Tom Krcha
@tomkrcha • 25,937 subscribers
founder @pendev 🖋️ a16z @speedrun alumni
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So how good really is GPT-6 Astra at 3D modeling? I took an old drawing of a steam train, gave it to Astra to reconstruct it in Blender. After few minutes it crafted 3,295 fully editable detailed objects with beautiful geometry. You can obviously tell it how detailed or simplified you want it. Go build your own transport tycoon 😎
Tom Krcha2,076,933 views • 1 month ago
I had an early access to GPT-6 Astra and I can say, everyone in the world now has a 3D designer at their fingertips. I gave it an image of a house and asked to create it in 3D with all the details including toys, appliances and furniture. This a full 3D model reconstruction in Blender with geometry that you can manually tweak and run 60fps as a locally rendered "game" on device.
Tom Krcha1,444,852 views • 1 month ago
So which model is the best at frontend design? You can now eval pretty much all of them in pen(dot)dev in realtime in parallel. It's the most versatile design agent, where you can Sign in with ChatGPT, use your Claude subscription, OpenCode Go, Github CoPilot, connect Cursor Composer 2.5/Grok 4.5, Minimax M3, Kimi K2.7/K3, GLM 5.2, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Qwen 3.7 Plus etc, mix and match these models on design tasks directly in your codebase locally on your desktop.
Tom Krcha2,458,542 views • 3 months ago
GPT-6 Astra + Three.js is insane. We are way beyond static models. We are engineering living worlds in code now. There are no "3D model files" in this demo. Both trains are generated at runtime from Typescript/Three.js code using dimensions, profiles, and geometry functions. Wheel motion and explode/reassemble animations are also entirely code-driven. Runs super smooth inside the browser.
Tom Krcha685,974 views • 1 month ago
Today we are re-launching shaders in We call them Vibe Shaders. There's nothing else like them. They live next to your .pen files as GLSL files and can be easily vibecoded right on the canvas. Built by designers for designers. They deserved a special Shader Mode, a focused mode to finetune the uniforms directly in the context of your design. In addition to the classic Shader Fills, we've also added Shader Effects. This allows for incredible creative flexibility, as it applies the effect on a whole object tree that's part of a particular frame and you can change everything live, no hustling with textures. Additionally we are also launching Background Shaders, they sample the texture from everything below the object. Imagine creating your own custom background blur or a partial dither effect for objects below a frame. You can also create shaders with 3D transformations to vector logos or build custom shader brushes for vectors paths. Forget having just a fixed set of shaders, this is next level and only possible, because we have a full control over our custom renderer. We also automatically compute the SDF (signed distance field) in realtime, so vectors that have applied shaders can be changed directly on canvas without the need to re-export a new SDF file, an incredible time-saver. Look for the samples in Goodies, which has been updated with a ton of new examples. Or simply pair pen.dev with the latest models, drop in a bunch of images, ask agent to build you a shader and it's guaranteed you will feel an explosion of your creative superpowers!
Tom Krcha69,427 views • 10 days ago
Excited to launch Pencil INFINITE DESIGN CANVAS for Claude Code > Superfast WebGL canvas, fully editable, running parallel design agents > Runs locally with Claude Code → turn designs into code > Design files live in your git repo → Open json-based .pen format
Tom Krcha1,504,182 views • 9 months ago
GPT-6 Astra created a custom Lego set for me - San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge inspired by dominik kundel's one 🙌. Astra built a preview tool in Three.js for me, create a complete Lego pieces visual audit list and put all the parts in my shopping bag via Pick a Brick on Lego website 🤯 Final cost: $381.82. I love building custom Lego sets ever since I was a kid and this really brings it to another level.
Tom Krcha80,304 views • 1 month ago
Design Mode for Cursor Introducing a new way to design right where you code.
Tom Krcha361,739 views • 1 year ago
Introducing Code on Canvas in AI design tool for Claude and Codex. Design ❤️ Code are officially in a relationship, opening new ways to create on canvas. Ask agent to generate custom design tools inside Pencil on the fly, create interactive components, generative art and more, but still keep the full manual design control. This is just the beginning. Let us know what you think. And let's take it to the next level together. Download the new Pencil update today.
Tom Krcha80,496 views • 6 months ago
Canvas performance in pen.dev has been a big priority for us to support your growing projects. This is 10000+ photos, 10GB of content in a single document. Additionally: - Opening a file: 2.7x faster - Redrawing the canvas: 3.6x faster - Editing on the canvas: 3.5x faster - Working in large, complex files: 6.8x faster - Memory used: 33% less Even more improvements coming soon...
Tom Krcha20,751 views • 1 month ago
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