How to Make a Custom 3D Figurine From a Photo

A small figurine of your dog, your kid's drawing or yourself makes a great gift. You can have one made, or make it yourself for the price of some filament. This guide compares the three ways to get a 3D model from a photo, then shows how to print and paint it so it looks good on a shelf.

By the Bake3D teamUpdated September 26, 20266 min read

Short answer

To make a custom figurine from a photo, first turn the photo into a 3D model. Use an AI image to 3D tool for one photo, a phone scanning app for a real person or object that can hold still, or a paid service that sculpts it for you. Then export the model as STL, check it for holes and thin parts, and print it. Resin gives the finest detail on small figurines. Filament is fine for larger ones.

How we checked this: The AI steps come from the Bake3D studio, including its STL export of the current pose. The phone scanning numbers come from RealityScan, Polycam and KIRI Engine's own pages. The printing numbers come from Formlabs, Prusa, Anycubic and Elegoo documentation, all read on 25 September 2026. We did not compare the likeness of different AI tools.

Every custom figurine starts the same way. A flat photo has to become a 3D shape with a front, a back, sides and a base. Once you have that shape as an STL file, printing it is the easy part.

Three ways to turn a photo into a figurine

	AI from one photo	Phone photo scan	Paid service
What you need	One clear photo	Dozens of photos, all around the subject	A few good photos
Works for	Pets, people, characters, drawings	Real people and objects that hold still	Anyone
Time	Minutes for the model	About an hour, plus processing	Often several weeks
Cost	Free trial or credits	Free apps exist	The highest of the three
Likeness	Good shape, guessed back	Very close to the real thing	Depends on the artist

Way 1: AI image to 3D from one photo

AI image to 3D tools predict a full 3D model from one picture. They are the only quick way to make a figurine of a pet that will not sit still, a drawing, or a character that does not exist.

Textured 3D fox standing on four legs, seen from the front left, with orange fur, a white chest and tail tip, and dark brown legs. — A model made from one image. Before it can be printed, it still needs a base and a real size in millimetres.

Here is how it works in Bake3D:

Choose the photo. The whole subject should be in the frame, on a plain background, with even light.
Upload it in the studio. Pick a quality level. Standard costs 40 credits, and adding a rig costs 25 more. New accounts get 70 free credits, which covers both.
Check the model from every side. The studio shows seven views, including the back and the bottom.
Pick a pose. With a rig, you can play a motion, like a head turn or a walk, and pause on the frame you like. You can also describe a pose in words, like “sit down and look up”.
Export an STL. The STL export saves the model in its current pose, ready for a slicer.

Good photo tips for pets: get down to the pet’s eye level. Shoot from the side or at a three-quarter angle, with all four legs visible. Avoid harnesses and toys that hide the body.

Be honest about the limits. From one photo, the back of the model is a smart guess. A human face will look like the person in shape and style, but it may not be a perfect likeness. Adding two to four photos from other angles, as extra views, gives the AI less to guess.

Way 2: Scan the real thing with your phone

Photo scanning, also called photogrammetry, builds a model from many photos taken all around a real object. It measures the shape instead of guessing it. It needs the subject to stay completely still, so it works best for people who can hold a pose, statues, toys and keepsakes.

Popular free options:

RealityScan Mobile from Epic Games is free on iPhone and Android. It starts processing after 20 photos and allows up to 300 per scan. Its guide asks for about 70% overlap between photos and no more than 30 degrees between neighboring shots.
KIRI Engine has a free plan with up to 150 photos per scan and unlimited free export.
Polycam has a free plan, but it only exports GLTF. STL and OBJ export need a paid plan.

To get a good scan, walk slowly around the subject in a full circle. Then do a second circle higher up and a third one lower down. Use soft, even light and avoid shiny surfaces.

Way 3: Pay a service

Many shops sculpt and print a figurine from a few photos you send them. An artist builds the model by hand, then prints and often paints it. This costs the most and usually takes weeks, but you do not need a printer or any 3D skills.

