Owl Stitchling | Wizard familiar miniature | AMS

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🔍 Please read the model description fully before printing!

It's here! It's whimsical, it's adorable, it's mysterious, it's arcane, it's an animated puppet in the shape of a horned owl wearing a cape. The ideal familiar for every wizard and witch!

Printing instructions

This is a multicolor model! I printed it on my U1 and it took about 9 and a half hours. You are recommended to print this only on a multicolor-enabled or tool-changer printer. I would advise against using the AMS as it will take a long time.

1. Plate 1 is the complete model, which is about 15cm tall. Feel free to resize this but be warned that the threads are very fine and will not print properly on an excessively small scale (unless you downsize to a 0.2mm nozzle).
2. Plate 2 is the same model, but split into two parts to minimize supports on the arms and cape. It should be a bit faster to print. Requires assembly with super glue or 3D printing glue.

Supports

You will notice that the fourth colour (terracotta in the image) is not used that much. So you could recolour all terracotta region to yellow, which makes this model 3 colours. That means you can use the fourth nozzle / toolhead for support material exclusively. For more information, read printing PLA with PETG supports.

How I created this model

I want to be very transparent on how I created this model and tell you about its story. The owl stitchling is born of AI tools, but I spent about 20 hours in Nomad Sculpt and Orca slicer polishing and painting it so it definitely required effort. Here is the workflow I followed:

• First, I started with a concept. I recently got into making physical potion props and I want a “mascotte” or “familiar” to pair with them as an exhibit. I used Nano Banana to generate several images, then refined the concept until I got something I liked.
• Then I imported the image into Meshy.ai and derived a 3D model from the image.
• Seeing as the model was not really easy to color paint, I imported it into Nomad Sculpt for polishing.
• I remeshed the model into higher voxel resolution
• Then I manually replaced every stitch with a higher resolution torus. Yes, there's 65 of them. I manually placed all of them for the best look
• Then I remodeled the eyes, seeing that buttons were quite easy to remodel as they are similar to cylinders
• I also replaced the patches on the left leg and the head with manually sculpted parts
• Then I smoothed most surfaces and increased the seaparation between parts using the Crease tool
• Finally, I imported the model in Orca Slicer. Splitting it to parts was then much easier to colour thanks to the object menu, but the body and cloak were still one body so I needed to paint that manually, which also took hours to complete.

I have to thank theses AI tools because I always thought I would never be able to model organic shapes, but now following this workflow I started with editing and improving a model from a rough starting point. That gave me confidence that maybe sculpting is not so out of reach for me and motivated me to dig deeper and try more tools. This is a start, an imperfect start, but definitely a big helping hand for my creativity. The next thing I was thinking was… “Well, I could definitely remodel the head and the body by myself, as they are basically spheres”. The cloak is definitely something challenging that I could not take on just yet, but I will try to improve and shift the balance between AI and Human more to my side until I am able to finally do the whole thing myself. Definitely a big experience for me, would definitely recommend other people try it too!

Tolerances and clearances

• It is impossible to design for all filament types
• My models are designed and printed using Bambu Lab printers and Bambu Lab filaments
• If you use other filament types (different materials) or vendors (different brand), the result may differ. Before posting issues about tolerances / model tightness / loseness, please consider the filament you used for the print.
• Even with the same filament, results may vary (different settings, humidity, ventilation, etc…)

Common print troubleshooting

• Adhesion. Ensure you clean your print bed regularly with quality dish soap and water. Use of a releasing agent like Magigoo is advised. This advice is only applicable to PEI plates. Please consult your build plate manufacturer for detailed cleaning instructions! If you still have adhesion issues, try using a Super Tack or a BIQU cool plate; or add an extra brim to the model.
• Material. My prints are all PLA. Use other materials at your own risk. You will likely need to tune the printing profile.
• Temperature. Cold air and drafts can lower the quality of the print. Ensure your printer is located in an environment with stable temperature.
• Drying. Drying PLA is not a requirement, but be aware that over-drying can cause layer detachment.