I created a simple square base shape in Blender and added a wolf head logo on top (black/white design).
The model prints, but the result is not clean.
Current issues:
STL export works, but all parts are merged and colors are lost
OBJ fails (Bambu Studio reports “no geometry data”)
3MF (via addon) also does not import correctly
After printing, the wolf logo is slightly indented, although it should be perfectly flat
Before going deeper into slicer settings, I wanted to ask here:
Is there a recommended Blender workflow to create a clean, flat, black/white mesh (logo/inlay style) for 3D printing?
Especially to avoid unwanted indentations and geometry issues. WolfPrint.blend (1.5 MB)
I don’t believe STL maintains color data…
OBJ should work, but I don’t know anything about Bambu Slicer, perhaps because your mesh was non-manifold and still in separate parts…
I have always used Cura as my slicer, and I have never had a problem with it. It has plenty of options and always prints at object scale (as long as scale is applied in Blender).
It has its own infill shapes and thickness, so the interior can be printed as honey-combed. It has its own settings for shell thickness.
Cant say much on the import export problems. Its highly dependent on the slicer you use.
You modeled the wolf separate and then placed it so, that no zfighting happens. But cause of that its very likely not flat. Cut it into your topplate. ( Maybe that’s what RSEhlers did for you. Didnt check his file out.)
There are additional options for smoother surfaces in slicers, if you use cura there’s ironing as setting.
Yes, I’m aware that STL does not store color data – that part was more about my general export confusion, not the core issue.
Regarding the wolf: you’re both right. I originally modeled it as a separate object and placed it slightly above the top plate to avoid z-fighting. That turned out to be a bad idea for printing. After testing, I confirmed that cutting / boolean-unioning the wolf directly into the top plate produces a much cleaner result and avoids the subtle indentation I was getting before.
The main challenge for me is not really “color in Blender”, but creating a clean, flat, manifold mesh that slicers (especially Bambu Studio) interpret correctly without merging or destroying fine details. Your manifold version helped a lot to understand where things were going wrong.
I’ll also take a closer look at Cura and ironing as an alternative workflow, at least for surface quality comparisons.
Yes, it is cut into the top cube face by taking the original wolf mesh, deleting the faces and thickness, and using that to cut the shape, then I just assigned the colors.
I tried this workflow as well (flat cut into the top surface, no depth at all). The mesh is clean and manifold, and Blender is perfectly fine with it. However, Bambu Studio only treats the result as edges/contours and does not allow coloring the inner shape.
So with a completely flat surface and only topology changes (no Z-depth), Bambu Studio cannot detect separate paintable regions. This also seems to be the case with the example object you attached.
At the moment this looks more like a slicer limitation than a Blender issue – edges alone are not enough. A minimal engraving depth or separated parts seem to be required for coloring.
