Printara Studio
Printara paints a textured 3D model into a multi-colour 3MF for Bambu Studio and OrcaSlicer: 1 to 16 filaments, every triangle painted, free and computed on your device.
Drag to rotateSwipe to rotate
Generate Multi-Color is free. Making a textured model uses credits, and you see the cost before you press.
The robot is Printara's own figure, a textured model made into a 6 colour 3MF with Clean print and Ultra detail at 60 mm. Every frame is a render of that file, not a photo of a print.
The 6 filament slots of this 3MF
Pick a filament: only its slot stays solid.Tap a filament: only its slot stays solid.
The robot is Printara's own figure, a textured model made into a 6 colour 3MF with Clean print and Ultra detail at 60 mm. Every frame is a render of that file, not a photo of a print.
Before you start
A textured 3D model, a printer that can change filament, and a slicer that reads painted 3MF files. Printara makes the model and the 3MF; your slicer and printer do the rest.
A model with a colour texture. Generate one in Printara with Textures switched on, from a photo, an image, several views or a sentence, or give a grey model its colour in the Texture tab. Without a texture the Multi-Color section stays locked.
AI 3D GeneratorAn AMS or another filament changer. One AMS holds 4 spools, so the colour slider in the Studio marks 4 for one unit and 8 for two; a 3MF can use up to 16. Every extra colour adds filament changes and purge waste.
The file is a Bambu Studio 3MF project: one object, the filament of every triangle and your list of colours. Open it, map the filaments to your slots, check the painted preview and slice.
How 3MF colours reach an AMSHow it works
Four steps in the Export tab of Printara Studio, once you have a textured model. The colour engine runs in your browser, on your own device.
Open your textured model and the Export tab. Multi-Color 3MF, marked AMS, sits below the other export formats. The 3MF takes the Print Height you set there, from 1 to 500 mm.
Set Filament colors from 1 to 16 and the Detail: Standard, Fine or Ultra keep colour areas down to 1, 0.75 or 0.6 mm² on the print. Fine is the default, and so is Clean print: one flat colour per material.
Press Generate Multi-Color. It is free, runs on your device and usually takes under a minute. Every triangle gets one filament, and spots too small to print join the colour around them.
The painted preview shows the real result. Give a slot another PLA Basic, PLA Matte or custom colour, merge two colours, paint stray spots with the brush, then press Download 3MF.
The controls above are redrawn from the Export tab of Printara Studio, with the robot's settings: 6 colours and Ultra detail.
Step by step
The colour step uses no credits: generating, recolouring, brushing and downloading the 3MF are free. Only the textured model costs credits, and the Studio shows that cost before you press.
Video lesson: Create your first 3D model in PrintaraPrintara Academy: from a picture to a 3D model, then the STL and multicolor 3MF exportMade in Printara
Printara's own robot figure, 60 mm tall, made into a 6 colour 3MF with Clean print and Ultra detail. The pictures are renders of that file; the numbers are the file's own.
Filament changes: for every 0.2 mm layer, each filament after the first in that layer counts once. Your slicer's count depends on its settings.
| Slot | Colour | What it prints | Surface | Triangles | Regions | Nearest filament |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #669EAC | Body, head and limbs | 49.7 % | 586,345 | 34 | PLA Basic Cyan |
| 2 | #E5822D | Trim, ear rings, hands and the antenna tip | 20.6 % | 332,820 | 39 | PLA Basic Pumpkin |
| 3 | #393938 | Hips, joints and soles | 18.9 % | 333,465 | 40 | PLA Matte Dark Gray |
| 4 | #582413 | Thin rims around the screen and panel seams | 5.7 % | 101,563 | 22 | PLA Matte Dark Red |
| 5 | #2A3650 | The screen | 4.3 % | 47,840 | 10 | PLA Matte Deep Sea |
| 6 | #BDC5C8 | Eyes and the antenna coil | 0.8 % | 18,361 | 7 | PLA Basic Silver |
The engine takes each slot's colour from the model's own surface. None of these six is close enough to a stock filament to take its name, so the Studio lists them as Custom; Snap all to nearest PLA filament swaps them for the stock colours in the last column in one press.
