Sketch to 3D model: turn a drawing into a real 3D model
Upload a photo of a sketch or drawing (a character, a creature, a product idea, your kid's monster) and see it as a 3D object for free. Like it? Download the 3D model as STL for your printer, or GLB in colour.
Updated October 20, 2026
1. Photo of the sketch → free preview
Shoot it flat, in good light, with the whole sketch in frame. One object or character per sketch works best.
What people use it for
- A kid's drawing as a figure. Print the monster or pet your child drew, then paint it together.
- A character or creature sketch. Get a rough 3D block-out to look at from every side, or to start sculpting from.
- A product or prop idea. Turn a napkin sketch into a model you can show, print as a mock-up or bring into Blender.
Want a flat relief, a logo plaque or a lithophane from a picture instead? That doesn't need AI: use the free image to STL converter, which runs in your browser.
How it works
Image-to-3D models are trained on pictures of solid objects, and a sketch is flat lines on paper. So the tool works in two steps:
- Preview. An image model (Google's Nano Banana) redraws your sketch as one solid, coloured object on a white background, keeping its shapes and colours. You see it before spending anything.
- 3D model. Tencent's Hunyuan3D v3 turns that picture into a textured 3D mesh. You can turn it around on the page, then download it.
| Preview model | Nano Banana edit on fal.ai (about $0.04 a render to us) |
|---|---|
| 3D model | Hunyuan3D v3 image-to-3D on fal.ai, Normal mode ($0.375 a model to us) |
| You download | STL (scaled to the height you pick, in mm) and GLB (with colours) |
| Your price | Previews free, 3 a day · 10 models for $9.99 |
Model costs checked October 19, 2026: Hunyuan3D v3 from fal.ai's model page, Nano Banana edit as tracked by CostGoat. Model pages: Hunyuan3D v3 on fal, Nano Banana edit on fal.
Printing tips
- Size. 60–100 mm tall is a good first print for a figure: big enough for detail, small enough to print in an evening. Set the height above before downloading the STL, or scale it in your slicer.
- Thin parts. Arms, ears and tails from a drawing come out thin. With a 0.4 mm nozzle, anything under about 1.2 mm (three lines of plastic) is fragile: print bigger, or thicken it.
- A flat base. Most figures don't stand on a flat bottom. Use your slicer's cut tool to slice a few millimetres off the bottom, or add a brim and supports.
- Slicer. Open the STL in a free slicer: Bambu Studio, PrusaSlicer or UltiMaker Cura. They repair small mesh holes on import.
- Colour. STL has no colour. Print in one filament and paint it with the kid, or send the GLB to a full-colour printing service.
Questions
How do I turn a sketch into a 3D model?
Take a photo of the sketch, flat and in good light, and upload it. An image model first redraws it as one solid coloured object, free, so you can check it. Then Hunyuan3D v3 builds a textured 3D mesh from that picture, which you can turn around on the page and download as STL or GLB.
Can I turn my child's drawing into a 3D model?
Yes. Take a photo of the drawing and upload it. You first get a free preview of how it looks as a 3D toy, then a 3D model you can download as STL for a 3D printer or GLB with its colours.
How much does it cost?
The preview is free, 3 a day. A 3D model takes one credit from a pack: 10 models for $9.99, paid once through Stripe (cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay). No subscription, and the credits don't expire. If a model fails, the credit goes back on your pack. After paying you get a code: keep it to use your pack on another device.
What file formats do I get?
STL, sized in millimetres for slicers such as Bambu Studio, PrusaSlicer and Cura, and GLB, which keeps the colours for viewing or for full-colour printing services.
Will the print be in colour?
An STL file has shape only, so a normal single-colour printer prints it in the filament's colour; paint it afterwards, or send the GLB to a full-colour printing service.
Is this the same as converting an image to STL?
No. An image-to-STL converter raises a picture into a flat relief, an outline or a lithophane; it never adds a back or sides. This tool builds a full 3D object from the drawing. For a relief or lithophane, use our free image to STL converter.
Which AI models does it use?
Google's Nano Banana image model redraws the sketch as one solid coloured object, and Tencent's Hunyuan3D v3 turns that picture into a textured 3D mesh. Both run on fal.ai.
What happens to the drawing I upload?
It's kept for one hour so the model can read it, then deleted. The preview and the 3D model are kept for 7 days so you can download them again. See our privacy page.