BuchJa is a locally hosted, browser-based application for creating illustrated books. It uses Google's Gemini API to generate images from your prompts and sketches.
- Generate Images: Create illustrations from text prompts or reference images using Gemini.
- Sketching: Draw rough sketches to guide the composition of the generated images.
- Manage: Keep track of your generated images in the app, classifying them as references, pages or input material.
- Crop: Crop images to specific aspect ratios or to extract elements as new references for consistency in coming pages.
- Export: All images saved to disk. Export as PDF for easy sharing.
The main purpose of this app is to spread joy, eg to create personalized children's books for friends and family. However, the BuchJa application is MIT licensed, so there is nothing stopping you from using it commercially. But please note, that the images are generated using Google's Gemini API. Please refer to Google's Terms of Service and AI Principles for information on commercial use of generated content. Also consider the implications for artists and illustrators whose work may have been used to train the underlying models.
BuchJa runs as a local server on your machine and opens in your default web browser. This gives you the best of both worlds:
- Privacy: Your data and API keys stay on your machine.
- Reliability: Uses your modern browser for the best UI experience.
- Control: Full access to your local file system for saving images.
Currently we only support Windows 11. Mac and Linux support is planned for a future release.
This is a bring-your-own-key app. You need a Google Gemini API Key to run the image generation. You can get a key through the Google AI Studio.
WARNING & DISCLAIMER: Usage of this application involves calls to Google's Gemini API, which may incur significant costs. You are solely responsible for monitoring and paying for your API usage. The token counter provided in the application is an estimate only and should not be relied upon for billing purposes. Always verify actual usage and costs via the Google Cloud Console or AI Studio. The authors of this software accept no liability for any costs, damages, or data loss incurred. By using this tool, you acknowledge that your data is processed by Google's services and is subject to their Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
- Download the latest
BuchJa-vX.X.X.zipfrom the Releases page. - Unzip it.
- Run
BuchJa.exe. - A console window will open (don't close it!) and your default web browser will open the BuchJa app.
Note for Windows Users: You might get a warning when running the executable for the first time. This is normal for unsigned applications on Windows. The application is new and not widely used yet, so Windows Defender flags it as "Unknown". I'm currently looking into setting up a code signing certificate for future releases.
- Open the app and go to the Settings tab.
- Paste your API Key.
- Set a style and aspect ratio for your book.
- Add reference pictures to the app.
- Start generating character sheets and book pages!
There are more detailed instructions in the Instructions tab in the app. A tutorial video is planned.
Please open an issue on GitHub describing the feature you would like to see. I cannot promise to implement every request, but I will consider them carefully. Thank you for your feedback and interest in BuchJa!
Not at the moment. Gemini is currently the only model supported. Support for additional models may be added in future releases.
MIT License. See LICENSE.
- Third-Party Licenses: See
THIRD-PARTY-LICENSES.txtin the download. - Security: See SECURITY.md.
Check out CONTRIBUTING.md if you want to build it from source or contribute.