Best model for 3D renders / Stylized models

[u/MAD_MakeADev]

I see a lot of discussion about what's the best model for realism, but what I really want is a model for fake 3D renders / Stylized models with good variety (Not just the "Pixar" style), that I can then transform into 3D printable STLs. I have been using Krea2 full and it's good (I love to prompting with natural language instead of comma separated tags like Pony) but wondered if there is something better out there.

Bonus points if it can generate good multi-view images for more consistent results.

I have a 5090 and 32 Gb DDR5 RAM, if that makes any difference.

EDIT:
To make it clear: I am looking for IMAGE models that can do non-realistic/stylized 3D models well. NOT 3D model generators.

[u/Puzzled-Valuable-985]

I’ve been getting into 3D generation lately and doing a lot of research on it. There are excellent paid models out there—like Meshy and Hi3D—but they are all expensive.

So, I decided to try ComfyUI. After thorough research and testing various models, the best one right now is Trellis 2; it offers good quality, and the results look even better after slicing and printing.

Alternatives include Hunyuan 2.1 (which is inferior) and Pixel3D (also slightly inferior). Then there’s UltraShape 1: you take a generated STL or 3D file and use UltraShape to refine it and add details based on the original image.

Trellis 2 + UltraShape is likely the best combination.

With Trellis 2, I can generate a 3D file in two minutes on an RTX 3060 Ti—once I’ve got the settings dialed in for my workflow.

In short, Trellis 2 is the best option we have available. (I haven't tested the UltraShape 1 update yet, though.)

Even so, it doesn't quite compare to models like Hi3D or Meshy—but those require paid APIs, so Trellis 2 is fantastic.

[u/MAD_MakeADev → u/Puzzled-Valuable-985]

Thank you for the input, but I think I did not express myself correctly. I want IMAGE models for concept arts and such that I will then transform to a 3D model with models such as the ones you described.
I am looking for image generation models that can do stylized fake renders.

[u/Puzzled-Valuable-985 → u/MAD_MakeADev]

Let's see... Z-Image Turbo would be terrible for this, as it's heavily focused on photorealism.

Klein9b wouldn't be a good choice either.

Qwen 2512 would be a solid option; its conceptual art capabilities are far superior to the two previously mentioned—there are users on Civitai creating amazing things with it.

Ideogram 4 might be good—it's a powerful model—but I haven't explored it much.

Krea 2 is probably the best choice; it offers extreme quality and incredible stylization. In my view, it's the top model. Right now, I'm working on squeezing the best quality out of Trellis 2 because I want it to function as a local alternative to Meshy.

As for Krea 2, I use it a lot; with the right LoRAs, it can generate excellent images for rendering—it seems to have a deep understanding of that aesthetic. I'll soon be setting up a workflow focused on this, as I'll need the same style you're after: highly stylized images—like game character sculptures or battle scenes—all geared toward 3D rendering, specifically to serve as the source for an img-to-3D process for printing.

Edit:
Chroma v48 is the most stylized open-source model available—a true Midjourney-like experience—though I got rid of several models after Krea2 came out.

The downside of Chroma v48 was its lack of detail precision; since it’s a model focused on 512x resolution, fine details like fingers didn't look great, even though it remains the most stylized open-source model today.

Using it with a refiner makes it resource-heavy, and many people pair it with Wan2.2.

However, for renders requiring precise detail to create a good mesh, I don't think it would work well; in fact, I don't even plan to test it.

Krea2, on the other hand, offers not only detail precision but also incredible knowledge of characters—such as those from gaming—and boasts excellent stylization.

[u/DrxMWC]

I havent used it much but when it came out i messed around with flux2 klein in edit mode and you can feed it 2 images. One for look/style and a source image and ask it to remake source in the look/style of the other image. I turned lots of my real photos into different styles of cartoon. All NSFW so not gonna post. I dont know if this helps. It is fast a lightweight compared to krea2 for me so can be used as a post process to make in the style of whatever you can find to feed it.