Output file and review
One file for Bambu Studio and OrcaSlicer, with the colour painted on the model itself rather than split into separate parts.
robot_multicolor.3mf
3D/Objects/object_1.modelThe mesh in millimetres. Every triangle carries its filament: 1,420,394 painted triangles for the robot.Metadata/project_settings.configThe filament list: your 1 to 16 colours, as PLA. The robot's six hex colours are the ones in the table above.Metadata/model_settings.configOne object with one part, named after your model.3D/3dmodel.modelThe object placed on the build plate.[Content_Types].xml, _rels/The standard package files every 3MF carries.The Studio preview and the renders on this page are not a print. Real filament colours vary by brand and batch.
Prefer a finished file? Browse the multicolor 3MF collection of ready-made models.
Who it is for
What a textured model painted into filament colours is good for.
Print a character, a mascot or a toy figure in its colours straight off the plate, with no painting: every colour area of the texture becomes one filament slot of your AMS.
A render of the robot's 3MF on this page, turned 45 degrees, as matte PLA.
Choose 4 colours for one AMS or 8 for two. Fewer colours mean fewer filament changes and less purge; more keep small details such as eyes in a colour of their own.
Try a theme such as Warm, Pastel, Mono or Night, or give any slot another filament, and download each version as its own 3MF. Recolouring is free.
Stylised figures, toys and mascots with flat areas of colour print cleanest. Soft gradients and photo-real skin break into bands of the nearest filaments.
For sellers
Save the 3MF to the model, then list it on the Printara marketplace with a paid creator plan, where buyers download the Multi-Color 3MF, or publish it to Etsy with Plus or higher. Make sure the design is your own before you sell it.
FAQ
A 3MF is a project file for 3D printing. In a multi-colour 3MF every triangle of the model carries the filament it is printed with, and the file lists the filament colours. Bambu Studio and OrcaSlicer read that paint, so a printer with an AMS or another filament changer prints all the colours in one job.
Yes. Generate Multi-Color costs no credits and runs on your own device, and recolouring, merging, brushing and downloading the 3MF are free too. You need a Printara account and a textured model; generating that model uses credits, and the Studio shows the cost before you press. See the AI 3D Generator.
Usually under a minute. The colour engine runs in your browser, so the time depends on the number of triangles and on your computer. For the robot on this page, 1,420,394 triangles at 6 colours and Ultra detail, the engine took 32 seconds on a desktop PC.
From 1 to 16. One AMS holds 4 spools, so the colour slider marks 4 for one unit and 8 for two. Every extra colour adds filament changes and purge waste, while more colours keep small details such as eyes in a colour of their own. The robot on this page uses 6.
The smallest colour area the engine keeps on the print: 1 mm² for Standard, 0.75 mm² for Fine and 0.6 mm² for Ultra, at the size you export. A smaller spot joins the colour around it. Fine is the default; the robot on this page uses Ultra.
The default print style: one flat colour per material, so light and shadow painted into the texture do not become extra colours and the print needs fewer filament changes. Detailed, under Advanced, keeps light and shadow as extra colours.
Models with clear areas of flat colour, such as stylised figures, toys and mascots. Clean print gives each material one colour, so soft gradients and photo-real skin break into bands of the nearest filaments, and a spot smaller than the smallest area of your Detail level joins the colour around it. Check thin rims and small details such as eyes in the painted preview before you download.
Yes. In the painted preview you can give any slot a PLA Basic, PLA Matte or custom colour, try a theme such as Pastel or Mono, snap all colours to the nearest PLA filament, merge two colours into one slot, or paint stray spots with the brush. Your edits go into the 3MF.
Bambu Studio and OrcaSlicer. The file is a Bambu Studio 3MF project with one object, the paint of every triangle and your filament colours as PLA. After you open it, map each filament to a slot of your AMS and check the painted preview before you slice.
To print the colours in one job you need an AMS or another filament changer. Without one, export the model as an STL from the same Export tab and print it in one colour.
Generate one in Printara with Textures switched on: from a photo or an image, from several views of an object or from a sentence, in Standard 2K, Detailed 4K or Extreme 8K. A grey model can get its colour in the Texture tab. The AI 3D Generator page shows that step.
Generate a textured model from a photo, an image or a sentence, then paint it into filament colours for your AMS in the Export tab.
Generate Multi-Color is free. Making a textured model uses credits, and you see the cost before you press.
Printara is an AI-powered creative manufacturing platform for creating 3D models, dioramas, laser-cut designs, molds and printable products.
