I’ll be honest. After watching a few clips of Adobe’s Project Turntable on various social media channels, the first thing that sprang to mind was it’s yet another AI generated gimmick.
I mean, rotate a 2D vector image?
The demo looked great, but what would work in the real world? Could this help me as a designer who spends a long time crafting a visual only for someone to then ask “Can we just try this…”
With time constraints and multiple projects on the go, would Turntable be yet another flashy feature I’d never use?
Well, I’ve had a little time to play with the beta version and, wow, very cool results. This isn’t just a new tool, it’s a game changer. A new way of thinking about what’s possible in Illustrator, After Effects or even animated AI generation.
The first time I tried it, I took an illustration from part of a project I’d been working on, grouped the artwork, clicked the new Turntable icon, and waited. The AI generator got to work and then a little slider appeared. Tentatively, I dragged it. Just like that, the image turned. It wasn’t a flat shear or a perspective warp; it was a full, clean rotation, as if I’d moved a physical object in a 3D space. I gasped a little. It felt like pure, unadulterated magic.
What it’s brilliant for (and where it’s not quite there yet)
The best part is how much time it saves. I remember the days of redrawing every view of an object or character with multiple layers and stages. That’s all in the past. This feature instantly generates new vector views that perfectly match your original style. It’s a creative shortcut that feels almost like cheating.
But, as it’s in beta, it’s not faultless. I’ve noticed that extreme 180-degree rotations can get a little distorted, especially on more complex artwork. Sometimes you get a slightly wobbly vector path that needs a bit of tidying up, parts editing or deleting etc. So, it’s not a ‘press a button and you’re done’ solution, but more of an amazing starting point. It’s a brilliant generator that gets you 90% of the way there, saving you the heavy lifting of manual redrawing.
A stage further
This got me thinking, can we bring this static image to life with a few prompts in an AI video generator? Well yes, it turns out that we’re only scratching the surface of endless possibilities and exciting times ahead.
