Scratching the Good Itch with Turntable

There are no shortage of AI graphics generation demos out there, but Adobe’s Project Turntable is easily one of the more captivating. It’s easy for me to get honestly excited by new graphics tools. I’ve been using them, 2d, 3d and in between, for about half of my life.

“That’s it, that’s how you do rotation,” the presenter deadpans. And he isn’t wrong. There is a vector graphic, now here it is from the side. Simple. Magic.

As they quite plainly mention/accuse in this article on Ars Technica, the demo (key word) is likely choosing a particular set of shapes and situations, showing the machine learning in it’s best light. For instance, it probably couldn’t handle any of my dragon drawings. I’m not sure any commercial software available to mere mortals could handle that level of power. Regardless, it points so well in the right direction. It does the painful thing for you. You made the art and then it does the part you would rather not do.

Animation software has already been figuring out the sucky, in-between parts for decades. It doesn’t “solve” for the creative (“generative”). The human in the equation did that by vectoring up that cute little knight fighting a dragon. With AI taking care of the technicalities, maybe there is a chance artists can focus on what makes their work truly special: bringing emotional depth, spark and sterling taste in fantasy creatures that only humans can bring to the table.