Ohayocon 2026: How to Create Anime from Your Dayton Convention Experience

Foam sword battles, cosplay contests, and Midwest anime community — all turned into anime art with AI

Anime martial arts scene generated with AutoWeeb AI
Combat energy from the convention floor, reimagined in anime

Ohayocon is one of the Midwest's largest anime and gaming conventions, running each January at the Dayton Convention Center in Ohio. The 2026 edition featured a cosplay expo, foam sword fighting events, gaming rooms, and special panel celebrations including 25th anniversary reunions for fan-favorite animated series. The convention brings together a dedicated regional community that takes both the cosplay and the gaming seriously.

Ohayocon's blend of combat-themed events, community panels, and convention cosplay gives you a rich set of visuals to work with. Here is how to use those moments to create anime with AI.

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Turn Foam Sword Fights into Anime Battle Scenes

Ohayocon's foam sword fighting events are one of the convention's most distinctive offerings. The staged combat, costumed participants, and action-heavy photography that comes out of these events is exactly the kind of material that converts into anime fight scenes.

Upload a photo from the foam sword battles to AutoWeeb and apply a high-energy anime style. Action poses, weapon clashes, and mid-strike moments translate into dynamic anime frames with speed lines, dramatic lighting, and the kind of impact framing you see in Demon Slayer or Jujutsu Kaisen.

Anime battle scene with dynamic action, created with AutoWeeb
A foam sword moment converted into an anime battle

Generate a Full Fight Scene

You can go further than converting a single photo. Use AutoWeeb's image generator to create a multi-shot fight sequence featuring your anime character. Write a prompt for the setup shot, the mid-fight, and the resolution. Each image can feature your Character Sheet so the protagonist looks the same across every frame.

Convert Cosplay Photos to Anime

Ohayocon's cosplay community brings serious craftsmanship to the convention floor. A photo of a well-made cosplay, especially one for an action or fantasy series, converts into striking anime art when run through AutoWeeb's photo-to-anime converter.

The AI preserves costume details that took time to build: prop weapons, handmade armor, styled wigs, layered outfit construction. What you get back looks like official character art rather than a filtered photo.

Choose a Style That Fits the Source Material

AutoWeeb's style selection lets you match the output to the character's original series. A cosplay from an older franchise can be rendered in a vintage anime aesthetic. A cosplay from a current seasonal hit can be done in the modern high-detail style. This matching makes the result feel more authentic than applying a single generic anime filter.

Build Your Own Anime Character

Whether you attended in cosplay or in casual clothes, you can create an anime version of yourself. Upload a photo to AutoWeeb's Character Creator and the AI generates a Character Sheet capturing your appearance from multiple angles with distinct expressions. Add details like your Ohayocon outfit, a foam sword prop, or the convention hall background.

Once your Character Sheet is saved, drop your character into any scene. A battle scenario, a gaming room setting, or a convention crowd. The character looks consistent every time because the design is locked into the sheet.

Anime character in an action scene, created with AutoWeeb
Your character in any scene, with consistent design every time
👉 Create Your Anime Character on AutoWeeb

Animate Your Convention Highlights

AutoWeeb's video tools add motion to any generated image. A still image of your character mid-swing with a foam sword becomes an animated clip with movement in the strike, shifting light, and a dynamic background. A portrait from the cosplay expo becomes a living character, breathing and looking around.

Ohayocon has a lot of energy. The animations let that energy carry through even after the convention ends.

Start Creating Anime on AutoWeeb