Dark Core Style

Best for beginners. Describe what you want in a chat and the picture comes back, no learning curve.

PirateDiffusion Telegram

Pro studio (SpyGlass) Web

Images and video from a chat, with short commands. The most convenient tool for Telegram users, with a web companion.

Best for power users. Full control over models, settings and workflows in a browser studio.

Discord bot (Vector)

Best for communities. Add it to your own server and run any workflow from a channel.

Unified Editor Web

One screen for every model and workflow: prompts, references, edits and video, built into your Graydient account.

Civitai Web

Pay per use

Generate on Civitai's own site; every image is paid for with Buzz credits.

Local apps

Requires setup

Set up local programs if your computer has capable hardware.

ModelDuel Web

Pay per use

Generate the same prompt on up to 50 checkpoint/base models at a time.

Rent a GPU on the cloud

Graydient Cloud GPU

506 downloads · 80 likes on Civitai

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RunPod Cloud GPU

Charged by the minute

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Created by

Stardeaf

on Civitai

Creator notes

This is art style embedding. It creates comic-book-like inked illustrations, dark, gloomy and simplistic with lots of sharp angles. You can guess the inspiration here. Notes and suggestions: It works well with some checkpoints and not so well with other. Experiment. Realistic models seem to work best. Or look at suggested resources below, these are ones I was using for sample images. Don't use any quality tokens, "best quality", "masterpiece" and such. Also don't use negative prompt. Likely it will kill the style. Weight the embedding against the rest of the prompt. Like, give it 0.7 and the rest of the prompt 0.7 too and see the result and then try to increase/decrease the weight of style token. Sample images were created in InvokeAI, it has slightly different grammar than A1111. E.g. (crackled eggs)0.5 - everything in brackets gets 0.5 weight. The embedding has 4 vectors. Training took about 1000 steps. I did it in passes, 600 first then checking results, adjusting strength and adding several 100 step passes. Have fun.

Trigger words

stardeaf_darkcore

SHA256

E0B2F19F97BFC9F64756D4AD920253786A1381D5FB40D5ADB71448EA8DF5DFC2

Ranking badge

Updated Oct 22, 2026

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Dark Core Style Popularity Trend

Heat score, last 12 months

Heat score

7,489°

This week

n/a

Wasn't released/tracked

This month

n/a

Wasn't released/tracked

Past year

n/a

Wasn't released/tracked

7,000°

Floor

The scale runs from 0° to 9,999°. Everything below 7,000° is kept for models no source reports on yet, which carry a stand-in number there so lists stay complete. 7,000° is where measured data begins: a model with real data but almost no downloads sits at the floor, and the measurements fill the degrees above it. The floor says nothing about the model; only the degrees above it do, and they are what separates one model from another.

+812°

Civitai downloads

506 downloads of this exact version on Civitai. Downloads are the heaviest ingredient and are counted on a log scale: ten times the downloads adds the same 300°, so a model with a million downloads is not a thousand times hotter than one with a thousand. The six download sources share that one term, split between them in proportion to their counts.

+286°

Likes

80 likes and thumbs up across the sources. A like weighs half a download, on the same log scale.

−609°

Age

−609° because the SD15 weights came out in 2022. Every model inherits the age of the weights it is built on: 150° a year, up to 750°, and it keeps growing until then. Without it the top of the list would be 2022 and 2023 checkpoints on the strength of downloads that had years to pile up.

Show detailed breakdown

Every number on this site can be checked. This model's heat score is 7,489°, and here it is built one ingredient at a time, with the running total after each: the floor, the degrees each source adds, the bonus for the kind of model and what the age of its weights takes away. The colors are the bands of the chart above. The glossary at the end defines every term.

