Drop an STL to watch it print itself.
A print-timelapse video of your own model: the part grows out of the build plate one layer at a time, with printed layer lines, a real-looking PEI or textured plate, and studio lighting. Export a quick MP4 straight from the browser, or queue a photoreal studio render on our server. No printer, no camera rig, no editing.
| Filming a real print | Rendering it here | |
|---|---|---|
| Time | The full print time, hours | Seconds to minutes |
| Gear | Printer, camera, mount, lighting | Just the model file |
| Failed prints | Ruin the shot | Cannot happen |
| Camera | Fixed where it fits | Any angle, any plate, any filament color |
| Honesty | The real thing | A render; say so if it matters to your audience |
| Setting | Quick export | Studio render |
|---|---|---|
| Where it renders | Your browser | Our render server |
| Wait | Seconds | Minutes to an hour, queue included |
| Look | Very good real-time 3D | Path-traced: soft shadows, depth of field, film color |
| Best for | Iterating, social posts | The hero clip, product pages |
The growth effect slices the model open, so a mesh with holes shows its empty inside instead of a solid top. Most uploads are repaired automatically on load; if yours still looks hollow, it has holes the automatic repair could not close: here is how to fix them before you re-upload.
Pace is layers divided by clip length. Make the clip longer, use a coarser layer height, or scale the model down; the layers-per-frame readout under the video settings shows the effect live.
Your browser does not support the MP4 encoder this page prefers, so it fell back to WebM. WebM uploads fine to YouTube; for Instagram or TikTok, use a current Chrome, Edge or Safari and export again, or use the studio render, which always returns an MP4.
The server renderer is either busy or temporarily unavailable; the quick export keeps working regardless. Studio renders also queue one at a time, so at busy moments the button may ask you to retry later.
Length and resolution dominate. 720p at 8 seconds is usually a few MB; 1080p at 20 seconds can pass 20 MB. Social platforms re-encode whatever you upload, so 720p is often indistinguishable after posting.
No. This tool renders the timelapse from the 3D model itself: the finished mesh is revealed one layer at a time on a virtual build plate, the same trick behind most viral print timelapses. You never print anything.
Yes. The quick export renders on your own machine and a free weekly download allowance covers casual use.
The quick export encodes the interactive preview into a video in seconds. The studio render rebuilds the same scene in a full path tracer on our server, with soft shadows, depth of field and film-grade color, and can take from a few minutes up to an hour depending on quality settings.
Because real ones do. A print timelapse is one photo per layer, so layers pop into existence rather than sliding upward. The tool reveals whole layers at your chosen layer height and holds each step, which is exactly what makes it read as a print instead of rising liquid.
The 9:16 portrait aspect is already the default, so you only need to raise the resolution to 1080p. Both platforms accept MP4 H.264, which is what the exporter produces. Keep the clip under 15 seconds and let the finished print hold for a second or two at the end.
The growing effect slices the model open, so a mesh with holes shows its empty inside instead of a solid top. The tool repairs most uploads automatically; if yours still looks hollow, run it through the free Optimize tool first to make it watertight.