Turning a 2D Character into 3D Using Nano Banana Pro and Adobe Firefly

Blog Nov 25, 2025

Categories:Graphic Design, Motion Design, Character DesignTags:#AI, #Illustrator, #Firefly, #After Effects, #3D, #Nano Banana, #Gemini

Shozo Karato

We tested Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image), which is included in Gemini 3. Since it has already been integrated into Adobe Firefly, most of the images generated this time were produced through Firefly. Only the final character image was created purely with Gemini, and it includes the Gemini sparkle watermark in the lower right corner.

This experiment focuses on converting our original graphic design “Number Heart”, which includes a 2D character created in Illustrator, into a 3D character using Nano Banana Pro.

In generative AI, prompts play a crucial role. For this experiment, we intentionally kept the prompt extremely simple. The main prompt we used was:

“Turn this 2D character into a realistic and detailed 3D character.”

Even with the same prompt, the generated 3D characters vary widely. We selected one front-facing character that looked most promising and then generated the back, left, and right views based on that selection.

In this post, we are sharing 17 images in total:
– Four images of the character holding a flag (front, back, left, and right)
– Four images of the character without a flag (front, back, left, and right)
– Nine additional images that were unintentional but turned out interesting

For the flag-less 3D character, we did not remove the flag through prompting. Instead, we created a separate “no-flag” 2D version in Illustrator and used that as the basis for the 3D generation.

The image quality produced by Nano Banana Pro is excellent and very powerful. However, it can be a bit challenging when the results do not perfectly match our intentions—something common to all generative AI tools. Ultimately, the key lies in the prompt, but in our experience, if we want to create something that truly matches our vision, using a 3D software like Blender or Cinema 4D can be more enjoyable and less stressful, even though it requires more work than AI.

Nano Banana Pro seems capable of a wide variety of image generation, and we plan to continue experimenting with it.

Updated on November 27, 2025: We have added a new video created with Firefly and After Effects.