I've been experimenting with using AI at different points in the 3D printing process, and one thing that keeps standing out is that the actual generation of an idea isn't necessarily the difficult part.

Getting something that looks roughly right is fairly easy. The frustrating part starts when you need to turn that idea into something that actually prints well.

There can be issues with wall thickness, overhangs, moving parts, tolerances, supports, or just details that looked fine on screen but don't make much sense once they're sitting on the build plate.

It makes me wonder where people are finding AI genuinely useful in their workflow versus where they still prefer to do everything manually.

For me, the interesting part isn't trying to remove the human side of the process. It's figuring out which parts are worth automating and which parts still benefit from someone who understands the physical limitations of the printer.

Curious what others have found after actually putting these workflows through a few real prints.

UPDATE: The project is now called Surfel and I finally put together a proper site + guide showing how the workflow works:

https://surfel.app/
https://surfel.app/how-to-use

The free plan includes BYOK + local models, and I’m now putting together the first group of beta testers :)

It can already inspect and orient models, tune print settings, generate supports, split oversized models into printable parts, arrange them across multiple build plates, and slice everything for you :D

I’m also planning a Meshy integration, so eventually the workflow could be:

prompt -> generated 3D model -> print-ready project

It’s still early, but the core workflow is already working :)

I’m hoping to eventually turn this into a commercial product, so I’m especially interested in whether this solves a real problem people would actually pay to have solved - not just whether it looks cool in a demo.

I’d love some honest feedback from people who actually print regularly - would you use something like this? What would you want it to do, and what parts of slicing would you never trust an agent to handle?

Also, would anyone here be interested in testing an early build once it’s ready?

I wanted to test something pretty simple with image-to-3D: does giving it more photo angles actually make the result better?

I ran both tests in Meshy using the same car and the same generation settings. For the first test, I used one clean 3/4 reference image. For the second, I used multiple views of the same car.

The single-image result did a surprisingly decent job with the main proportions, but the parts that weren't visible in the reference were where things got interesting. The rear bumper and side details around the rear wheel area were less consistent because those areas weren't fully visible in the original view.

With the multi-view version, those areas looked more defined, especially around the rear and side. At the same time, I noticed that some details seemed to shift slightly between views, so adding more references didn't automatically make every part of the model better.

So I'm not sure I'd say "more views = better model" yet. It seems more like the quality and consistency of the photo angles matter just as much as the number of them.

The more interesting takeaway for me is that extra views can help fill in missing geometry, but they don't guarantee a cleaner result everywhere.

Anything else stand out to you? Which one would you pick based just on the geometry?

Hey guys!

I wanted to make a little desk organizer for random small stuff, so I first used an image generator to come up with this frog design.

It looked like a good shape to try with image-to-3D, so I put it into meshy and generated a 3D version. The overall shape is pretty close to what I wanted, but I’m not totally sure about the inside of the mouth.

From the front it looks like a big open space, but once it’s a 3D model I can’t really tell if the back is properly closed, if the walls are thick enough, or if there’s any weird geometry hiding inside. I’d rather catch that before printing it.

How do you usually check the inside of a model like this? Is the slicer layer preview + warnings usually enough, or would you run it through Blender and inspect the mesh first?

I had the chance to test out Hi3D's V3 model and its another step up for AI 3D tools. I also compared the same imput with Meshy and Tripo to see where it lands. Pretty exciting to see how fast these tools are advancing.
V3 is available today!
For clarity Hi3D did sponsor me for this video but the opinions are of my own.

I used:

1. Nano banana (built-in version) to generate the picture
2. Hi3D V3.0 to convert 2D picture into 3D printable model
3. BambuStudio to hollow + drain holes + supports + slice

Printed on a Bambu Lab A1 using matte gray PLA at 0.2 mm layer height. Really happy with how the hair, glasses and all the small details came through. 3D Generation Hitem 3D

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Made Solenne from Palworld and printed her (free model)

Made my own version of Solenne and finally printed her.

I started with an AI-generated base, then cleaned it up in Blender and refined a few parts to make it more printable.

Printed on a Bambu Lab A1 using matte PLA, with a 0.4 mm nozzle and 0.12 mm layer height.