Choose a size

Size	Height	Good for
Tabletop miniature	28 or 32 mm	Board games and role-playing games
Desk figurine	80 to 150 mm	Gifts, pets, characters
Display bust	Head and shoulders, often 1:10 scale	Portraits of people

Miniature sizes are a hobby habit, not a strict standard. Brands measure them in different ways.

Smaller figurines hide fewer mistakes. Thin parts like tails, ears, whiskers and fingers can become too thin to print when you shrink the model.

Resin or filament?

	Resin (SLA or MSLA)	Filament (FDM)
Detail	Very fine. Formlabs cites layers as thin as 25 microns	Visible layer lines
Thinnest wall	About 0.2 mm	About 1 mm, and 1.2 mm is safer with a 0.4 mm nozzle
Best size	Small figurines and miniatures	Larger figurines
Mess and safety	Liquid resin; wear gloves and work in a ventilated room	Simple and clean

For small figurines on a filament printer, Prusa suggests a 0.25 mm nozzle with 0.07 or 0.1 mm layers, printing slower and about 5 degrees cooler.

Prepare the model for printing

Check it for holes. Open the STL in our free STL checker. It shows open edges, flipped faces and the real size in millimetres.
Thicken thin parts. Tails, ears and whiskers often need to be thicker than in real life. Check them against the wall thickness numbers above.
Add a base. A flat, round base keeps the figurine standing and gives it a finished look.
Hollow it for resin, if it is bigger than a few centimetres. A solid resin print wastes resin. Formlabs hollowed a bust with 2 mm walls and saved 77% of the resin.
Add at least two drain holes to a hollow resin model. Formlabs says to put one as close to the build plate as possible. The holes let trapped resin out and stop suction during the print.
Set the scale on purpose. AI models often come in with their own sizes. Check the height in your slicer.

Paint and finish

Formlabs suggests this order for figurines:

Remove the supports.
Sand the support marks and any rough spots.
Spray a primer.
Paint with acrylic paint or spray paint.
Seal it with a clear topcoat.

A printer that can switch colors can also print the colors directly. Save the project as 3MF to keep the colors. See 3MF vs STL.

Two renders of the same fox figurine on a round base: one plain grey like a primed print, one painted in orange, white and dark brown. — Primer first, paint second. Grey primer shows every flaw before you add color. These are Blender renders of our fox model on a base, not photos of a real print.

A note on people and characters

Before you sell a figurine, think about rights. Ask the person before you sell their likeness. Famous characters belong to their owners, so selling figurines of them can break copyright or trademark rules. Figurines of your own pet, your family for personal gifts, or your own characters are the safe choice. Our guide on selling 3D models covers marketplace rules.

Start with a photo

The fastest way to see if your idea works is to try it. Upload a photo on the image to 3D page, check the model from every side, pose it and export the STL. For a flat alternative, like a glowing photo panel, see how to make a lithophane.

Questions people ask

How much does a custom figurine from a photo cost?

Doing it yourself costs the filament or resin, plus the 3D model. Many AI tools have a free trial. Bake3D gives new accounts 70 free credits, enough for one model. Paid services that sculpt and print a figurine for you charge much more, and set their own prices.

Can I make a figurine of my dog or cat?

Yes. Use a clear photo of the whole animal, standing, from the side or at a three-quarter angle, on a plain background. AI image to 3D works well for pets, because they rarely hold still long enough for a photo scan.

How many photos do I need?

AI image to 3D needs one photo, and a few extra views help. Phone photo scanning needs many. RealityScan analyzes a scan after 20 photos and allows up to 300.

Should I print a figurine in resin or filament?

Resin for small figurines with fine detail, like faces and fur. Formlabs says resin printers can print layers as thin as 25 microns. Filament is cheaper and easier to handle, and works well for figurines about 10 cm tall or more.

How big should the figurine be?

Tabletop game miniatures are usually 28 or 32 mm tall. A desk figurine is often 8 to 15 cm tall. Bigger prints show more detail but take longer and use more material.

Sources

About this guide

Written and kept up to date by the Bake3D team. We build a tool that turns one image into a textured, rigged and animated 3D model, and we test the steps in our guides on our own files. First published September 25, 2026. See how we write and check guides, or send a correction to hello@bake3d.ai.

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