ox alpha vs deepseek v4 flash vision vs grok 4.6 vs gemini 3.7 flash – on photo-to-3d

four vision models got one photograph each and had to rebuild the place inside it as a @threejs scene. twelve scenes, twelve first-try runs, zero console errors

the setup: one reference photo per scene, sent as an image on @openrouter. the prompt never says what is in the picture – no "motel", no "bar", no "gas station". the model has to read the photo and rebuild it: layout, materials, hour of the day, and whatever is around the corner that the frame does not show

tasks – three photographs of early-2000s america:

1. a motel at night, neon pylon lit, snow on the ground
2. an old new york tavern interior, tin ceiling, tiled floor
3. an abandoned service station in the california desert, midday sun

each scene ships as one self-contained html file, procedural geometry and canvas textures only, no downloads. three timed camera shots, and shot 1 has to reproduce the framing of the reference photo

models: @xai grok 4.6, @googledeepmind gemini 3.7 flash, @deepseek_ai deepseek v4 flash vision exp, and ox alpha – a stealth model on openrouter, free, no lab attached to it yet

results:

- wall clock, three scenes
#1 gemini 3.7 flash – 11m 12s
#2 deepseek v4 flash – 15m 20s
#3 grok 4.6 – 28m 11s
#4 ox alpha – 38m 54s

- output tokens
#1 gemini 3.7 flash – 77,396
#2 ox alpha – 87,613
#3 grok 4.6 – 105,687
#4 deepseek v4 flash – 127,884

- lines of code shipped
#1 ox alpha – 2,090
#2 deepseek v4 flash – 2,291
#3 grok 4.6 – 3,529
#4 gemini 3.7 flash – 3,989

- total price
#1 ox alpha – $0.000
#2 deepseek v4 flash – $0.091
#3 gemini 3.7 flash – $0.136
#4 grok 4.6 – $0.697

observations:

• grok is 7.7x the price of deepseek. it is the only model that read the light – low sun, real shadows on the station, a cold night on the motel

• gemini is the fastest and the least deliberate. 17,158 reasoning tokens against deepseek's 99,172, and it still shipped the most code – 3,989 lines

• deepseek thought hardest and rendered plainest. 99,172 reasoning tokens, 5.8x gemini's, spent on layout rather than on light. its motel is the second best in the set for $0.030

• ox alpha is free and reads a photo as well as anything here – it lifted "family units / kitchenettes" off the pylon and redrew it in canvas

conclusion: twelve scenes, four models, zero fixes, and the whole run cost $0.924!

watch the full test via link