1
Start at the floor.
Why 7,000° and not zero: the scale runs from 0° to 9,999°, and the part below 7,000° is reserved for models no source reports on yet, which carry a stand-in number there so the lists stay complete and never outrank a model with data. 7,000° is where measured data begins. A model with real data but almost no downloads sits here; everything that follows is measurement, and the room above the floor holds ten tenfold steps in downloads at 300° each. The floor is the same for every model, so it decides nothing; the degrees above it do.
7,000°
running total
2
Add the downloads.
506 download-equivalents in all, from Civitai downloads. Ten times the downloads adds the same 300°, so size matters but never runs away with the score.
+812°
7,812°
running total
3
Add the likes.
80 likes and thumbs up, at half the weight of a download.
+286°
8,098°
running total
4
Take off the age.
The SD15 weights came out in 2022: 150° a year, up to 750°, growing until then.
−609°
7,489°
running total
=
The heat score.
Where this model stands on every list of this site. Nothing else adjusts it.
7,489°

Glossary: the terms used here

Heat score: One number for how much a model is used and wanted right now, from 0° to 9,999°. Every list on this site that says hottest is sorted by it and nothing else.
Floor: The 7,000° every model with real data starts from. The scale runs from 0° to 9,999°; the part below the floor is reserved for stand-ins (models without data), so that a model with data always ranks above one without. The floor is the same for everyone and decides nothing; the degrees above it are the measurement.
Download-equivalents: Everything the score treats as a download, added up: downloads themselves, each torrent seeder as 1,000, each AI Horde image and each run on a generation site as one.
Log scale: Counting by tens, not by ones: going from 1,000 to 10,000 downloads adds the same degrees as going from 10,000 to 100,000. It keeps giants from crowding out everything else.
Likes: Thumbs up and likes from every source, worth half a download each on the log scale.
Adoption rate: How many downloads a day a model gets right now, from the difference between two readings of a source. A quarter of the weight of the download term.
Measured and estimated: Measured means two readings of a source exist and the difference is real. Estimated means only today's total is known and the past is spread over the model's life; the site says which one it is showing.
Seeder: Someone who keeps a copy of the weights online for others to download over a torrent, or a hosted mirror doing the same. Each one counts as 1,000 downloads.
AI Horde: A volunteer network that generates images for free on donated computers. The number of images it has made with a model is public, and each counts as one download.
Generation sites: Sites that host their own copies of a model and let people generate with it, such as PixAI, SeaArt and Yodayo. Their downloads count like Civitai's and each generation run as one download.
OpenRouter tokens: A text model served through an API, such as Claude or GPT, has no weights to download, so its usage is measured in tokens: the pieces of text it read and wrote through OpenRouter, a gateway many apps use, over the last 30 days. Every 10,000,000 tokens count as one download. Source: OpenRouter (openrouter.ai/rankings), CC BY 4.0.
Full model (checkpoint): The weights themselves, the file that generates on its own. It gets a bonus because add-ons depend on it.
LoRA and embedding: Small add-on files that steer someone else's weights toward a style, a character or a concept. They cannot run alone.
Family and weights: The base a model is built on, such as SD 1.5, SDXL, Flux or Wan. Every model inherits the release date of its family's weights.
Age: Degrees taken off for how long ago the family's weights came out: 150° a year, up to 750°. It keeps old downloads that had years to pile up from freezing the top of the list.
Family boost: A small, bounded nudge for LoRAs of a family this site is pushing forward right now, always listed in the breakdown.
Stand-in score: A stable number below the floor given to a model no source reports on yet, so lists stay complete. It never ranks above a model with data.
New! (grace period): A model less than 7 days old shows New! instead of a score and holds no place in the rankings. Its score is computed from day one, but a model one day old grows faster than anything, so without the wait the week's #1 would always be whatever came out yesterday rather than what held up for a week.
Trend: How a model's growth over a period compares with the typical model's growth over the same period. Faster than typical reads as a rise, slower as a fall.
Typical model: The middle of the catalog: half the models with a figure grew faster over the period, half slower.

