What started off as a dare became a fully fledged app in less than a day

Tuesday morning, I received a notification from Google saying I could try out the new Gemini 4 Argon model. Normally, I just ignore it — I don’t really care which model it is, as long as it can help me with my day-to-day — but this time Google teased me with something close to my heart.

Gemini said it could “Create an app to model lampshades that I can 3D print.” My response, as CNET’s resident 3D printing expert, was, “I bet you can’t.”

I went from these first few screenshots to a fully 3D-printed object in under 18 hours, and I’m impressed by how easy it was.

I’ll say upfront that I don’t really like generative AI. I think it uses people’s art and creative work without fair compensation, and I want to pay artists for their work. I changed the project from making lampshades to making cosplay armor and deliberately limited it to things I can already make myself. I know how to model greaves, pauldrons and vambraces, so this takes away nothing.

In my mind, this is analogous to a blacksmith who gets an apprentice to make the blanks for steel armor. The fine detail and character of the work is done by one person, but the grunt work is done by another. I can’t make very good chestplates or helmets, so I removed them from the app to focus on what I can make.

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