flux 2' came out recently for local instance via ComfyUI so I am not attempting to work through my, well 'workflow' with the Flux 2 model and dependencies.
So to test it, I start out with a very simple GenAI request. Take a Lore Image from Splinterlands and ask it to remove the background. Which is simple enough to do.... RIGHT?
Starter Image: Molten Elemental
I gave it this exact prompt:
"Remove the red background and leave just the Molten Elemental character"
I don't know WTF that export image is... it's not remotely close lol
So what do I do? I just open up GIMP (open source Photoshop equivalent = FREE software) and open up the image and within 20 seconds I can remove the background manually.
20 seconds later =
But another test I like to run is to morph the character into Lego format. Why Lego format? Because BraveTofu created a post back in May 2025 and it really struck me. So much so that I bookmarked it. You can see it here.
But the main idea is to use AI to take a Splinterlands character and turn them into a LEGO figurine. Which if I paste his cover image here, you can see what I mean.
Image credit to BraveTofu: @bravetofu/splinterlands-lego-collection
So I changed my prompt to: "Redesign this character in a LEGO design. It should be standing on a black pedestal."
And well this is my first attempt...
2nd attempt?
Yeah this is going to take a LOT more work
Just to show I can do it...
Here is one I created back on my Flux 1 workflow and with the settings dialed in.
Sure it's not exactly what I had in mind but it's WAY better. So back to the drawing board to refine my new workflow and settings. Silly AI always making more work for me! 😀
But that is all for today. Just a fun little article about Splinterlands characters and local AI and me tanking at it today!
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