AI Designs Can Now Be Modified by Hand and Real Materials Using Promptac

Typically, generative AI models rely solely on digital prompts in the form of text or images. Royal College of Art graduate Zhaodi Feng is bringing in the element of real-world materials and haptic touch with her innovative new toolkit named Promptac.

With Promptac, users can alter AI-generated designs not only by typing or clicking but also with intuitive hand movements and tangible real-world materials.

Its fingertip controller is the magic wand here – capable of recognizing a plethora of colours and materials from our tangible world.

Users can effortlessly twist, pinch, press, and bend the accompanying tools, making alterations to AI-generated digital designs. The toolkit can also identify colours and real-world materials through the fingertip controller equipped with a colour sensor and an RFID sensor, which can be applied directly to the AI-created object.

The latter can detect a range of RFID-tagged materials, generating a text prompt to instruct the AI. This real-time translation of physical attributes to digital modifications brings greater opportunities to unleash creativity.

To get started, users can craft a rudimentary AI image of an item, like a vase or mug, using AI tools such as Midjourney and InstructPix2Pix. With the Promptac toolkit, this image can be transformed with a hands-on touch, bringing a tangible feel to the otherwise digital space.

creating this toolkit, Feng envisions a design realm where even non-designers can communicate their vision without getting entangled in the intricacies of a specific language. Though currently a prototype, the horizon looks promising, as Feng contemplates collaborating with AI specialists to refine and broaden the scope of Promptac.