PrintaraAcademyPrintara.coPrintaraAcademyPrintara.coPrepare a reference, generate a character, check riggability, create a rig, apply motions, and export a chosen pose as STL.
Free video tutorial from Printara Academy, 3 min 17 s. Narration in English, Czech, French, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, German. No account needed to watch.
The narration of this video, from its captions.
0:00 A character doesn't have to stay in its starting pose. Let's animate it, find a moment we like, and turn that moment into an STL.
0:12 Start with a clear, full-body reference. Here the arms are held out in a T-pose. Long strips of fabric hang from the sleeves, so we'll simplify those before generating the model.
0:23 In Image, load the character as a reference and choose Custom. Ask for a specific edit, rather than redesigning the whole character.
0:32 Our instruction removes the hanging cloth around the hands. Choose an image model and generate the edit. A cleaner silhouette can make the next steps easier, but always inspect the result.
0:44 The revised image keeps the character and its pose, without those loose sleeve strips. This is the version we'll use for the three-dimensional model.
0:54 Use the image's three D button to open Generate. Choose your quality and texture settings. This example uses Premium Pro, with textures enabled for the coloured preview.
1:05 Generate the model, then inspect it in the viewer. We've shortened the processing wait. Check the body and limbs before moving on to animation.
1:14 Open Animate and run Check Riggability. This free check tells you whether the model can be prepared for animation. Wait for its result before starting the rig.
1:24 This character passes as a biped. Auto-Rig prepares the skeleton that drives its movement. Check the displayed credit cost, then start the rig and let processing finish.
1:35 Once the rig is ready, the animation library unlocks. Browse the categories or use search. We'll start with Walk, so we can check how this character moves.
1:45 The preview shows the motion on a sample character, not a guaranteed result on yours. Review it and the displayed cost, then choose Apply. We've skipped the processing wait.
1:56 Now play the animation on your character. Rotate the view and watch the arms, legs and clothing. Look for awkward stretching or intersections before choosing a pose.
2:08 Use the playback controls to slow the motion down, pause, and move along the timeline. A slower preview makes it easier to pick the exact moment you want.
2:21 Different motions give you different poses from the same character. Browse the categories and apply another motion when you're ready. Next, we'll use Jump.
2:31 With Jump applied, scrub through the motion and pause on a useful frame. Think about the silhouette and how the figure will be supported when printed.
2:40 When the frame is right, choose Freeze this pose. Printara bakes that moment into a static mesh and downloads an STL. The STL contains the pose, not the animation or its colours.
2:54 The confirmation shows frame seventeen downloaded at one hundred millimeters. Open the file in your slicer and check the scale, geometry and supports before printing.
3:05 That's the workflow: prepare the reference, rig the character, choose a motion, and freeze a frame. You can explore another moment without generating the whole character again.
No. The tutorial describes Check Riggability as a free check that tells you whether the model can be prepared for animation. The rig and each applied motion show their credit cost before you start.
The pose at the chosen frame, baked into a static mesh. It does not contain the animation or the colours.
No. The preview shows the motion on a sample character. After applying it, watch your own character for awkward stretching or intersections before choosing a pose.
Yes. The narration is available in English, Czech, French, Spanish, Japanese, Korean and German, with a transcript of each version. The recorded Printara interface stays in English.
Loading tutorials...