Can I haz science?
Scientific illustrations are fascinating to me because they can summarize great amounts of information at a glance, as long as they’re accurate. They also look cool when you add some design stylings that do not distract from the message. I know that there are many tools that can be used for this purpose, but I wondered if I could generate scientifically accurate illustration just by prompting.
I used Grok Imagine and Google Nano banana (via PeakD) to generate a set of images and compare results. I use the word ‘compare’ very loosely here. It's not possible to compare apples to oranges, so consider this more of a show and tell.
I first carried some basic research on various topics, and after brainstorming a few ideas in my notebook, I settled on the topic of neuroscience. In particular, I became interested in illustrating the two general divisions of the human nervous system. Could I coax the software into understanding the general idea to summon up a few illustrations mixing science and art?
This is the prompt that I used in Grok Imagine and Google Nano Banana.
Intricate scientific 3D human model of the nervous system showing the divisions of a) the central nervous system that consists of the brain and spinal cord, and b) the peripheral nervous system outside the brain and spinal cord. Add the appropriate label to each part of the two parts corresponding to the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system. x-ray style with gaming motifs.
This is not a great prompt artistically because it lacks such details, but I wanted to keep things as simple as possible. I was aiming for scientific accuracy above all. I did add an x-ray effect with game style to avoid creating just a medical illustration and give the software room to experiment creatively.
Grok Imagine
When a prompt is processed in Grok Imagine, the software will generate a batch of 12-20 images at once. The speed and variety are incredible. In this case, the prompt is somewhat complex because it requires the software to reason beyond what is explicitly stated.
I picked three Grok Imagine generations that I thought created a good combination of technical accuracy with artistic flair.
1
Interestingly, Grok added the acronyms, which I thought about using in the prompt but decided not to. It's not a bad result at all. If this was a vector file, it would be just a matter of rearranging a few elements and voila. It could also be used as is for a sci-fi story or game in which art and design trump scientific fidelity.
2
I like this second one because it created side and front profiles, but it's a little bit more messy and inaccurate
3
Number 3 was the most refined in my eyes, even though the software used acronyms instead of spelling out the words for CNS and PNS. The brain and spine are correctly labeled. What surprised me was the addition of the words: Include all nerves outside of CNS. While this is implied in the prompt and stated thus:
the peripheral nervous system outside the brain and spinal cord
Grok took this idea and restated in a very intelligent and somewhat unsettling kind of way to fit the illustration.
Google Nano Banana
I then copied the same prompt into PeakD’s version of Google Nano Banana. This is a paid service, so I created four images at once instead of a batch of 20 like Grok Imagine.
4
5
6These images are artistically striking with the game design elements. It does have spelling errors that it kept repeating throughout the images. The labels are less precise than those made with Grok Imagine but they have a great aesthetic appeal.
The software created another great version of the prompt. Barring the sci-fi game stylings and spelling errors, the image is correctly labeled and displaying the scientific visual information in a compelling manner.
7
The results to me are incredible for both, and I only wished I had this while growing up. I got more complex information designs with Imagine, but Nano banana generated images that aesthetically matched what I had in mind. With a little bit more tweaking and polish, the software could generate some mind bending visuals grounded in science.
I hope you enjoyed reading the results of my experiments. Thank you for checking them out.
Grok Imagine with modified prompt
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