Image to 3D model questions, answered.

PNG, JPG, and WEBP images up to 10 MB. A clear image with a single visible subject is the most dependable input.

One subject, fully in frame, on a plain background, lit evenly enough that its silhouette is unambiguous. Single-image reconstruction cannot see surfaces the camera never saw, so the back of the object is inferred rather than observed — a three-quarter view usually gives a better result than a dead-on front shot.

Most generations finish in two to four minutes, end to end. That is slower than it used to be, on purpose: the free tier moved to a heavier model in September 2026 because the old one returned melted faces and mittens for hands. You are not asked to wait without feedback — the page shows elapsed time throughout, and if a generation fails your credits are returned automatically.

GLB, OBJ, STL, 3MF, and FBX. GLB keeps geometry and PBR textures in one file and is the right choice for Blender, Unity, and SketchUp — it is free. OBJ is geometry that almost any 3D tool opens, and STL and 3MF are what a 3D-printing slicer expects (3MF also records that the model is in millimetres), and FBX is the one to take into Unity or Unreal with its texture; all four are a paid unlock on the same generation, so picking between them costs nothing extra once you have unlocked one. Generations before 16 September 2026 also carried a Gaussian splat .ply; those files are still downloadable, but new generations do not produce one — see the splat question below.

Not any more. Until 16 September 2026 every generation also returned a 3D Gaussian Splatting .ply, because the model running then could emit one from the same pass. The mesh model was replaced that day with one that produces a substantially better mesh and has no splat output at all, and we took the better mesh — the splat was a genuinely unusual extra, but it was being downloaded about five times in the life of the product while the mesh is what everybody came for. Files generated before that date are unaffected and still download. The browser-based splat viewer is unchanged and still opens any .ply you have, from here or from anywhere else, without an account.

No, and it is worth knowing which you need. A mesh is triangles and textures: it imports into Blender, Unity or a slicer and can be edited, rigged and printed. A splat is millions of coloured, oriented blobs — it usually looks closer to the photograph, especially on fuzzy or transparent surfaces a mesh renders badly, but it is not editable geometry and no slicer will print it. Take the mesh to build with; take the splat to look at.

Treat any STL export as an editable draft, not a print-ready promise. Single-image reconstruction cannot see hidden surfaces and can leave holes or non-manifold geometry.

Use the free GLB mesh repair tool. It finds boundary edges used by only one triangle, caps them, and shows every patch in a distinct orange material so you can see what changed. It does not fix self-intersecting geometry, flipped normals, or disconnected islands — those still need manual work in a mesh editor.

An anonymous visitor can run one lifetime free demo per IP. After signing up, an account receives 3 credits right away — 1 generation. That is 2 free generations in total, and then the plans. It is a one-time trial, not a recurring allowance or a daily top-up.

One-time Trial, Popular, and Studio packs never expire.

Ultra is capped at 750 textured generations per month. The cap is shown plainly because it is derived from the plan’s fair-use economics.

From Account, choose Manage subscription. Stripe’s customer portal provides cancellation without a support ticket, within two clicks from account settings.

Yes. The GLB viewer, voxelizer, mesh repair, mold generator, and scene composer all run entirely in your browser with no sign-up and no credits. They work on any GLB file, not only on models made here.

You may use models generated from images you own or are authorised to use. You remain responsible for rights in your source image and for how you use the output. One condition while an account has never bought anything: credit Sculptly — “Made with Sculptly” plus a link to sculptly3d.com — wherever you publish or sell it. Any purchase removes that for every model on the account, including ones made earlier. Personal use never needs it.