How a bust is made from a photo

You make a bust from a photo with the Bust or figure from a photo tool. One front photo is enough. In about a minute you have a 3D model with a base and a name, you see the print price, and you can download the model. Here is the whole process, including what happens on our side.

1. What to send

You need one photo from the front: one person from the top of the head to the waist, a plain light background, a sharp picture. A few small things make the biggest difference:

• Step back 1.5 to 2 metres. A close-up distorts the face.
• Hold the phone at face height, not from above or below.
• Stand in front of a plain wall, nothing in the background, in even light.
• Let the arms hang loosely and leave space around the shoulders.

Optionally add photos from the left, the back and the right, from the same distance and height, turning 90° each time. The model then catches the likeness and the hair better. One more side is enough; a photo that cannot be used is left out. Thin spectacle frames and single strands of hair print badly, hair tied back or combed close to the head comes out better.

What not to send: a photo of someone else without their consent. In the form you confirm that the photo shows you or that you have the consent of the person in it. Photograph a child only as their parent or with a parent's consent. We check every photo automatically and turn down nudity, violence, weapons or a photo without one clear subject.

2. What happens during that minute

When you tap "Create model", we send the photo to our 3D model generation provider (Tripo), which makes the shape, without colours. Then we take over: we turn the face to the front, cut the chest flat like on a sculpted bust, remove small fragments and loose strands, close every hole and join everything into one solid, printable body. Finally we add the base with the name and set the height you chose. It takes about a minute; please stay on the page meanwhile.

Privacy. We delete the photo as soon as the model is created. Only people with the link see the model, and models of visitors without an account are deleted after 30 days. Who else processes the photo is listed in the privacy policy.

How many for free. One model a day without an account, three with one.

3. Style, base and name

There are three styles of bust:

• The modern bust has a rounded chest on a turned socle with the name around it.
• The antique bust stands on a tablet with the name and a socle with a wide foot.
• The sculptor's cut has no base; the bust stands on its own flat cut with the shoulders cut at a slant.

Besides these there are simple bases: round, square, hexagon, column, a name plate (with a dedication too, say "for your 80th birthday") and no base.

The name has up to 24 characters and is raised on the front in capitals as part of the model. Keep it short: letters under 3 mm do not print legibly, so a small bust needs a shorter name or more height.

The height slider runs from 30 to 250 mm, 80 mm by default, measured for the whole print including the base. For a portrait on a shelf, 80 to 150 mm works well.

Without a new generation, free and in a few seconds, you can change in the calculator the base, the name and dedication, the direction of the gaze (front, left, right, back), how deep the bust sits in its base, and the trimming of loose strands. The model stays the same. A new photo or another expression means a new model.

4. Printing

The finished model opens in the calculator. You see the exact print time, the material and the price, and you can download the STL file or a ready project for your own printer, without signing up.

For an idea, one real modern bust from the calculator, in PLA+:

Height	Material	Print time	Price to print with us
80 mm	14 g	about 1 h	99 CZK
120 mm	40 g	about 1 h 50 min	130 CZK
150 mm	72 g	about 2 h 40 min	200 CZK

Shipping is extra, and 99 CZK is the lowest price of a print. A bust with wider shoulders comes to 82 g, 3 hours and 220 CZK at 150 mm. The calculator shows the price in euros too, and your own figure right after the model is made.

A bust is printed in one colour, as the model carries only the shape. You pick the colour when ordering, from the spools loaded in the printers, each with its spool code. For a portrait PLA+ is worth it: a matte surface hides the layers, a glossy one brings out the shape.

We are opening printing on our farm step by step. Where the calculator already offers it, you order with the "Print it with us" button: pick the material and colour, get a binding price, and the print starts as soon as a printer is free. We ship with Packeta to a pick-up point or to your door; personal pick-up is not offered yet.

5. What to expect, and what not

• A likeness, not a copy. The shape is an artistic impression. What the photo does not show, such as the back or the profile, the generator guesses. Photos from the sides and the back mean less guessing.
• The face follows the photo. Features, a smile, a beard and bold glasses come out. Thin frames and single strands of hair print badly.
• Layers and supports. The print is built in 0.2 mm layers, which show more on a small bust than on a large one. We add supports only where needed. The busts in the table needed none; under sticking-out hair or arms, small marks can remain after snapping them off.
• Size makes detail. At 150 mm the face has almost twice the room it has at 80 mm. Printing takes about 2 h 40 min instead of an hour and costs 200 CZK instead of 99. The name on the base comes out sharper too.

6. Try it

Upload a photo and in a minute you see your model and its price: make a bust from a photo.

Matplace prints on its own farm of Anycubic printers, not through a middleman. The printers and spools are ours, and you pick the colour from those loaded right now.