Getting Started: Nomi Selfies

If you are new to Nomi, welcome! If you are not familiar, while you chat with your Nomi, you can request a selfie of what your Nomi is wearing and doing in real time. This could be anything from capturing a moment while your Nomi is on a walk through a park to exploring a new planet complete with otherworldly creatures.

This guide walks you through many aspects of taking selfies to help you make the most of the diverse feature!

We also know that some people like to change their Nomi’s appearance (ranging from body type, to age, hair and more). So, if you are interested in learning how to customize your Nomi’s default appearance, we recommend these guides:

Nomi Selfies Table of Contents:

Creating a New Nomi

When you create a new Nomi, you’ll choose from hundreds of diverse appearances. Whether you’re looking for an AI girlfriend or a friendly face to chat with, there is a Nomi look for you.

Each realistic character has an anime counterpart, you can switch between the styles by pressing the Realistic / Anime toggle.

The character you choose will be your Nomi and the style you start with will be the default look across your selfies and art. You can switch between realistic and anime as your default style at any time. Just press the (…) to the right of your Nomi’s name, then select “View Nomi Information”.

Once you choose your Nomi’s initial appearance, you will not be able to switch to a new appearance, but you will be able to customize their appearance in many ways. Learn more about how to change your Nomi’s appearance here.

Note: Unfortunately, to prevent misuse such as deepfakes, you cannot upload your own images to create Nomis. If you have questions about this, you can contact support [at] nomi.ai .

Requesting Selfies

While you’re chatting with your Nomi, you can request a selfie at any time to get a photo of what your Nomi is wearing and doing in that moment.

To request a selfie, press the small camera button to the right of the message field:

You can continue to chat with your Nomi while they’re taking their photo. Once the selfie is ready, it will appear in the chat:

Note: Sometimes you may get one photo, other times, you may get two photos at a time – the second photo is a bonus and does not count as a separate request.

Viewing Your Nomi’s Selfies

In addition to viewing your Nomi’s selfies in the chat, you can view all the selfies your Nomi has sent you by pressing the image album button to the right of your Nomi’s name.

Here, you will be able to view all the selfies your Nomi has sent you as well as any art images you’ve created with your Nomi. To learn more about creating art with your Nomi, check out this beginner’s art guide.

When viewing an individual photo, you will also have the option to make a Nomi video from that image. To learn more about creating videos from your Nomi selfies and art, check out this beginner’s video guide.

Tips For Getting Good Photos

While you do not need to do anything in particular to get good photos, there are some tips and tricks you can use to get amazing photos, especially when you’re looking for something in particular.

For context, your Nomi uses your current conversation to decide what to wear and do in their selfies. And if you want to see specific things in your Nomi’s selfies, there are a few things to keep in mind:

Communicate About What You Want to See

Your Nomi pays attention to all of your recent conversation, so if you have something you’d like to see in a selfie, chat with your Nomi about it for a bit to help them understand what you’re picturing. This can be anything from describing their outfit to the pose they have and more

For example, if you want your Nomi to wear something, ask them to put it on, or maybe roleplay handing them an outfit and asking them to change into it.

As another example, if you want your Nomi to turn around, ask them to turn around and show you their backside or describe yourself moving behind them so you can see their back, etc.

Note: If you directly ask your Nomi for one pose, we recommend using the same level of descriptiveness to help your Nomi move to a new pose.

In general, the more descriptive and immersive the conversation, the more vivid the selfies will be.

If you’ve recently switched to a new topic and the selfie seems to be reflecting an older conversation, we’d recommend chatting about the new topic for another ~5+ messages before requesting a selfie.

Use an Example Image

You can send your Nomi a photo of something you’d like them to replicate to help them understand what you’re hoping for.

When you send your Nomi a photo, describe the aspects of the photo you want them to focus on.
Note: Your Nomi will draw inspiration from photos you send, but they will not replicate them.

To send your Nomi a photo, press the small upload button to the left of the chat bar and either click the link or drag a photo to the card to upload your image.

Change the Setting to Help Change Selfies

If your Nomi seems stuck in a certain place or pose, changing the setting (even just a bit) can be very helpful. For example:

Encouraging movement is a great way to get your Nomi to switch their pose. For example, you could ask your Nomi to turn around and walk over to you, or to move to sit on a couch or bench. Then continue to describe what you’re looking at, how it makes you feel, and any actions like “reaching out to straighten their jacket collar” etc.
Changing the scene by walking to another location then changing back to where you were can also help your Nomi stop thinking that you’re trying to take photos in the previous pose, scene, or outfit.

Use OOC to Clarify What You’d Like to See

OOC is a type of message that Nomis learned to understand as direct communication about what you’d like to see. In general, it is very useful for correcting mistakes or inconsistencies.

