3D printing relief and terrain maps

Difficulty: Beginner (STL) to Intermediate (multicolor 3MF). Time: a print job plus optional finishing. Best subjects: topography, lake and ocean depth, and 3D city presets.

On a 3D printer, the layers you would glue up on a laser come out as one stepped model. The elevation bands or depth bands are stacked into a single piece that prints flat, with no supports. An STL gives you one piece in one colour to print and paint; a 3MF keeps each layer as its own part, so a multicolour printer prints the colours for you.

The presets with 3D in the name are set up for this, such as Lake Map 3D, City Map 3D and Skyline Map 3D. Any layered preset exports a printable model too, including Topography and the depth charts.

The small islands and narrow water channels are the first details to disappear. Find them in the sliced preview before you print.

Open a 3D map preset

On this page (5)

1. Pick a preset with real depth
2. Set the size and the step height
3. Choose STL or 3MF
3D printing
Real printed terrain: inspect the smallest contours

What you need

An FDM printer and a slicer: Bambu Studio, OrcaSlicer, PrusaSlicer or Cura
PLA: white or light grey for one colour, or several colours for a 3MF print
Optional: thinned acrylic paints for colouring a one-colour print, and matte varnish

1. Pick a preset with real depth

The best prints come from presets with clear steps: Topography for mountains, Lake Depth Chart and Coastal Depth Chart for basins, Land and Sea Relief Map for both at once, and the 3D city presets for buildings. A flat city map gains little from a 3D printer; print that on paper or a UV printer instead.

Frame the map as you would for a laser: set the elevation range to your terrain, choose a lake with real depth data, and delete empty layers so the model has no steps you cannot see.

Rendered model of the Skyline Map 3D preset in matte PLA: Lower Manhattan's buildings standing on a green land plate over blue water — Skyline Map 3D built from its real export and rendered as matte PLA. Water, land and buildings are separate parts, so the 3MF prints them in three colours. Press Rotate in 3D to turn it.

Screenshot of the 3D-Printed Relief Maps: 1. Pick a preset with real depth

2. Set the size and the step height

Set the size in the Map Designer, not in the slicer. Scaling in the slicer stretches the step heights along with the width, so a small print gets flat and a big one gets tall.

Map width is the finished width. Make it 150 mm or more: smaller than that, the shallowest depth band or the top contour can be too thin to print.
Layer thickness is the height of each step. 1.5 to 3 mm reads well; use a multiple of your print layer height, such as 1.6 mm for 0.2 mm layers, so every step lands exactly on a layer.
Click Polygon cleanup so tiny islands and slivers do not turn into specks too small to print.

The Download menu of the Map Designer Export Preview with the size settings and the 3D downloads marked with numbers — 1: Map width and Layer thickness. 3: Download STL or 3MF. Number 2, Print and cut sheets, is for laser and UV printed layers.

Screenshot of the 3D-Printed Relief Maps: 2. Set the size and the step height

3. Choose STL or 3MF

STL: one piece in one colour. Print it in white or light grey and paint it, or leave it plain. Every slicer opens it.
3MF: each layer is its own part with its colour, such as the blue depth bands or a red route. In the slicer, give each part a filament and the printer does the rest.
Either way the model prints flat with no supports: each step sits on the one below.

Two 3D-printed relief maps: red water on a black base, and white terrain with a blue river — Two multicolour relief prints. A 3MF brings each layer into the slicer as its own part, ready for its filament.

Choose your build method

3D printing

Slice and print

Import the STL or 3MF and lay it flat on the bed.
Use 0.12 to 0.2 mm layers. Finer layers make the steps sharper.
No supports needed. A brim helps a wide, thin model stay down.
For a 3MF, check that each part has the right filament, then look through the colour changes in the preview.
With one nozzle and no AMS, add a filament change at the first layer of each new colour. The slicer guide shows how in each slicer.

Paint a one-colour print

For a depth chart, brush thinned blue acrylic into the basin, darkest at the bottom, and let it pool in the steps.
For terrain, dry-brush the steps: green valleys, tan slopes, white peaks.
Seal with matte varnish. Clear PLA for the water layers makes a basin you can see into.

Real printed terrain: inspect the smallest contours

White 3D-printed terrain model with a blue river cutting through it — White terrain and a blue river. Light filament shows the contour steps clearly under side light.

Next steps and project ideas

Print a favourite peak or lake at desk size as a paperweight.
Print a depth chart in several blues so the colours come from the filament, not paint.
Print a city skyline preset and glue it to a wood base with an engraved nameplate.
Use clear PLA for the water bands, so you can see into the basin.
Make a mountain 250 mm wide or more, with a taller Layer thickness, for a centrepiece.
Set it into a laser cut frame for a mixed media map.