Skull and low-poly bust generator
A life-proportioned human skull in 7 forms, from a 40 mm mini to a 180 mm mantel piece, plus faceted animal heads for the desk or the wall. Every one prints upright or flat on its back with no supports.
How it works
- 1
Pick a model
21 ready-made starting points: 11 human skulls — decor, low-poly, sugar skull, planter, tealight holder, pen cup and bookend — and 10 low-poly animal busts.
- 2
Adjust it
Set the skull's height from 40 to 180 mm, the facet size of a low-poly one, the wall of a planter or pen cup, or the tealight socket. A bust goes from 80 to 200 mm, as a desk bust on a plinth or a wall trophy on a plaque.
- 3
Check the preview
Turn the model in the 3D view. Before an export it is audited for holes in the surface, edges shared by more than 2 faces and walls too thin to print.
- 4
Download and print
STL for 1 colour. The painted sugar skull downloads as a 3MF that opens in Bambu Studio or OrcaSlicer with its 4 colours assigned.
The models
The skull is modelled at life size — an adult skull is about 215 mm from crown to chin — and scaled to the height you ask for, so a 50 mm mini has the same brow, orbits, cheekbones, teeth and lower jaw as the 180 mm one. The busts share 1 faceted style across 8 animals.
- Human skull — decor
- Brow, deep orbits, nasal aperture, cheekbones, ear openings, both rows of teeth and the lower jaw, 120 mm tall on a short neck of vertebrae.
- Mini skull
- The same anatomical skull at 50 mm, for a shelf, a game table or a Halloween display.
- Skull — 80 mm desk size
- A size for a desk or a bookshelf.
- Large skull — 180 mm
- About 85 % of life size, for a mantel or a Halloween display.
- Low-poly skull
- The human skull in the faceted style, 120 mm tall, with a facet size from 2 to 12 mm.
- Sugar skull — engraved
- A Día de Muertos calavera with petal rings round the eyes, a daisy and vines on the brow, swirls on the cheeks and a heart on the chin, engraved into a 120 mm skull to paint by hand.
- Sugar skull — painted (multi-colour)
- The same calavera in 4 colours: white bone, pink petals, teal vines and black eyes and nose.
- Skull planter
- The crown open for succulents and cacti, 120 mm tall, 2.4 mm walls and a drain hole through the base.
- Skull tealight holder
- A socket in the crown for a standard 39 mm tealight with 0.6 mm clearance, 130 mm tall.
- Skull pen cup
- A hollow skull open at the top of the vault, 120 mm tall with 2.4 mm walls.
- Skull bookend
- A 150 mm skull against an upright plate, with a 90 mm base plate that runs under the books.
- Low-poly deer head — desk bust
- A stag with branching antlers on a hexagonal plinth, 160 mm tall.
- Low-poly deer head — wall mount
- The stag on a 200 mm shield plaque with a keyhole hanger, antlers lying on the plaque.
- Low-poly wolf head — desk bust
- Pricked ears and a ruff on a hexagonal plinth, 140 mm tall.
- Low-poly wolf head — wall mount
- The wolf on a 180 mm shield plaque with a keyhole hanger.
- Low-poly bear head — desk bust
- Round ears, on a hexagonal plinth, 140 mm tall.
- Low-poly fox head — desk bust
- Tall ears and cheek ruffs, on a hexagonal plinth, 130 mm tall.
- Low-poly cat head — desk bust
- On a hexagonal plinth, 110 mm tall.
- Low-poly dog head — desk bust
- Drop ears, on a hexagonal plinth, 130 mm tall.
- Low-poly horse head — desk bust
- An arched, maned neck on a hexagonal plinth, 160 mm tall.
- Low-poly rhino head — wall mount
- Both horns, on a 180 mm shield plaque with a keyhole hanger.
Useful skulls, not just decor
4 of the skulls do a job. The planter keeps a succulent in its open crown and drains through the base; the pen cup holds pens and brushes; the bookend's base plate slides under the books, from 50 to 120 mm long; and the tealight holder takes a tealight from 36 to 42 mm with a socket clearance you can set from 0.2 to 1.2 mm.
Use an LED tealight in the tealight holder — PLA is not made for a flame. The holders start at 100 mm tall, so there is room for the socket in the vault.
Printing with a 0.4 mm nozzle in PLA
No supports, on any model. The orbits, the nasal opening and the ear openings are shaped as cones that slope steeply down inside the skull, so they print as deep, dark recesses with nothing to bridge. The cheekbones are carried down to the jaw, and the back of the skull rests on a flared neck, so nothing hangs in the air. The planter and pen cup are hollowed with no ceiling inside.
Skulls and desk busts print upright, exactly as they stand. Wall mounts print on their flat back, with the keyhole hanger in it. A 0.2 mm layer height, 3 or 4 perimeters and 15–20% infill suits them; a bone, white or stone-coloured PLA shows off the anatomy, and a silk filament suits the low-poly facets.
Questions
How big can the skull be?
From 40 to 180 mm tall. A real adult skull is about 215 mm, so the 180 mm model is about 85 % of life size and fits most printer beds.
Does it need supports?
No. Every skull and bust is designed to print without supports: skulls and desk busts upright, wall mounts on their back.
Can I print the sugar skull in colour?
Yes. The painted sugar skull is 4 separate coloured parts in a 3MF that opens in Bambu Studio or OrcaSlicer ready for an AMS or other multi-material unit. On a single-colour printer, print the engraved version and paint the grooves by hand.
How do the wall mounts hang?
The shield plaque has a keyhole hanger moulded into its flat back, so it hangs on a single screw or nail.
Can I sell the skulls I print?
Printed items are covered by the commercial licence from the Pro plan upward, and the library is in the Ultra plan. The digital files themselves may not be redistributed.
Which plan includes the skulls?
They are part of the parametric object library in the Ultra plan, which also includes everything in Pro.
Related
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