If this model seems like a clone of picXreal: blame it on convergent evolution rather than plagiarism -- one can only continuously say "no, THIS is the pinnacle of 1.5" so many times before the prophecy slowly becomes a reality. Indeed, the major difference between picXreal and SenBlend 1.9 is that the former manages to capture much deeper, richer shadows than the latter. And with that marks the final iteration of SenBlend: 1.10, because "how much better do you expect a 1.5 model to get". This adds all the new weights from picXreal on top of SenBlend with the intention of widening the variety and correcting any style problems that could be present on picXreal, a merge that is already incredibly hard to top.

With that said, I cannot prove that this model is any better, or any worse: it is an alternative in which, realistically, improvements present are so minute that they might as well be a matter of opinion. Through arduous testing, this model performed slightly better in some diffusions while picXreal performed better in others. It is for these reasons that I will no longer update this model: anything that does manage to objectively improve this model or picXreal will be so farther ahead that attempting to merge would no longer be a strategy. We have gotten that far with 1.5.

It also seems my initial prediction regarding SDXL is on the right track: we are roughly 6 months into SDXL, and we now have very promising leaps with Cascade and SD3. Another 6 months seems reasonable for a monster model that can make classic 1.5 diffusers turn their heads. We will wait and see... but for now, enjoy the latest and greatest 1.5 model.