Ghost
StrulovitzGhost is a new way to render graphics for fantasy games — creating true depth illusions using multiple semi-transparent layers, inspired by the 19th-century Pepper's Ghost stage illusion. Instead of one flat screen, the viewer looks through six half-transparent layers arranged in physical depth, each one reflecting a precisely calibrated AI-generated image off a transparent surface at 45°. The result is a holographic-like 3D diorama — not a simulation of depth on a screen, but actual physical depth from 20 centimeters to 2 meters away from the viewer's eyes. It's like a custom illustrated book page that exists in real three-dimensional space.
The physical setup is beautifully simple: three gaming monitors laid flat on a table like floor tiles, and six reflective layers made from ordinary CD/DVD cases opened at 45° angles (two layers per monitor). The user sits at the head of the table and looks through all six layers. Because each layer is half-transparent, you see through it to the layers behind — creating a genuine volumetric image. The software generates six PNG images (one per layer), each with a transparent background, and displays each in its own window positioned correctly over the monitors.
The system has two modes. Text To Ghost (TTG) converts a natural language scene description — like "a D&D party makes camp in a moonlit forest clearing" — into six AI-generated layers using a recursive hierarchical architecture. A Manager (Boss) splits the scene into six rough layer descriptions using a local Qwen LLM. Each Teacher further splits their layer into detailed sub-descriptions. Students (Workers) each generate one image using Qwen-Image-2512 on their own GPU. Results flow back up: Teachers combine their students' images, the Manager combines all six classroom results into the final scene. Bosses only think and write text. Workers only draw. Combining is mechanical (PIL alpha_composite), not AI. The entire pipeline is parallel — all Workers at the same level work simultaneously, independently, with no dependency on each other.
Image To Ghost (ITG) is the "Fine Art Decomposer" — take an existing painting or photograph and decompose it into six depth layers using AI. This is genuinely hard: the AI must understand which objects are in the foreground, which are in the background, and separate them into transparent layers. It uses Qwen-Image-Layered (which outputs native RGBA with alpha channels) combined with Qwen3-VL as a quality judge that examines each resulting layer and discards garbage. The recursive hierarchy splits each layer into sub-layers, with quality gates at every level. If a split produces a solid-color or blurry layer, it's discarded — no GPU time wasted on noise. The system naturally stops when nothing further is worth splitting.
The architecture mirrors the BeehiveOfAI philosophy: distributed, parallel, local, free. All image generation happens on local hardware using open-source models — no cloud AI, ever. The text LLM (Qwen) runs locally via Ollama or LM Studio. The image AI (Qwen-Image-2512) runs locally. The system scales horizontally: Stage 1 on a single machine, Stage 2 across six players' laptops on a LAN (Private Mode — one layer per machine), Stage 3 over the internet (Public Mode), Stage 4 at hierarchical scale — classrooms to schools to counties to countries. The vision is to scale with volunteer hardware to achieve visual detail exceeding cloud AI, for free.
The project is in active development. All six layers have been generated end-to-end. The V2 green-screen chroma-key pipeline is working. The Flask server and PyQt6 GUI are functional. 17 of 17 API tests pass. Cross-machine LAN testing has been completed. The Fine Art Decomposition feature is in planning with detailed design documents. StrulovitzGhost demonstrates the same principle that powers the Hive: many small, cheap machines, each doing one small piece of creative work in parallel, producing something no single machine could create alone.
📖 StrulovitzGhost — Nir's Vision (May 22, 2026)
📖 StrulovitzGhost — Text To Ghost Detailed Design
📖 StrulovitzGhost — Image To Ghost (Fine Art Decomposer) Design
Download Ghost for FREE
The software is free, open source, and runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. One-click install with setup.bat.