File formats

STL, 3MF and sliced plates on /in/print: what X3D accepts in India, why GLB and OBJ are not, the size limits, a mesh we slice versus a file printed exactly as sent, and how a slicer project prints in its colours.

You can upload two kinds of file at /in/print: STL and 3MF. An STL is a mesh we slice for you, and a 3MF can be either: a model or a slicer project we slice, or a sliced plate export (.gcode.3mf) we print exactly as sent. Which kind you upload decides what you can change afterwards and how the rupee price is worked out. A bare .gcode is not accepted; export the plate as .gcode.3mf instead. A GLB is not accepted either: export it as STL or 3MF and upload that.

What you can upload#

Extension	Kind	Limit	What happens to it
.stl	Mesh	100 MB	We slice it. You pick material, colour, quality, scale and infill.
.glb	Mesh (binary glTF)	Not accepted	Export it as STL or 3MF instead.
.gcode	Already sliced, without the plate	Not accepted	Export the plate sliced file (.gcode.3mf) instead.
.3mf	Model, slicer project, or sliced plate export	40 MB	A plate export with G-code inside prints as is. A model or project is sliced by us, and a project with colours assigned can print in them.
.gcode.3mf	Already sliced (Bambu or Orca bundle)	40 MB	Printed as is. Treated as a 3MF.

OBJ is not accepted for print upload

Choose an .obj and the page answers Unsupported file type. Use STL or 3MF (a model or a sliced plate). Convert it to STL first: every mesh tool exports one, and nothing about the model changes.

A .3mf can be a project or a sliced plate

3MF is used for two different things. A Bambu Studio or OrcaSlicer project save is a 3MF, and so is a sliced plate export, but only the second contains G-code. We look inside to tell them apart. A plate export prints exactly as exported. A project is sliced by us, and when it assigns two or more filaments it can be printed in those colours: see A project in its own colours below.

The size limits are memory limits, not policy. A mesh is read as raw bytes, but a sliced file is turned into text and a 3MF's inner G-code decompresses several times over on top of that, so a big sliced file costs far more memory than a big mesh. That is why the sliced ceiling is lower than the mesh ceiling.

Mesh or already sliced: the difference that matters#

	A mesh we slice (STL, model or project 3MF)	A file you sliced (plate 3MF)
Who chooses the print settings	You choose material, colour, quality, scale and infill; we choose the rest	You did, in your slicer. We do not touch them.
Can you change it after upload	Yes: every option updates the rupee quote live	No. Scale is locked at 100% and the file is treated as fully specified.
Where the weight comes from	A real slice where we can run one, otherwise a volume estimate	The filament figure written in the file's own header
Where the print time comes from	Throughput for the chosen quality and nozzle	The time estimate written in the file's own header
Build volume check	Enforced, measured in the model's best orientation	Skipped. Your slicer already fitted it to a plate.
Multi colour	A project 3MF prints in its own colours once our slice of it proves two or more print. An STL prints in the one colour you pick.	Whatever your file does. The purge is already in your grams and hours, so nothing is added for it; a print in 5 or more colours adds the ₹500 second AMS fee.

A mesh we slice for you#

Upload an STL and the model is yours to configure. Material and colour set the rate per gram. Quality picks the layer height: Standard is 0.2mm, Premium is 0.1mm and costs 1.75x the rate. Scale runs from 50% to 300% and infill from 10% to 100%; both change the weight, and the quote updates as you move them.

Units: an STL is read as millimetres.
Build volume: the model's three dimensions are sorted and compared against the build plate, so a long thin part that only fits diagonally is still accepted. Anything larger is rejected with its measured size in the message.
Quotes come from a real OrcaSlicer slice wherever we can run one, not a volume guess. Slicing takes ten seconds to a minute, so the first number on the page may still be the estimate; it settles once the slice returns.
Above 35% requested infill we fall back to the estimate, because our slice runs at the profile's sparse default and stops being representative of what you asked for.
The Request this print button stays closed while the model is being weighed, so the price you request is the one the page settled on.

A project in its own colours#

A Bambu Studio or OrcaSlicer project already says what prints in which colour: it carries a filament table, a filament for every part, and any painting you did. Upload the project as you saved it and the page lists its colours, with each filament's slot number and material, and offers Print in N colours or One colour instead.

Colour is checked by doing it. We slice each plate in the project's own colours in the background, one plate at a time, and the page shows which plate it is on. A small project takes under a minute; one with many plates can take several. You can choose one colour at any point without waiting.
Colours are counted by what prints. A filament the project assigns but the slicer never feeds, such as a sliver of paint with no solid behind it, is dropped, and the count and the price follow the filaments that lay down plastic.
The price is that slice: its grams and hours, purge and filament changes included, at the rate of the plastic it prints in. Up to eight colours print. A print using 5 or more adds the ₹500 second AMS fee once per order line.
In colour the project prints in PLA, PETG, ABS or ASA, the plastics the colour feeder takes. It starts on the plastic the file names, and you can pick another of the four. Flexible TPU prints in one colour only.
In colour the project prints at 100% scale on our standard 0.2mm profile, keeping its parts, filament assignments and paint. Its project wide print settings are not used. Those controls are locked on the page; choose One colour instead to change them.

