3D printing guide

Prepare a real place as a printable 3D city model

Select a compact real-world area, generate a terrain-and-building model, then prepare the STL for printing at a scale your printer can resolve.

Useful for

Modelmakers, architecture students, designers, educators and fabrication studios

You will make

A watertight STL based on selected terrain and open-data context, ready to inspect, scale and prepare in your slicer or mesh tool.

From boundary to a printable model

1
Start with a compact, legible area

Draw a boundary around a site, waterfront, hill, block group or district with a clear physical story. Tight boundaries produce files that are more practical to print and let terrain and building detail read at useful scale.
2
Choose STL with the context that matters

Select STL and include terrain and buildings. Roads and water can help define the place, but do not expect every visual layer to become a separate printable object; inspect the generated model before committing to a print.
3
Check local terrain and building coverage

Review the source and resolution information before generating. A steep place with good terrain coverage can make a stronger print than a much larger but flatter area with less detailed elevation data.
4
Scale and repair in your mesh workflow

Open the STL in your slicer or mesh application, choose a physical scale, check walls and small features against your printer capability, and add a base or simplify details only where the chosen fabrication process needs it.
5
Print a small proof first

Run a reduced test print before a long production job. It reveals whether terrain, thin buildings, overhangs and scale read the way you expect.

Open-data limits

Open-data building heights and footprints can make fine towers, rooflines and thin structures less reliable than a dedicated architectural model.
Terrain resolution varies by location and source; broad low-resolution terrain will not gain detail merely by printing larger.
Printability depends on scale, nozzle/resin resolution, orientation, supports and post-processing, which Rescape cannot infer for every printer.
The model is for visualization and fabrication exploration, not structural, survey or construction use.

Seattle

Central Seattle waterfront blocks — DXF + STL

San Francisco

Central San Francisco — DXF + STL

Hong Kong

Hong Kong Island, Central — DXF + STL

STL · terrain

Terrain to STL

Use the terrain available for a selected region to create an STL, then choose a physical scale that makes its relief readable and fabricatable.

DXF · CAD context

CAD site-context model

Draw a project boundary, choose useful context layers and export a layered DXF with terrain, buildings, roads and water.