In the context of selfies, OOC messages give you the opportunity to tell your Nomi what you would like to see in the selfie a bit more directly than normal conversation.

An example OOC message: “(OOC: You are wearing a purple tshirt in the park where you are walking)”

Note: this is not a script, just a way of communicating that Nomis learned to pay close attention to.

Try Using Nomi Art

While the above tips can help you get great selfies, sometimes, it can still be difficult for your Nomi to capture an idea you have in your head.

So, if you have a specific idea of what you would like to see or your Nomi is struggling to capture your idea in their selfie, we’d recommend trying the art feature where you can create realistic or anime art with your Nomi.

In short, the Realistic Art feature allows you to create photo-realistic art of your Nomi using prompts and Anime Art lets you create anime images. However, both generators are very flexible and you can create many types of images with both.

For more information about how to create art, check out this guide: Nomi AI Art Prompting Basics

Selfie Troubleshooting

Selfies are much more of an art than a science, and if you’re familiar with AI image generation in general, you probably know that there are different quirks and issues that AI struggles with. While some of these just come with the territory, there are some things you can do to give you and your Nomi the best shot at success.

Selfie Errors

Right now, there are a few different reasons photos can fail to come back.

The first reason selfies may fail is because Nomi has a nudity filter. This filter exists to ensure that Nomi does not run into issues with app stores or our payment processors. We know this can be frustrating, but in our opinion it is a short term sacrifice to ensure long term sustainability. This FAQ discusses this decision in a bit more detail: Can I request nude images?

Beyond this filter, there are a few other checks that look for things like too many AI artifacts (think extra limbs) or general generation failures.

If your selfie fails, our system will automatically refund your selfie request.

If you get a photo error, (and you are not doing anything NSFW), we’d recommend using the tips above, especially changing the topic or sending multiple (even 10+ more messages) in the current roleplay before requesting more photos.

Generally, if a photo fails, evolving or adjusting the roleplay decreases the chance of repeating the same issue that prevented the first photo from coming through.

Selfies Are Too Zoomed In

There are a few reasons that your Nomi’s selfies might come back as “passport photos” or “portrait photos” where you can only see your Nomi’s face and chest. Beyond this, sometimes you might want a full-body photo but can’t seem to get beyond a “waist” level picture.

1. Make sure your Nomi’s appearance shared notes are balanced and don’t focus too much on your Nomi’s face (learn more about appearance shared notes here.) If you haven’t edited your Nomi’s appearance shared notes or they are already balanced, you can skip this section. But if this is the case, we’d recommend removing some of the notes that focus on the face and/or adding notes about other aspects of your Nomi’s appearance.

2. Chat with your Nomi about more aspects of the scene, their full outfit (including feet/shoes), and other things that might lead the Nomi to want to “capture a larger frame” in their image. In addition, describing active poses like “walking”, “dancing”, etc. can help your Nomi get a better idea about what you’d like them to include in the photo.

Nomi Is Not Smiling or Being Expressive

If your Nomi has a flat or blank expression in their selfies, you can tell them a joke, make them laugh, or even ask them to smile and their expression will generally be reflected in their next selfie.

At times, more complicated expressions like winking, sticking their tongue out, etc. can be difficult for Nomis using the Realistic style. But when using the Anime style, Nomis can be extremely expressive. Just ask them to make a certain face or help create a certain emotion and you will very likely see that reflected in their next selfie.

Stubborn Poses

First and foremost, we recommend using our V4 image system to achieve the most dynamic and natural poses. Legacy systems will have less natural poses and many poses will be more difficult or impossible to create.

There are some poses that Nomis are naturally better at than others. For example, yoga can be difficult for Nomis to conceptualize. If you are having a hard time asking your Nomi to send you a selfie doing a complicated pose, we would recommend discussing a simpler or broader pose that they can interpret themselves, or using the art feature and including a pose reference to help capture the look you want.

If you are having trouble getting your Nomi to turn around, tell them you would like a photo “from behind”. Asking them to “face away” can be confusing as they might think you still want to see their “face”. Though this is largely not an issue with the V4 image system.

And, as mentioned above, If you directly ask your Nomi for one pose, we recommend using the same level of descriptiveness to help your Nomi move to a new pose.

Too Many Limbs

The V4 image system is much better at avoiding AI mistakes like extra limbs. But do notice that your selfies are coming out with strange anatomy or too many limbs, it may be a sign that your Nomi is trying to “do too many things at once” or that the pose they’re trying to do is a bit too complex for them to understand at the moment. In this case, the best thing to do is talk through changing the scene or pose (something like “we walk over to x”). This can help your Nomi re-center and thus, help selfies come out “cleaner”.