What the project does	What you can order
Uses two filament types on one plate, such as PLA and PETG, or PLA and PLA-CF	One colour. Each plate prints from one filament type.
Uses different base plastics on different plates, such as PLA on one and PETG on another	One colour. A colour order is priced as one plastic, so PLA on one plate and PLA-CF on another is fine, at PLA's rate.
Changes colour at a set layer height, or with a height range modifier	One colour. Only filaments assigned to parts and painted areas are printed in colour.
Assigns more than eight filaments that print	One colour. Eight is two AMS units.
Assigns one filament, or only one actually prints	One colour, which is what it is.
Colours its parts with 3MF colour groups instead of filaments	One colour. Assign the colours to filaments in your slicer and upload the saved project.

In every case the page says why, and the project can still be ordered in one colour.

A file you already sliced#

A sliced plate export (.3mf or .gcode.3mf with G-code inside) is not a model: it is a set of instructions for a specific printer with a specific nozzle. We read the footprint, the filament it says it uses, the estimated time and the embedded plate preview out of the file, and then print it. Nothing is sliced again, turned or rearranged.

Layer height, infill, wall count, supports, brim, orientation and plate position are whatever you set. None of them can be changed here.
Scale is locked at 100%. The scale slider does not appear for a sliced file, and the quote treats it as solid rather than applying an infill factor.
Price is worked out from the filament figure in the file, adjusted for the density of the material you select, so material still changes what you pay, because it changes the rate per gram.
The build volume check is skipped, because your slicer already fitted the plate. The reported footprint can include purge lines and calibration moves, which is why we do not second guess it.

Leave quality on Standard for a sliced file

The quality choice is a price multiplier, and Premium multiplies the rate by 1.75. Your sliced file already carries its own layer height, so choosing Premium on it raises the price without changing anything about the print.

Importing from a model site#

Instead of a file you can paste a link. Thingiverse, MakerWorld, Printables, Cults3D, MyMiniFactory and Thangs are supported, as is a direct link to an .stl, .3mf or .zip. A ZIP holding several STLs is merged into one file. Whatever comes back is then uploaded and checked exactly like a file you picked yourself, so all the rules above still apply.

Common rejections#

What you see	What it means
Unsupported file type. Use STL or 3MF (a model or a sliced plate).	The extension is not STL or 3MF. OBJ, FBX, STEP, ZIP and a bare .gcode all land here. A GLB gets its own answer: GLB files aren't accepted. Export the model as STL or 3MF and upload that.
That file is too large (max 40MB for 3MF)	A 3MF over the 40 MB ceiling. Export fewer plates, or send the mesh instead and let us slice it.
We couldn't read a printable mesh from that file.	The mesh could not be parsed, or has no triangles. Export it again and check it is watertight.
A message that the model is larger than the build volume, with its measured size	Scale it down, or split it into parts and order them together.

Printability check

Upload a mesh and get holes, non manifold edges and thin walls back before you request a print.

Pricing model

How grams become a rupee price, and how a sliced file's numbers are used.

Multi colour printing

How a project's colours are checked, counted and priced.

Upload a file

Questions

Can I upload an OBJ file?

No. /in/print accepts STL and 3MF only, a 3MF being a model, a slicer project or a sliced plate (.gcode.3mf). Convert an OBJ to STL first: every mesh tool exports one, and nothing about the model changes in the conversion.

Can I upload a GLB file?

Not at /in/print. The print page takes STL and 3MF only, so export the model as STL or 3MF and upload that.

Can I upload a .gcode file?

Not at /in/print. In Bambu Studio or OrcaSlicer use File, Export, Export plate sliced file, and upload the .gcode.3mf it writes: that prints exactly as you sliced it.

Can I upload a Bambu Studio or OrcaSlicer project .3mf?

Yes. A project save has no G-code in it, so we slice it ourselves. If it assigns two or more filaments, we slice each plate in those colours in the background and offer it in colour once that slice proves at least two of them print; you can always order it in one colour instead.

What is the file size limit?

100 MB for an STL and 40 MB for any 3MF, whether a model, a project or a sliced plate.

If I upload my own sliced file, can I still change the layer height or infill?

No. A sliced file is the print instruction, so layer height, infill, supports, orientation and plate position are already fixed inside it. To change any of those, slice it again and upload the new file.