From figurines to try-ons, the best ways to play with Nano Banana for ordinary people

 

No matter how many tricks there are,

it counts as a real breakthrough if it can help ordinary people.

 

 

The viral "Banana Magic Tool"

Recently, my social media has been flooded with posts about Nano Banana. Many bloggers even update multiple times a day for it, creating all kinds of tutorials, including the so - called "unconventional cultivation" methods. You can feel their excitement like discovering a treasure through the screen.

Nano Banana is the latest image model & editing model Gemini 2.5 Flash Image launched by Google. Initially, it was hidden in a "model arena" called LMArena, and it was in a hidden card pool. You had to "draw a card" to experience it. 

However, since the probability of drawing it was low and there were many people who wanted to experience it, some experts even studied "unconventional cultivation" methods to increase the probability of drawing, such as adding a transparent image after the uploaded photo. 

At that time, Nano Banana was already a bit famous and had been used in many creative ways. Its main feature was to generate a set of pictures of hand - made models placed on a table from various flat pictures. The pictures also included the packaging box on the table and the computer screen showing the model, looking just like a real hand - made model placed on the table.

● Image source: Xiaohongshu user @Maidou_Meadow: )

For example, a netizen uploaded a photo of their pet and generated a picture of a similar hand - made model placed on the table. Yes, in this picture, except for the photo of the puppy, everything else was generated by Nano Banana. The three - dimensional effect is very realistic, right? And it's also very fast, usually taking about ten seconds for one picture. 

It also meets its official promotional points:  

1. State - of - the - art (SOTA) image generation and editing; 

2. Incredibly consistent characters; 

3. Lightning - fast speed. 

On August 26th, Nano Banana was finally officially launched and immediately became a hit. To be honest, besides the AI bloggers who went crazy for it, even on my social media recently, there were pictures of hand - made models everywhere. Nano Banana has truly broken through the circle. 

As a new player who is really into the otome dating mobile game "Love and the Deep Space", Nano Banana really appeals to me. First of all, I'm going to use it to create a hand - made model of Qin Che (one of the male leads in "Love and the Deep Space")!

So, my first experience with Nano Banana started with this crazy plan.

 

Transform flat pictures into hand - made models instantly

As recommended by netizens, I tried using it on AI Studio and Flowith, but the experience was not as good as using it directly on the official website of the Gemini large - scale model. Switch to 2.5 Flash in the upper - left corner of the webpage and select the image mode at the input box, and it works smoothly right away. Recently, platforms such as Lovart have also integrated this model, and there are more and more entry points. 

Since I decided to use Nano Banana to create a hand - made model of Qin Che, the first step was, of course, to upload his flat picture. I chose a flat picture of him in a dragon - like costume. After uploading, referring to the prompt word template provided by netizens, simply put, it was: "Turn the character into a three - dimensional hand - made model, and add a packaging box and a modeling interface". Then it said "Just a sec...". In less than half a minute, a picture popped up on the screen, as follows:  

● Generated by Nano Banana

I really exclaimed "Wow" on the spot. 

The folds of the clothes, the texture on the chest, and the layering of the hair are all very three - dimensional. The table environment and lighting are also natural. The only drawback is that the packaging box behind the hand - made model is a bit rough and has some strange characters that I don't quite understand. 

Later, I also tried changing Qin Che's hairstyle twice. Based on the original picture on the left, by inputting simple instructions like "Change to long hair" and "Change to long light - golden straight hair", the following pictures appeared:  

● Generated by Nano Banana

The consistency of the character is indeed well maintained. You can create new pictures with minor changes. No wonder some netizens sharply commented that "Photoshop is in danger". 

 

Change clothes, characters, and scenery as you like

You know, I'm a very practical person. I want it to solve a real - life pain point for me, such as online shopping. 

To be honest, the biggest pain point of my online shopping is that the product doesn't match the description or doesn't suit me. Especially when it comes to clothes, it's like opening a blind box. The pictures look good, but when you receive the item, you start to doubt yourself: Does this color suit me? Does this style suit me? Why does it look so different from my style when I wear it... Every time I buy clothes online, it's like gambling. 

Since Nano Banana has such strong character stability and can generate such three - dimensional images, I thought I might as well use it to try on clothes: Upload a full - body photo + a photo of the item I want to buy, and let it generate an effect picture of me wearing it for a virtual try - on. 

For example, my Northeast genes awakened, and I took a fancy to a flowery cotton - padded jacket. I input the instruction "Replace the upper - body clothing in Picture 1 (originally my own photo, but I'm too shy to show up, so I use a model's photo here) with Picture 2 (the flowery cotton - padded jacket), and keep the rest unchanged." Soon, a complete dressing effect appeared on the screen. As the saying goes, "If you want to look noble in dressing, don't match basic styles with basic styles...". The original suit jacket on the character was replaced with the flowery cotton - padded jacket I provided, and the rest remained unchanged. 

● Nano Banana interface

After seeing the generated effect, I had a rough idea in my mind: The overall color and style suit me well. Wearing it during the Spring Festival will definitely be very festive. I'll buy it. 

Oh, by the way, there's also the issue of matching. Often, after buying one item, you find that you need to change your whole outfit. So I simply uploaded a whole set of clothes, bags, shoes, and accessories at once and let Nano Banana dress them on the character to see if this overall look suits me (here, I didn't let it match for me. I picked the items myself or they were matched by the merchant. After all, it's not a dressing tool, but at this time, I really wish it were). 

There was a problem with the first generated effect. Only the bag and the T - shirt were on the character, and the T - shirt was directly put over the original black undershirt of the model. I thought it shouldn't be this level for Nano Banana. 

● The original picture on the left is from Celine, the middle one is from Xiaohongshu user @Wuyu_WUYU, and the right one is the generated picture 

Later, I found out that I needed to start a new chat. So I clicked on the new chat and started over. This time, it was much better.

● Generated by Nano Banana

The picture on the left is the first - generated effect. Generally speaking, the hat, glasses, upper - body clothing, and shoes are all okay, but there are still many details that don't match. 

I got impatient. "The picture you were given shows short - style jeans, the necklace is on a black string, the bag strap is black, and there are also earrings!" After running the picture twice more, I got the picture on the right. It was still very stubborn and didn't change to shorts. When I zoomed in to look, I couldn't find the earrings. When I zoomed out, I found that the earrings were hanging in the upper - left corner. Hahaha, it's really a bit funny. But it's still okay. In the future, when I buy clothes online, I still plan to use it to try them on first. 

Besides creating hand - made models and trying on clothes, Nano Banana has more down - to - earth and fun ways for ordinary people. For example, you can replace the characters or scenery in a photo as you like. You can just lie at home, but post a WeChat Moments post pretending that you're having a late - night snack with Trump in Weihai. 

The operation is also simple. Upload a photo of two girls having a late - night snack on the street and input the instruction "Replace the girl on the left with Trump". The first - generated picture almost made me laugh to death. Since the girl in the original picture was wearing a skirt and her two bare knees were exposed, after the character was replaced, it became "Bare - legged Trump", looking very funny. Later, I asked to put pants on Trump and change the background to the seaside, and instantly, it had the atmosphere of a late - night seaside barbecue. 

● The original picture on the left is from Pinterest 

 

Comes with an encyclopedia and can conduct visual reasoning

According to the model researchers of Nano Banana, this model has the world knowledge