Vintage Saree look to 3D figurines: Forget Nano Banana and create trendy images with Seedream 4

Google’s Gemini Nano Banana Image generator has been going viral on the internet for its ability to make complex edits in images while keeping the overall coherence. The new model has been used to power a number of popular social media trends, including “3D figurine,” “Retro Bollywood look,” and the popular “saree look from the ’80s.”

While the new model is definitely one of the most powerful free image editors out there, it has now received stiff competition from China’s Seedream 4.0 model, made by TikTok parent ByteDance.

The new model can not only perform many of the same edits as Gemini Nano Banana, but it also manages to produce the resulting image with much more detail, based on my experience. The new model is also available to use for free and supports multiple image uploads at once.

How to use Seedream 4?

Unlike Gemini, Seedream isn’t currently available directly via an app or an official website. However, one can still access the model by heading over to LMArena and even comparing it side-by-side with the Gemini Nano Banana model (officially Gemini 2.5 Flash Image).

To use Seedream 4.0 or Seedream 4 Hi-Res, head over to this link.

Upload an image and enter one of your prompts or pick one shared below and see the Chinese image generator in action.

Pro tip: Gemini Nano Banana usually finishes image generation tasks in 10-15 seconds, while Seedream 4 takes well over a minute for the same task. However, in many instances, the details on Seedream 4 would simply outshine Nano Banana.

Here are a few popular images that we managed to generate using Seedream 4 and Seedream 4 Hi-Res.

Bollywood style saree:

“Create a retro, vintage-inspired image—grainy yet bright—based on the uploaded picture. The girl should be draped in a perfect purple chiffon, Pinterest-style aesthetic saree. The vibe must capture the essence of a ’90s movie ‘baddie,’ with dark brown, silky hair and a small flower tucked visibly into her hair, enhanced by a windy, romantic atmosphere. She is standing against an old wooden door, where deep shadows and dramatic contrasts add mystery and artistry to the scene, creating a moody yet enchanting cinematic effect. Her pose should suggest that she is adjusting her hair.”

Fake Indian model:

“Create a hyper-realistic 16:9 portrait of an elegant Indian woman in her late 20s. She has medium-brown skin with a natural warm glow, expressive dark eyes, and black hair neatly tied in a loose bun. She is wearing a contemporary pastel saree with subtle gold borders and minimal jewellery. The background is softly blurred with natural daylight filtering through, giving a cinematic depth of field. The lighting is soft and balanced, highlighting authentic textures of skin, fabric, and jewellery for a true-to-life look.”

Renaissance portrait:

“What would this look like as a renaissance painting?”

This image by Seedream 4 especially impressed me with the level of details it managed to retain, making sure the subject looked almost the same while being in a renaissance style portrait.

3D figurine:

“Create a 1/7-scale commercialised figurine of the characters in the picture, in a realistic style, in a real environment. The figurine is placed on a computer desk. The figurine has a round transparent acrylic base, with no text on the base. The content on the computer screen is a 3D modelling process of this figurine. Next to the computer screen is a toy packaging box, designed in a style reminiscent of high-quality collectible figures, printed with original artwork. The packaging features two-dimensional flat illustrations.”