u/UK_GratingSoul

wanted to see how far I could get without sculpting the character from scratch. I made the original reference image in ChatGPT, ran it through a 3D AI generator, then cleaned the mesh up in Blender. mostly fixed the non-manifold areas, thickened the fingers and thinner cloth parts, and adjusted the pose so it would actually print.

printed it on a Bambu Lab A1 mini with a 0.2 mm nozzle, 0.08 mm layers and marble PLA. removing the supports around the hands and clothing was a pain, and the surface still needs some cleanup, but I’m honestly surprised by how much detail survived at this size.

probably going to sand, prime and paint it next. pretty fun workflow for turning a random concept into something physical.

Rodin Gen 2.5 just added better support for multi-color 3D printing, which is honestly one of the more practical AI 3D updates I've seen recently.

The workflow is pretty simple:

• Generate your 3D model
• Use De-light to remove baked lighting and get cleaner / more consistent colors
• Switch to the Print-Ready mode
• Export the model as 3MF
• Send it into your multi-color printing workflow

What I find interesting here is that AI 3D tools are slowly moving beyond just generating something that looks like a 3D model.

Having a direct 3MF / print-ready workflow with color information makes these models much more useful for people who actually want to manufacture the result instead of staring at it lovingly in a browser viewer.

Still curious how reliable the color separation and geometry are on more complex models, but this is definitely the direction I want to see AI 3D tools moving in.

made this little gnome artificer as an experiment with AI-assisted 3D generation and turned it into a printable STL.

I tried to keep the details chunky enough for printing while still giving him a lot of character, especially around the armor, belts, tools and little potion canisters.

Generated the body and face as separate parts, then assembled and refined the model in Blender.
Final print was done on a Qidi Q2.

Hey everyone!

I’ve been learning 3D printing recently, and I wanted to see if I could turn a character reference I liked into an actual physical mini, so I tried a few different image-to-3D tools.

I used the same reference image for all of them, but the results came out pretty different, especially around the face, hair, clothing, and the hammer. In the end, I went with the meshy version because the overall shape was closer to what I wanted, and it was also easier to work with afterward.

Before printing, I did some basic checking and cleanup. I mainly fixed holes, areas that were too thin, and smaller details that looked like they might cause problems during printing, especially the hair tips, fingers, hammer, and feet.

The workflow was basically:

Reference image--AI-generated model -- check/fix --thicken a few details --add supports --print --clean and paint

Printed in resin, then cleaned, assembled, and hand-painted.

This was my first time trying this kind of workflow, and the final result came out better than I expected. I was especially happy that the expression and overall feel of the original character still came through pretty well in the physical version.

Still learning, so I’m curious: when you’re printing character minis like this, what problems do you usually run into before printing? Anything you always make sure to check first?

A pretty impressive result for a regular 0.4 mm nozzle.

The model was printed at a 0.08 mm layer height, and even the wings, claws and smaller surface details came out surprisingly clean. Another solid example that AI-generated miniatures do not always require resin printing or an ultra-small nozzle to look good.

Printed with a 0.4 mm nozzle at 0.12 mm layer height. I’m honestly impressed by how well the small details, wings, and spikes came out on an FDM printer.

This mechanical boot was generated from a single image using Hunyuan3D 3.1

The amount of small surface detail is surprisingly good and seems especially useful for miniatures, collectibles, and other complex 3D-printing projects. It would still need basic mesh checking before printing, because apparently reality insists on having standards.

What do you think: good enough for a direct print, or does it still need manual cleanup?

I generated this 3D model from a single reference image, cleaned it up a bit and printed it on an FDM printer.

The result looked pretty good at first, but while painting I started noticing some typical AI issues: uneven armor, soft details and a few shapes that don’t fully make sense in 3D.

Still pretty impressed with the final result, especially for a model generated from just one image. AI-generated models definitely need cleanup, but for quick custom miniatures this workflow is kinda crazy.

I used to generate the base 3D model, then cleaned up and resculpted a few areas before printing it on a full-color PolyJet 3D printer.

The model was generated with 4K textures, and the final print came out surprisingly detailed for such a tiny miniature. I still had to adjust the scale and tolerances manually, but most of the original AI-generated model was already usable.

AI to turn an image into a 3D wizard model and then printed it as a miniature.

The result came out pretty nice, especially the robe shapes, the book, and the thin quill. It still needs some cleanup and prep like most AI-generated models, but as a base for 3D printing, this is really impressive.

This is my first attempt at generating a model with 3D AI and then actually printing it.

Honestly, I am impressed by both the speed of the generation and the amount of detail the model managed to preserve. The design is extremely complex, with thin legs, spikes, organic shapes, and several separate parts, but it still turned into a surprisingly solid physical model.

Print Details:

• 0.8 mm layer height
• 10% gyroid infill
• Organic supports
• Main body printed as one piece
• Legs, weapons, and tail printed separately
• Gluing the legs was probably the hardest part

The model still required preparation, separation, supports, and some manual assembly, so it was definitely not a one-click process. Still, being able to go from an AI-generated concept to a detailed physical creature this quickly feels pretty crazy.

For a first AI-generated 3D print, I am honestly very happy with how it turned out!

A complete set of five AI-generated ghost miniatures, successfully turned into physical prints.

Printed with SUNLU PLA 2.0 Plus on a Bambu Lab H2D using BIQU Frostbite build plates. A pretty solid example of how AI-generated 3D models can be used for custom tabletop miniatures.

generated the concept with ChatGPT, converted it into a 3D model with Rodin Gen 2.5, and printed it on my Bambu A1 using ObscuraNox’s 0.2 mm nozzle settings. Pretty happy with the final result!