Thanks to all who took part in our previous challenge. Who would have though a whisk could be so versatile.This week we start with a cordless drill. Actually it is a model from Adobe 3D assets, to which I added textures in Adobe 3D Substance Painter before rendering in Blender 3D.The challenge is, what can you make with the drill?The “rules”:Use the starter image as at least part of your own image entry. Anything goes, as long as it meets the forum rules on decency, copyright, etc. Anyone, and everyone, is welcome to have a go, whether you are a complete beginner or a Photoshop expert. This is not just for our forum “regulars”. The challenge is not limited to Photoshop. Any Adobe software can be used. There are no prizes apart from the chance to practice, show off your skills, or bring a bit of humor and fun. Don't be shy, join in and have a go! The starter image is made available for you to use in this forum challenge only. To download the starter image, click it then, when the image opens in its own window, right click and choose “Save Image As/Save Target As” (or similar depending on your browser). When posting back your image — please use the reply button in this first post and use the 'Insert Photos' icon at the bottom of the reply box. If posting a comment on someone else’s entry, then please use the reply button next to their image post. Have fun! Dave.

Community Expert

Question

Something for the Weekend - Part 261 - Know the Drill!

Forum|Forum|1 month ago
June 19, 2026
25 replies
632 views

Thanks to all who took part in our previous challenge. Who would have though a whisk could be so versatile.

This week we start with a cordless drill. Actually it is a model from Adobe 3D assets, to which I added textures in Adobe 3D Substance Painter before rendering in Blender 3D.

The challenge is, what can you make with the drill?

The “rules”:

Use the starter image as at least part of your own image entry.
Anything goes, as long as it meets the forum rules on decency, copyright, etc.
Anyone, and everyone, is welcome to have a go, whether you are a complete beginner or a Photoshop expert. This is not just for our forum “regulars”.
The challenge is not limited to Photoshop. Any Adobe software can be used.
There are no prizes apart from the chance to practice, show off your skills, or bring a bit of humor and fun. Don't be shy, join in and have a go!
The starter image is made available for you to use in this forum challenge only.

To download the starter image, click it then, when the image opens in its own window, right click and choose “Save Image As/Save Target As” (or similar depending on your browser).

When posting back your image — please use the reply button in this first post and use the 'Insert Photos' icon at the bottom of the reply box. If posting a comment on someone else’s entry, then please use the reply button next to their image post.

Have fun!

Dave.

Show previous replies

M

markusdesigner

Participating Frequently

what a super hero :D

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

Excellent Markus. The big Transformer really does make full use of every bit of the original drill. I especially like the four chuck hands, and the battery feet are pretty cool as well. Is it all Ai generated, or did you add some of it manually? The electrical arking effects and sparks. Are they from your prompt or have you been busy with Boris fx Optics?

Chris 486

Community Expert

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

It just needs a shop front in the background with ‘Area 51 Tool Hire’ above the door. I am of the opinion that if you are going to commit your Gen Creds, you might as well make the most of them with the longest prompts.

Peru Bob

Community Expert

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

A nice idea Bob. I’m guessing that you might sell cordless drills? That makes you officially an expert. :-)

Peru Bob

Community Expert

Yes, I do.
Besides the retail stock for sale in my store, I own and use eight of them:
five at work and three at home.

Jacob Bugge

Community Expert

THE FRENCH DROP

Click to get closer, Click again to get closer still

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

Hah! I looked this earlier Jacob, but the penny didn’t drop. Perhaps if you’d used three parachutes? That’s really clever!

Jacob Bugge

Community Expert

Thank you very much, Trevor.

I have waited years for an occasion to use this single 1941 silk parachute.

D

DeanUtian

Community Expert

There is a reason people don’t like going to the dentist.

Prompt through Firefly Gemini 3.1 (w/ Nano Banana 2)
cartoon illustration of scared young boy in dentist chair with mouth wide open showing teeth , dentist holding a drill

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

It’s perfect Dean. Really funny. I start with the drill on a white background and Prompt the Ai with something like ‘using the yellow cordless drill in the original image...’ That is likely to produce a distorted version of the drill, so you if you want to avoid that include ‘The drill’s shape and orientation should match the original as close as possible in keeping with the generated image’. In the speedboat picture I rotated a DeWalt drill in Sketchfab to match the boat perspective. I was not able to do that directly in Sketchfab so I positioned it so I just needed to flip it vertically.

We have had some amazing Ai Renders since Dave restarted SFTW. Renders in styles I don’t know how to reproduce, so guys please think about sharing your prompts if asked. We’re here to learn.

D

DeanUtian

Community Expert

Thanks for the advice Tevor. My approach was to create the image AI, then blend the drill into in through Photoshop. Here’s where I let Firefly Gemini 3.1 (w/ Nano Banana 2) do all the work loading the reference image as a PNG (made the background transparent).

Prompt: cartoon illustration of scared young boy in dentist chair with mouth wide open showing teeth, dentist holding a drill as in the reference image

The kid looks terrified and the dentist too happy. So here is another version.

cartoon illustration of concerned young boy in dentist chair with mouth wide open showing teeth, caring dentist holding a drill as in the reference image

D

DeanUtian

Community Expert

This is what I saw in the drill.

Background photo by NASA on Unsplash

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

I’m looking at this and seeing a long line of tiny drills like Starlink satellites. It is just amazing how large those lit areas are, and how many of them. Would that be North America? I had to go look on the NASA site. So, if you live in North America, why is the eastern half so densely lit compared to the west? What would those large unlit areas be? I can understand western Canada being sparsely populated, and a narrow ridge of the Rockies, but what are the other dark areas?

jane-e

Community Expert

@Trevor.Dennis wrote: “if you live in North America, why is the eastern half so densely lit compared to the west?”

More people live there 😊 The California coast on the far left is also densely populated.

Jane

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

This one was more difficult to do. Specifically creating a prompt that kept things under control. I used models from Sketchfab because you can orientate to fit your perspective, then grab and remove background. I did the same with one of the drills rather than trust FT Rotate. Place the boat and a drill on a white background roughly aligned and let Gemini put it together. It took two goes and some manual touching up. I’m wishing I asked it to put four of those DeWalt outboards on the back now.

davescm

Author

Community Expert

Another great idea, Trevor. You certainly are coming up with them this week! 🙂
Dave

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

I tried using Firefly 5 after reading that it was much improved, but it was the usual disaster. So I went back to Gemini 3.1. I think it used 20 credits.