Designer uses AI bot and Grok to resurrect lost '90s basketball sneaker as a 3D model
evilrabbit_ · x · 2026-11-12
An Argentine designer spent years hunting for the Topper basketball sneakers he wore in the '90s—the same model worn by Manu Ginóbili and other Argentina national team players—with only an old magazine scan to show for it.
His personal AI bot, after burning through plenty of tokens, dug up higher-quality archival images and even tracked down the shoe's original designer. He then used Grok to generate all views of the sneaker from the collected material and exported a fairly faithful 3D model of the original design. A neat end-to-end showcase of AI-powered research plus image generation plus 3D reconstruction.
More from Fun
- Alchemy vs rigorous theory: a meme maps AI research's three paths — burny_tech · 2026-11-12
- GTA 6 ships before AGI: Gary Marcus mocks AI timelines with one-liner — GaryMarcus · 2026-11-12
- Dev vibe-codes a browser PUBG with 100 players, loot and battle royale loop — TAbrodi · 2026-11-12
- Agent swarms orchestrating agent swarms: dev reveals internal milestone — MickeySteamboat · 2026-11-12
- Millions in sales commissions still calculated with sticky notes and a "DO NOT SORT" spreadsheet — martyamark · 2026-11-12
- The first real-life robot documentary is coming, teased by Ashlee Vance — cixliv · 2026-11-12