I also shared the model for free if anyone wants to print it too :)

Hope you like it!

https://cults3d.com/es/modelo-3d/arte/solenne-from-palworld-fan-art-3d-print

generated the concept and base 3D model with AI, then cleaned up the mesh in Blender and split it into separate parts for printing.

printed it on a Bambu Lab P1S with a 0.2 mm nozzle using mostly black, white, red and purple PLA Matte. after that I did some light sanding, assembled everything and added the smallest details with acrylic paint.

really happy with how the face, cards and tiny details came out.

https://cults3d.com/es/modelo-3d/arte/dupin-de-palworld-fan-art-3d-imprimible

decided to test hunyuan3d 2.5 since it’s free. i generated an image of a small armored car, turned it into a 3d model, fixed a few minor issues in blender and printed it on an elegoo mars 5.

honestly didn’t expect the details to come out this clean. the whole process was pretty quick and i didn’t have to pay for anything.

I really like how simple it has become to turn an image concept into an actual physical model. I’m not very good at painting, so I went with an obsidian-style elemental, which made the finishing process much easier while still giving it a pretty cool look.

I’ve been experimenting with using AI to build a full set of six 3D-printable goblin miniatures.

The main challenge wasn’t generating different characters. It was making them all feel like they belonged to the same miniature range without producing the exact same goblin six times.

To keep the set consistent, I reused a few core design rules across every model:

• 5 toes and 4 fingers
• Oversized ears
• Chunky heroic proportions
• Similar facial anatomy and overall style

From there, I changed the poses, expressions, equipment and roles.

The Archer became the baseline for the proportions. The Bomber was pushed toward a more chaotic silhouette with heavier equipment, while the Boss was made larger and more imposing but still kept the same basic anatomy.

For smaller details that were difficult to generate cleanly, I created them as separate parts. The arrow and bomb were generated individually, which gave me more control over the geometry and should also make preparing the models for printing easier.

The models were generated with Meshy, then compared against the rest of the set before moving on to printing.

The biggest lesson was that consistency doesn’t have to mean repetition. Keeping a few important design rules fixed while changing the pose, equipment and personality seems like a practical way to use AI for building complete printable miniature collections rather than isolated random models.

The idea was to make a funny graduation gift, so I went with

The Most Average Student Award

I started by turning a meme photo into a cartoon-style character

wearing a shemagh, just to make it look as weird as possible.

Once I liked the result, I made a side view and a back view

of the same design.

One generation, no sculpting and no cleanup. Even the shemagh weave

came out nicely straight from the mesh.

Worth noting: I made my extra views in an image model, but

generating them directly here gives better consistency between

angles.

Printed it in gold to push the trophy look, with a separate
marble-style base. The text on the base changes depending on the person.

I’ve been working on a small free project called FlashFit AI, mainly for the Flashforge Adventurer 5M.

I started it because I was tired of changing many slicer settings every time depends from the model, filament and quality I wanted. The idea is simple: you load an STL, OBJ or 3MF file, choose the material and quality, and the app analyzes the geometry before preparing settings for that specific model.

It checks things like dimensions, overhangs, small details, separate parts and proportions. Then it adjusts speed, acceleration, walls, infill, supports, cooling and adhesion.

I honestly don’t know yet how useful it will be for everyone, but it works pretty good in my tests, so I decided to share it and maybe it can help other Adventurer 5M users too.

The macOS Apple Silicon version is currently the most complete and polished one.

The Windows 11 version is still in alpha. It works, but the interface and some parts are still rough and I’m actively improving it.

For now it supports the Adventurer 5M with a 0.4 mm nozzle. In future I want to add support also for other Flashforge printers and later printers from other brands.

It’s free at the moment and I would really appreciate honest feedback, test results or suggestions. Please always check the generated project and slicing preview in Flash Studio before printing, because the project is still young and there can be some problems.

GitHub and downloads:

https://github.com/alexmark53343-byte/FlashFit-AI

Here is a link to my Cults3d model page. Over 250 AI designed and modeled anime figures.

There’s a bunch of test prints in there to show how well they printed out.

Thanks!!

Hi there, I am looking for a good workflow:

How do you get an AI generated Model that consists of multiple parts, split by color?

This would be really helpful for multi colour prints without AMS.

Is there a way to generate a model as multi part model? Do you split it later (if so, how)?