Adobe today unveiled Project Turnable, a technology demonstration that uses AI to rotate 2D vector art in three dimensions while maintaining the artwork’s flat, illustrated appearance. The tool was shown at the company’s MAX conference as part of its annual ‘Sneaks’ segment, where engineers present experimental ideas that may never ship.

Created by Adobe research scientist Zhiqin Chen, the image-rotation demo allows users to rotate flat vector graphics to any angle. As the image spins, the AI fills in gaps — for example, a horse drawn with only two visible legs appears to grow its hidden legs when rotated. The result remains a flat 2D image that looks correct from the new angle. Adobe’s Brian Domingo told Creative Bloq that while there is no guarantee of commercial release, the team expects significant interest from the MAX audience.

The demo quickly climbed to the top of Hacker News, gathering 912 points and 268 comments. While many commenters praised the tool as a sensible application of AI — solving a genuine pain point rather than forcing AI into unrelated products — others expressed skepticism. Some noted that Adobe has a history of flashy demos that never become features, pointing to previous hype cycles around blockchain and NFTs. A few commenters suggested that even unreleased features can boost sales by impressing executives and investors, regardless of how useful they prove to actual designers.