How this model's popularity has moved against the rest of the catalog: its growth in downloads, likes and usage over each period, measured against the typical model's growth over the same period, with its heat score at the time. Above the typical growth reads as a rise, below it as a fall. The past is reconstructed from today's totals, the model's first day and its measured download speed where two readings exist; a model that did not exist at the start of a period shows n/a.

Example renders

Prompts and settings shared by the people who made these renders on Civitai. Pick a render to see how it was made.

Get this prompt

Render by ABWander on

Settings

Sampler

DPM++ 2M

Steps

Guidance

Size

1280x1856

Weight used

Prompt

masterpiece, best quality, very aesthetic, absurdres, r17329_illu, sketch, xxx667_illu. A towering, apocalyptic dragon, his colossal frame dominates the scene, his scorched black scales gleaming like obsidian armor, each one jagged and worn from countless wars. His left eye is scarred and blinded, the wound extending down his battle-ravaged side, a permanent reminder of brutal conflicts. His left forelimb, torn from his body long ago, has been replaced with a black metal talon, fused to his being, shaped like a demonic dragon’s claw. Molten veins glow beneath his scales, pulsating like liquid fire. His head is monstrous, framed by a crown of twisted, charred horns, cracked but unbroken. A fiery red mane, wild and uncontained, flickers and dances like an eternal inferno. His glowing white eyes, burning with insanity, pierce through the shadows, radiating madness and destruction. His wings, massive and battle-torn, stretch wide, their magma-filled membranes glowing ominously, tattered yet unyielding. His chest rises and falls, each breath shaking the earth, embers swirling around him. From a cinematic dutch angle, he looms over the viewer, firelight casting deep shadows over his monstrous form. The very air distorts from the overwhelming heat radiating off him. His power is boundless, his rage volcanic—he is an unstoppable force of annihilation, poised to reduce the world to cinders.

Negative prompt

lowres, worst quality, low quality, bad hands, low-quality face, white background, low-quality eyes, woman, girl, female, low-quality fire, low-quality scales, lowres face, (worst quality, low quality:1.1), error, bad anatomy, bad hands, watermark, ugly, distorted, signature

Render by Stardeaf on

Settings

Sampler

DPM++ 2M Karras

Steps

Guidance

Seed

1576508552

Size

704x896

Prompt

(stardeaf_darkcore)0.86, (cat holds a bouquet of flowers)0.6

Render by Stardeaf on

Settings

Sampler

DPM++ 2M Karras

Steps

Guidance

Seed

1784770567

Size

704x896

Prompt

(stardeaf_darkcore)0.79, (Gothic cathedral, partially destroyed)0.6

Render by nicegarden1022 on

Settings

Sampler

DDIM

Steps

Guidance

Seed

1891320136

Size

1024x1024

Clip skip

Weight used

Prompt

Apocalyptic landscape inspired by Fallout,wasteland, post-apocalyptic,4K HD,wide angle, cinematic,very detailed, building in ruin, city in ruin, urban decay, nature reclaims its rights, tree covered building, trees on building, sad,gloomy, black cloud, lightning, massive lightning strike,lightning storm, black,grsw , car wreck, collapsed road, from below,stardeaf_darkcore, giant car

Negative prompt

happiness,colorfull,CyberRealistic_Negative

Render by Stardeaf on

Settings

Sampler

DPM++ 2M Karras

Steps

Guidance

Seed

1466253423

Size

704x896

Prompt

(stardeaf_darkcore)0.69, (Darth Vader)0.74

Render by Stardeaf on

Settings

Sampler

DPM++ 2M Karras

Steps

Guidance

Seed

2592756950

Size

704x896

Prompt

(stardeaf_darkcore)0.73, (girl in rococo dress with an umbrella walking in a park)0.66

Render by Stardeaf on

Settings

Sampler

DPM++ 2M Karras

Steps

Guidance

Seed

1832485484

Size

704x896

Prompt

(stardeaf_darkcore)0.83, (ancient town, backstreet view)0.6

Render by nicegarden1022 on