If you don’t want to miss a single detail in your 2D projects, you need Adobe’s Turntable feature, now available in Illustrator. The tool uses the company’s Firefly generative artificial intelligence (AI) to take a 2D object and generate multiple rotated images that show what it looks like from different angles.
The idea is quite simple, as it automatically generates multiple angles, up to 74 views, from a single vector illustration, including full rotations and vertical tilts. The most important detail is that these are not flattened renderings; each version remains an editable vector, so you can still adjust lines, colors, and details without having to start over. This is artificial intelligence, but not the kind we are used to, as it seems to be used to identify missing geometry and generate new images, preserving details, colors, and structure.
Practical use cases become clear quickly. Animation teams working on presentation sets need character overviews to show how a figure reads from all angles – a process that used to take days.
Game designers creating concept art can access 360-degree asset images without switching tools. Social media teams can now create GIFs and micro-animations directly from their Illustrator files. Adobe Turntable speeds up each of these workflows by bringing everything together in one application.
The transfer story is also important. When a designer receives their multi-angle vector set from Adobe Turntable, they can go straight to After Effects without any file conversion steps. This continuity between Illustrator and After Effects is where the real time savings come in – not just at the generation stage, but throughout the process from concept to moving asset.
More broadly, Turntable encourages 2D artists to take advantage of some of the benefits of 3D without requiring a complete change in tools, thinking, or workflow. It expands the possibilities without creating a lot of friction, which is usually the point where new features either get stuck or ignored.
Turntable comes at a time when there’s a lot of talk about using AI in creative tools, whether it’s Adobe Firefly or DLSS 5 for game development. Turntable is different from what stood out during the initial demo at Adobe MAX, in that it feels like a practical use of the technology that complements the ways artists already work, rather than trying to replace them. It’s still important to give illustrators more control, more options, and more ways to create their work.
Adobe Turntable is part of a larger Illustrator development project that includes generative shape filling and a set of performance improvements. For a more in-depth look at using this feature, the official Adobe help documentation describes the entire workflow process, from importing vectors to exporting from multiple angles.
Credits:
All images courtesy of Adobe.
