If you print on a Bambu with an AMS, you already own a painter: Bambu Studio's Color Painting tool. It's free, it's in the slicer you already use, and for plenty of models it's all you need. So why paint a mini somewhere else first?
I build Layerpaint, so I'm biased. Below I stick to what each tool actually does, cite Bambu's own documentation, and say when to just stay in Bambu Studio.
The short version
- Stay in Bambu Studio for quick jobs: a colored base, a two-tone print, or anything you're already slicing. It costs nothing extra.
- Use Layerpaint when you're spending real time on a detailed mini and want mirroring, drawn borders, decals, a real-filament palette, a per-layer swap count before you slice, and a 3MF that also opens in OrcaSlicer or PrusaSlicer.
What Bambu Studio's painter does
Bambu's Color Painting Tool wiki page lists these tools:
- Circle: a round pen for visible surfaces.
- Sphere: like Circle, but colors every facet inside the sphere, not only visible ones.
- Triangle: colors single triangles, or a dragged run of them.
- Height range: colors everything between two heights.
- Fill: a bucket fill over connected facets. With Edge detection on, it stops at edges sharper than a threshold you set.
- Gap fill: finds small unpainted gaps and fills them from a neighbouring color.
Plus a section view to reach hidden surfaces, and number keys to pick a project filament.
To be fair to Bambu: Fill with edge detection is a real edge-aware fill, and Gap fill is a real cleanup tool. Bambu Studio is not limited to painting one triangle at a time.
When you print, Bambu Studio maps project colors to AMS slots by filament type and color, and you can override it (Multi-Color Printing).
What Layerpaint does differently
Layerpaint is a browser-based STL, OBJ and 3MF painter whose output is a Standard 3MF using the official 3MF Materials Extension.
| Bambu Studio Color Painting | Layerpaint | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free with Bambu Studio | Painting free; first hand-painted export free, then 10 exports for $6.97 or $39.97 once for unlimited |
| Where it runs | Inside Bambu Studio (desktop app) | In the browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari); hand painting stays on your machine |
| Edge-aware filling | Fill with Edge detection (threshold) | Model split into regions by crease angle; Magic Fill stops at creases, sized by scroll |
| Freehand tools | Circle, Sphere, Triangle | Brush with fine mode, Borders (draw color splits), Shape tool (lines, rectangles, circles) |
| Hidden surfaces | Section view | Isolate & Cut, guard sheets |
| Mirror painting | Not listed in the wiki | Symmetry |
| Cleanup | Gap fill | Grow, fill gaps, clean specks, too-thin-to-print flags |
| Color palette | Filaments in your project | 600+ real filament colors by brand, theme palettes, skin tones |
| Swap planning | Shown after slicing | Per-layer filament-swap counter and layer scrub before export |
| Images and logos | — | Decals: stamp an image, logo or typed text as printed color |
| Output | Bambu Studio project | Standard 3MF that opens colored in Bambu Studio, OrcaSlicer and PrusaSlicer |
Where Bambu Studio is the better choice
- You only need a few large color areas. Fill with edge detection and Height range are quick for that.
- You don't print in color often and don't want to pay for anything.
- You want to adjust paint right next to your slice settings without switching apps.
Where Layerpaint is the better choice
- Detailed minis where region-by-region painting with Symmetry saves real effort.
- You want to plan your AMS colors against real spools and see per-layer swaps before slicing.
- You want one file that also opens in OrcaSlicer or PrusaSlicer, which helps if you share or sell multicolour versions of your sculpts.
- You'd rather keep a paid sculpt off any server: hand painting runs locally in the browser.
FAQ
Is Bambu Studio's painting tool free? Yes, it's part of Bambu Studio.
Does Layerpaint replace Bambu Studio? No. You still slice and send the print in Bambu Studio (or OrcaSlicer or PrusaSlicer). Layerpaint replaces only the painting step.
How many colors can I use on a mini? 4 per AMS unit. Bambu documents up to 16 slots across four units on the P1 series (source). The painter doesn't change that.
Is my model uploaded to Layerpaint? Not when you paint by hand.
Try it on one mini
Load a single-color mini in Layerpaint, paint it in your AMS colors and open it in Bambu Studio. Painting is free, no account is needed, and your first hand-painted export costs nothing. If Bambu Studio's painter does the job for that model, keep using it.
Related: Multicolor D&D miniatures on Bambu AMS from a single-color STL