TL;DR: Painting a model by hand in Layerpaint is fast, but sometimes you just want the whole thing colored. AI Paint does that: hand it a reference photo, or describe the colors ("weathered bronze, teal accents"), and it paints the entire model to match. The result comes back fully editable, so you tweak any part, then export a Standard 3MF and print it in color like always. First 2 paints are free.
Why coloring the model is the hard part
Multi-color printing hardware is solved. A Bambu AMS or a Prusa MMU will happily swap filament at every color change. The slow bit was never the printer — it was telling it which part is which color. That means either hand-painting the finished print, or assigning colors face by face in a slicer.
Layerpaint already made that faster with crease-aware region tools: click a panel and it fills to the edges. But faster-by-hand is still by hand. Sometimes you just want the model colored so you can get on with the print. That's what AI Paint is for.
Paint it from a photo, or a prompt
Open your model in Layerpaint and hit AI Paint. You tell it what you want two ways:
- A reference photo. Drop in a picture — a painted figure, a real animal, box art — and it colors the model to match. What the photo looks like is roughly what your model comes out looking like.
- A prompt. Describe the colors instead: weathered bronze, teal glow, cream underbelly. No photo needed. Reach for this when you want a look that doesn't exist yet, and it's happy to give you shades rather than flat blocks.
A photo pins the result down. A prompt opens it up. Same feature, two moods.
The result comes back editable
Here's the part that matters if you actually print: AI Paint doesn't hand you a locked image. The colors come back as editable regions you finish in the same painter. Nudge a seam, recolor a panel, clean up a spot the AI got wrong — all with the region fill, brush, and guard tools you already use. The AI does the boring 80%; you keep the last 20%.
Export a Standard 3MF and print in color
When it looks right, export a Standard 3MF. Open it in Bambu Studio, OrcaSlicer or PrusaSlicer — they read the colors straight in — map them to your filament, and slice. The part comes off the bed in full color. No brush.
What AI Paint costs
Your first 2 AI paints are free. After that it runs on credit packs: $4.75 for 5, or $16.97 for 20. Each paint is one credit, flat — a small simple model and a huge detailed one cost the same. AI Paint credits are separate from export credits, so if you'd rather keep painting by hand, nothing about that changed.
Common questions
Does a bigger or more detailed model cost more credits?
No. Each AI paint is one credit regardless of the model's size or complexity.
Is my model uploaded when I use AI Paint?
Yes. AI Paint sends your model up to be painted, then the result comes back to you. Hand painting stays entirely in your browser — if you'd rather keep everything local, paint by hand.
Can I edit the AI's result?
Yes. It comes back as editable color regions. Recolor, fix a seam, or repaint any part with the normal tools before you export.
What does it export?
A Standard 3MF that Bambu Studio, OrcaSlicer and PrusaSlicer read natively, for Bambu AMS, Prusa MMU3, Anycubic ACE Pro and Creality CFS.