This is a really interesting point. I can't picture people, especially people I know very well, but I know things about them. I know what color hair my parents, boyfriend, and close friends have. I know who wears glasses. I know what type of style people have. This is also true with my surroundings, maybe even better than for others. My boyfriend will set something somewhere, I'll notice out of my periphery, and then I'll be able to find it for him when he inevitably forgets where he set it down. I know exactly what shirts are where from when I tossed stuff around getting dressed this morning though I'm totally unable to picture the scene. I do consider myself very creative, but within limitations. What I mean by this is I love learning a new skill and then making slight changes as I'm doing whatever that thing is to make a whole new thing. I had a writing minor in college and loved bending the rules of grammar. I learned macramé and created nothing but strings of knots as I learned them until learning new variations and combinations on my own. However, I also have dyscalculia. I struggle with directions, spatial concerns, and comparing numbers. I've never been very good with math, but a car accident at 20 is what kicked this all in. I've assumed these issues are purely dyscalculia focused and that the aphantasia just influences how I experience it. For example, your point about being able to mentally manipulate 3D objects, even without being able to visualize them, reminds me of how I have to explain directions. Regardless of how familiar I am with a location, if I'm explaining directions to someone, I have to physically change the direction I'm facing based on the directions. I will literally turn my body as I'm saying which way to turn. A close friend also has dyscalculia - and phantasia - and I know that there is variation between how we experience it. I'd love to pick her brain about this further and I'll report back if I do.
I think my dreams are more like watching a TV show on a TV set from the 1940s. Like, there are visuals and I know what they are while I'm in the dream, but they're gone the second I wake up. It's very much the same as what you described when you try to think back on them, Joshua. Even though there are words in my dream, I know the general idea of what was happening more than I know the specifics. I also really love sleeping, I think because it's the only time there are consistent visuals in my head. I'm curious if anyone else feels similarly.