AI Time Machine™ utilizes text-to-image technology licensed from a company called Astria. Using a variety of photos of one person that you upload to the website, it builds a model showing that person in a variety of poses and lighting conditions that are different from those in the original photos. Then, using a series of predefined themes, it synthesizes the model with motifs from a large variety of historical themes to create the photorealistic images.
Cost: As of this writing, Complete subscribers will be able to create 3 complimentary models per year and receive all available themes for each model (Subject to change.) Keep an eye out for free promotions throughout the year.
Photos you’ll need for the best results
Do one person at a time.
Crop group photos down to one individual.
The more photos you use, the better the results. Take extra photos if you don’t have enough already on your phone.
Don’t use an assortment of photos at different ages.
Use an assortment of poses: 3 full body shots, 5 medium (waist up) shots, and 10 close-ups.
Use photos with an assortment of poses and expressions, with your eyes looking different directions.
Use photos taken on different days and with different backgrounds.
Avoiding makeup is recommended.
Step-by-step instructions
Log into your free MyHeritage account. (Don’t have one? Use our link to go to the site and sign up for a free account.)
In the menu go to Photos > AI Time Machine
Click the Try it Now button
Click the Select Photos button or drag and drop your assortment of photos from your computer onto the box on the screen. You can select all of them by clicking the first image, holding down your Shift key (Win) and clicking the last image in the collection.
Drag and Drop Photos
Uploading can take several seconds or even a few minutes. Leave your browser tab open until you see the screen telling you they will email you when your photos are ready.
When you receive the notification email, click it to go to your photos on MyHeritage.
There will be many boxes of photos, each representing a theme. You can scroll through them to quickly find ones that look good. It’s normal to see many that didn’t work out. This is due to the particular photos that you uploaded not suiting the image very well. However, if you follow the guidelines above, you should have many excellent photos to choose from.
Click the desired photos and download them to your computer.
The Results are Amazing
Here I am as an Egyptian Queen
And here I am ready to head off into the 1950 skies as a stewardess:
And I could be the third sister my Grandmother’s family in the 1930s:
“Because of your consistent message of starting a family blog [and] anecdotal success from listeners, I started a family history website. A blog just seemed too small…. The ultimate goal is to display the family information for my known relatives as well as create a site that will pop up on Google search results and hopefully put me in contact with new relatives.
My question is about displaying the family tree on the website. I want to have a page that shows my family tree. I did not know how to accomplish that, so I decided to include links to my ancestry and myheritage family trees. The problem with this method is that ancestry requires you to have an account to view the tree, and MyHeritage only shows you some of the family tree and requires an account to view the rest. This is not a great method to share the family tree with relatives because not everyone has, or wants, an account with these sites. Is there a website where I can upload my family tree’s GEDCOM file and then link to it on my website where it will display all the members of my tree?”
It’s always great to hear that Genealogy Gems is helping out. Congrats on the website David! I recommend blogs to my readers because they are quicker and easier to set up, but in reality I would rather recommend they create a family history website like you are doing. It’s better suited for the long haul of getting your word out and connecting with others.
You pose a great question, and so I did what I just coached everyone in my latest episode #171 to do: just Google it! What you are describing is a ‘website plugin’ so I Googled: family tree website plugin and…Ta-da! There are some out there.
I found one for Word Press (which is where I build my site) so I may have to give that one a try. However, since you are using Weebly I went back and added “weebly” to the search and there are definitely some hits there, though I’m not sure if they specifically include a visual tree plug in. Try the searches and see if you find something you like.
Here’s a roundup of European genealogy records recently published online: Danish military conscription rolls and the 1845 census; English military, parish and burial records; Irish police register and digital news archives; records for Portugal, Slovenia and Spain;...
“I read these [suggestions] but none of these were of any help with finding records on my grandmother[‘s parents]. The Social Security record didn’t list her father; as far as I can find there are no birth records for her where she claims she was born. Her father’s name isn’t on her death record because mom didn’t know what her grandfather’s name was. And her mom & ‘grandmother’ disappear from the Detroit city directory about the time she would have been born. They only show up again two years later for her grandmother and five years later for her mother. I put her ‘grandmother’ in quotes because that may be a sham: my grandmother’s mom worked for the other lady as a live-in servant.”
Lynn sounds a little discouraged! When typical record sources don’t reveal what we want to know, it’s often time to try two more advanced approaches: cluster research and DNA.
Applying Cluster Research to “Missing Parents”
I’m guessing Lynn has already beaten the bushes for ANY other records on grandma’s mom, especially marriage and divorce records. But I’m wondering whether she’s looked for other records about the woman grandma’s mom worked for. I don’t know the exact timing, but there was a huge migration to Detroit in the early 1900s. These two ladies could have been from anywhere. Chances are good they were from the same place, though. She’s definitely a “person of interest” to research. Records about this employer/grandma may lead to clues about her grandma’s own origins. So a first step may be for Lynn to research where the employer/grandma was born, and see if grandma’s family name shows up in the same place.
That concept is called cluster research, where you try to recognize little migratory groups and use other members of the group to learn more about your own ancestor of primary interest. It’s a concept I talk with Gems Editor Sunny Morton about in the November 2015 Family Tree Magazine podcast, which I host.
DNA for “Missing Parents”
The other avenue that it may be time for Lynn to try is DNA testing. Depending on which test she takes, her results may lead to common relatives on either side of her grandmother’s mother’s family. For example, if grandma had a full-blooded brother (which may be impossible to know for sure), a DNA test on one of his male descendants may point to the identity of the unknown grandma’s dad.
I recommended to Lynn that she check out our series of DNA guides written by our resident DNA expert, Diahan Southard. They will walk you confidently through the next steps in your genetic genealogy journey.
How to Get Started Using DNA for Family History Research
More Skills You Can Use to Solve Genealogy Mysteries
A new project backed by top British scientists is crowd-sourcing space exploration by offering donors the chance to put their DNA on the moon. Their first Kickstarter campaign successfully ends today: over £600,000 has been raised in less than a month!
Lunar Mission One hopes to put a research craft on the “South Pole” end of the moon within ten years. The vessel will drill deep into the rock in an effort to learn more about the moon’s origin and history.
Around 6700 individual pledges were made in this first phase of funding. Those who pledged at a certain amount will receive space in a “digital memory box” that will be sent into space with the research craft, a sort of 21st-century time capsule and digital archive on the moon.
“People will be able to upload whatever they want to their memory box – including personal messages, photos, audio and video,” promises the Lunar Mission One website. “There will also be the option to submit a strand of hair for those who wish to store their DNA for inclusion in the time capsule.”
“The price of the digital memory boxes will be determined by capacity – starting from as little as a few dollars. Most digital information-only purchases are expected to be $10+. Customers who want to combine digital information with a strand of hair, will pay $100+. We are also developing prestige packages ($1,000+) and a lottery option from $1.”
What do you think? It’s not too late to join the fun! According to the Lunar Mission One website, “Following the Kickstarter fundraising, and for the next four years, people will still be able to reserve space in the private archive, through an online portal. This could be for themselves or as a gift. Individuals will be able to get involved in other ways, such as through membership of our Supporters Club.” Learn more at the Lunar Mission One website.
recommend blogs to my readers because they are quicker and easier to set up, but in reality I would rather recommend they create a family history website like you are doing. It’s better suited for the long haul of getting your word out and connecting with others.
Try These Two Powerful Tools for Finding Genealogy Records
campaign successfully ends today: over £600,000 has been raised in less than a month!