Plixel Plixel
BETA
3D-printable mosaics from any image

Upload an image, quantise it to a small palette, map each pixel region onto a hex or square grid, generate a 3D solid per cell with a height driven by your chosen strategy, and split the whole mosaic across print plates sized to your bed. Exports STL files ready for the slicer plus a printable 2D assembly guide.

Developed by Wayne Hawksworth
© 2026 Wayne Hawksworth. All rights reserved.
v0.1.97

Turn any image into a 3D-printed mosaic

Upload a photo, pick your filaments, and get print-ready STL files arranged across your build plates. Designed for 3D Filament Printers.

Plixel app — mosaic design canvas with hex cells and filament palette

Hex & square cells

Choose your cell shape and size. Hex cells give an organic look; squares tile cleanly.

Filament library

Bambu Lab catalogue built in. Track owned, AMS-loaded, and wishlist filaments.

Multi-plate packing

Smart rotation and parity-flip packing across build plates. Minimal waste.

One-click STL export

Per-plate multi-colour STLs, ready for Bambu Studio. Each plate carries only its filaments.

Assembly guide

Printable guide with plate numbers and clump boundaries for reassembly.

Mount & frame

Plan dimensions, acrylic backing, screws, and export a printable cut-list.

Live canvas preview updating as you adjust settings
Canvas

Live preview as you design

See your mosaic take shape in real time. Upload a photo or generate one with AI, then crop, resize, and adjust until the cell layout looks right. The canvas updates instantly as you change settings.

Design editor with paint, fill, shapes, text, and layers
Edit

Design, don't just generate

Paint individual cells, swap colours, eyedrop a colour from the canvas, or flood-fill a whole region — precise control over the final look before you commit to a print.

Go further with vector design tools: drop rectangles, ellipses, lines, stars, and polygons, or add text in a choice of bundled fonts. Select anything to move, resize, or rotate it with on-canvas handles.

Every shape and text block is a layer you can reorder, show/hide, or bake down onto the cells. As you draw, the cells beneath fill solid in the shape's colour in real time — what you see on the grid is exactly what prints.

Hex and square cell shape options side by side
Cell shapes

Hex or square — your choice

Hexagonal cells create a natural, organic mosaic. Square cells give clean, geometric lines. Switch between them at any time and see the result on the canvas immediately.

Each cell can be shaped as a pyramid, dome, or rounded square — the choice is yours. You can even change individual cells within your mosaic to any shape in the system.

Canvas

Resize & customise your canvas

Reshape the grid any way you like — three resize modes with a live preview, per-edge control over where cells are added or removed, and your choice of fill colour for the new cells.

Rescale grid resize mode
Rescale grid — keep the cell count; cells & gap resize. Design preserved exactly.
Add or remove cells per edge
Add / remove cells — add or remove rows & columns at each edge; cell size kept.
Customise new-cell fill and aspect ratio
Customise — pick the fill for new cells, lock the aspect ratio, preview as you go.
Depth painter with a live brush-size indicator and per-cell height values
Depth

Add dimension with height & depth

Paint depth onto cells to create a relief effect — higher cells stand out, lower cells recede — with a brush whose size you can see right on the canvas as you paint.

Drive heights three ways: automatically from your source image, by painting cells by hand, or from each filament's colour — then preview the result in 3D before you export.

Interactive 3D preview of mosaic cells with accurate filament colours
3D Preview

See it in three dimensions

An interactive 3D viewer renders your mosaic as real cells with accurate filament colours. Rotate, zoom, and inspect before committing to an export.

Plate layout with filament breakdowns and waste estimates
Estimate

Know exactly what you need

See how cells pack across your build plates with filament-per-plate breakdowns, total plate count, and waste estimates. Adjust grid size or cell shape and the estimate recalculates live.

Print single-colour plates, use your AMS for multi-colour prints, or mix colours across individual plates — the layout is flexible and easy to configure.

Drag-and-drop filament stacking order for print sequence control
Print settings

Control the stacking order

Drag filaments into the print sequence you want. The stacking order determines which colour sits on top where cells overlap at the edges, giving you full creative control.

Mount workspace with frame, acrylic, supports, and screw positions
Mount

Plan the physical build

Configure frame size, acrylic backing, support rails, and screw positions. An interactive exploded 3D view shows every layer — frame, supports, acrylic, and mosaic — so you can see how it all fits together before cutting anything.

Exploded view separating mosaic layers by filament colour
Exploded view

Understand every layer

The exploded view separates your mosaic by filament colour, then by individual clumps. Toggle layers, adjust spacing, and see plate numbers floating above each piece — ideal for planning assembly order.

Printable assembly guide with plate numbers and clump boundaries
Assembly

Printable step-by-step guide

A generated assembly guide shows the full mosaic, per-plate details, clump boundaries, and plate numbers. Print it out and follow along as you piece the mosaic back together.

Room visualiser placing the finished mosaic on a wall at real-world scale
Visualise

See it on your wall

Upload a photo of your room and place the finished mosaic on the wall at real-world scale. Adjust position and size to get a feel for how the piece will look before you start printing.

How it works

1

Upload an image

Drop in a photo or generate one with AI. Crop and adjust until it looks right.

2

Pick your palette

Choose filaments from the catalogue or your library. Assign them to your AMS slots.

3

Configure & export

Set cell shape, grid size, and plate layout. Export multi-colour STL files ready for Bambu Studio.

4

Print & assemble

Follow the assembly guide to piece the printed clumps back into a finished mosaic on the frame.

Ready to build something amazing?

Hex or square cells. Any image. Any scale. Your filaments, your printer, your art.

Optimised for tablets and desktop. Mobile is functional but still being refined.