From screen model to printable model
A model from a game, an animated film, a render or AR app was built to look right on screen, not to be printed. Send the file or a link and tell us how big the finished object should be. We close it up, give thin parts enough thickness, scale it, and split it into parts that fit the print bed. If it has several colours, each colour becomes its own part in its own filament, so you assemble it instead of painting it.
Many models can be made printable; we assess the file and requested size first. Screen models can contain loose surfaces with no thickness, intersecting parts and details that become too thin at print size. Colour often lives in a texture image rather than separate geometry.
We turn it into one closed, manifold model at the size you choose. If it is bigger than the print bed or uses several colours, we split it into parts with alignment features so it goes together one way only. The first review is free, so you know what work is needed and what it costs before anything starts.
Customer review on Trustpilot
“Ik wist zelf eigenlijk niet veel van 3D-printen en had vooral een idee van wat ik wilde. Sina luisterde goed naar mijn wensen en liet me vervolgens verschillende mogelijkheden zien. Hij nam echt de tijd en stuurde meerdere modellen door totdat we iets vonden waar ik echt enthousiast over was. …”
ShortenedReview in Dutch
Read the full review on TrustpilotA printer needs a closed volume with a clear inside and outside. A screen model does not. A sail, flag or rope is often a single plane with no thickness. A hull and a deck pass through each other. Back faces the camera never sees may be missing altogether.
The scale is arbitrary as well. A ship that looks right in the app may be a few millimetres or tens of metres in the file. At the print size you choose, masts, railings and antennas quickly become thinner than a printer can lay down reliably.
We repair the mesh into one watertight, printable whole and thicken thin parts enough to survive printing and handling. Where a detail is too fine, we decide together: make it a little thicker, simplify it, or print it as a separate part. We fix the scale and check the result in the slicer, layer by layer.
Anything we change is named before printing. The model does not quietly become a different design: if the shape changes visibly, you see it first.
If the model does not fit the print bed in one go, or a part prints better in another orientation, we split it. Seams go where they show least: along an existing edge, a colour change or somewhere you do not look first. Pins, keys or other alignment features make sure the parts fit one way only.
Splitting helps even when a model would fit: less support material, a cleaner visible surface and a stronger layer direction for thin parts such as masts.
For a multicolour model we split the shape along the colours of the original: hull, deck, sails, details. Each part is printed in its own filament colour and then joined. The colour edges stay crisp and nothing needs painting.
You choose a colour for each part from our filament range. If a colour in the original has no exact match, we suggest the closest one. Gradients and photographic textures cannot be reproduced with separate colour parts; we say so in the review.
A recent enquiry concerns digital artwork made in Cinema 4D. The customer wants to preserve the original design and colours, receive a print-ready file and have one physical copy made. Our proposal is to assess the model, repair it where needed and prepare separate parts for printing and assembly. This is an enquiry and proposed approach, not a completed print project.
Models like this have a lot in common: fine detail, a clear colour layout and a size larger than one print bed. Scale models of ships, vehicles and buildings follow the same rule: the smaller the scale, the sooner railings and antennas need to be thicker or simpler.
The contact form accepts STL, OBJ, GLB and 3MF within its stated upload limit. For Cinema 4D, VRML, FBX, glTF, BLEND or USDZ, texture files or larger files, send a download link. We first assess whether we can open and use the format. A screenshot helps show the desired result but does not replace the 3D file.
Tell us how big the object should be, whether you want it assembled or as a kit, and where it will stand.
A model from a game, film or app usually belongs to its creator or publisher. Being able to download or export it does not mean you may have it reproduced. Tell us where the model comes from and what the print is for. When in doubt we ask for the licence or permission, and we do not print replicas for sale without the rights holder's permission. This is how we handle requests, not legal advice.
Once you approve, we print the parts, check the fit and deliver the object assembled or as a kit with a clear order of assembly. We ship from Groningen, in the Netherlands and to other EU countries; the shipping cost for your address is part of the quote. If you want to keep the print-ready files, we agree that up front, along with the format you receive them in.
Quoted separately and confirmed in writing before anything starts. An enquiry becomes an order once application, scope, price, schedule and responsibility are agreed.
It depends on the state of the file, the size, the number of colours and how many parts are needed. The first review is free; after that you get one quote for the model work and the printing.
Technically, usually yes, after some work. Whether you may depends on the rights to the model. For a single copy for yourself we assess the source per request; for sale or a series you need the rights holder's permission.
Yes. Open edges, loose surfaces, flipped normals and intersections are what we repair. If the model is too damaged, we tell you whether rebuilding it is the more reliable route.
Larger than one print bed, because we split it. The practical size follows from the number of parts, how sturdy thin details stay and how you want to move or display the object.
Yes, by printing each colour as its own part in its own filament and joining them. Gradients and photographic textures cannot be reproduced this way.
Yes, we ship to other EU countries. The shipping cost for your address is included in the quote before you approve it.
Typically 5–15 working days after you approve the quote, depending on size, the number of parts and how much repair the model needs. The schedule is in the quote.
Then there is no 3D model to make printable yet. That job starts with modelling from your photos, sketch and dimensions.
A file or link, the finished size, the colours and whether you want it assembled or as a kit. You get a free review first, then a quote for the model work and printing, including shipping to your country.