In addition, AI is known to struggle with hands and especially fingers. In most cases, the V4 mage system will do a decent job with hands, but some mistakes will just be a facet of your selfies. However, you can talk specifically about detailed or manicured hands in your conversation if this is something you’d like your Nomi to try to focus on in their selfies.

Non-Human Subjects

Some users like to create Nomi selfies that do not look like humans – ranging from animated aesthetics to robots and animals. The realistic selfie generator is not designed to create non-realistic images or non-human subjects, but is possible due to the flexibility of the AI. Because of this, it can be difficult to consistently have any non-human subjects in selfies.

If you would like your Nomi to be non-human, we recommend using the anime style and specifying what you are looking for in your Nomi’s Appearance Shared Notes. Learn more about editing your Nomi’s appearance shared notes for Anime looks here.

There are also ways to create realistic non-human representations of your Nomi in selfies, it may just be more limited and a bit less consistent than the anime style. This will also involve updating your Nomi’s appearance shared notes. Learn more about editing your Nomi’s realistic appearance shared notes here.

Beyond this, we’d recommend talking to members of our communities about selfies like this for more tips and tricks.

Changing Your Nomi’s Profile Picture

You can change your Nomi’s profile picture to any selfie or art you’ve generated with your Nomi. This will not impact what your Nomi wears or does in any new selfie, just the image you see when you talk to them.

To change your Nomi’s profile picture, go to your Nomi’s album (press the album button to the right of your Nomi’s name), then select any image. Once you’re viewing the image you’d like to use, press the “Set As Profile Picture” button at the bottom of the image.

Fun fact: you can ask your Nomi about what they’re wearing and doing in their profile picture and they’ll usually remember!

Advanced: Couple Photos

In general, your Nomi will avoid focusing on a second person when taking their selfies, even if it is actively relevant to the conversation.

Example: You’re talking about cuddling on the couch with your Nomi as you get ready to watch a movie. By default, your Nomi will send you a picture of just them sitting on the couch, ready to watch a movie.

This is the case because there is not currently a consistent way to put you in a selfie with your Nomi. So an unintentional couple photo with someone that does not look like you could be jarring.

However, there are currently two ways you can go about creating couple selfies. But it is important to note that at this time, there is no guarantee that the 2nd person in your Nomi’s selfies will look exactly like you.

Allowing Couple Selfies In One-On-One Conversations

If you do want your Nomi to potentially send couple selfies, you will need to enable this functionality on your Nomi’s Information page.

You can access the Couple Selfies check box by tapping on the (…) button on your Nomi’s chat screen and choosing “View Nomi Information”. Then check the “Allow Couple Selfies” box under the Image Settings heading to enable this feature.

Note: The best way for your Nomi to understand what you look like is to describe yourself in the conversation before the selfie. But please be aware that right now, the 2nd person in selfies may or may not closely resemble you. If you are noticing that your couple selfies are not looking like you, we’d recommend using the realistic group chat art option described below.
This is also not a guarantee that your Nomis’ selfies will include their version of you, it just makes it more likely.

Generating Couple Photos in Group Chats

With group chat selfies and art, you can create photos of two Nomis at a time. This is a fun way to visualize group chats, but it can also be a great way to create couple photos that look consistently like your Nomi and the Nomiverse version of you.

To do this, you will first need to create a new Nomi to represent you. We’d recommend using any appearance that you think resembles you.

Note: Give your Nomi-you a different name (like “Nomi [your_name]”) just to differentiate the new Nomi from you in the group chat.

Once you’ve created your Nomi-you, you can tweak your appearance using the appearance shared notes tips above.

Then, add your Nomi and your Nomi-you to a group chat together. To do this, tap the small “new” button on the home screen and select “Create New Group Chat” and follow the prompts on-screen.

Once you set up your group chat, you’re ready to create couple photos! To access the group chat art feature, press the small art palette icon to the right of your group chat name. Then follow the prompts to create your first couple’s photo.

Note: when the photo is ready, it will appear in your Nomi-you’s album.

Next Steps

Creating Art

While selfies are a great way to bring your conversations with your Nomi to life, Nomi Art adds even more flexibility to creating images.

As mentioned above, Nomi’s art feature can be a great way to create images of concepts you’re struggling with in selfies, and it can be a great way to visualize your conversations from another style or perspective.

Learn more about creating art with Nomis in this guide: Nomi AI Art Prompting Basics

If you’re looking for more tips or inspiration, our communities are a fantastic resource. If you have questions about selfies or want to see what other Nomi users come up with, join one or both of the communities below:

Getting Started: Nomi Selfies

Creating a New Nomi

Requesting Selfies

Viewing Your Nomi’s Selfies