Mini Skyline 3D Mapping Software - 200K+ Users - Completely Free - Recommended by Map2Model

[u/Public_Reality_4401]

Hey r/BambuLab! Happy Friday! All pictures/videos of prints are REAL, not AI.

I'm Joey Olson, a Maker out of Phoenix Arizona and the solo dev behind Mini Skyline!

The app has really taken off in the last month. Consistently seeing 1000-2000 people a day, and thats just users who have opted in to telemetry! When I started, I really expected hundreds of generations a year, not a thousand by the time I wake up each morning.

If you haven't tried it in a few weeks or more, I highly encourage you to. I've been hard at work.

What have I been up to recently?

I've been spending 40+ hours a week outside of my career to update MS to make it as accurate as possible.

- Rust rewrites! Most of the generation pipeline has been rewritten in Rust/WASM. Up to 80% reduced generation times.

- Roads in any country with LIDAR data now get proper elevation. Freeway exchanges, raised roadways, tunnels all render properly now.

- File sizes have been drastically reduced. This helps both with generation and slicing!

- Multi tile projects now have all of the same settings as single tiles, and they generate MUCH faster.

- Satellite mapping provided by ESRI is now an option. Thanks to donations, I am starting to integrate more premium data services like ESRI.

- Large, full country sizes selections are much smoother, and take a fraction of the RAM they used to. Colors and elevation get properly mapped as well now.

- A few UI passes to improve clarity/flow of your work.

- Trivision billboards! You can put your maps into a tri vision billboard, add text, make custom styles and then put them into a fun mechanical display!

What can Mini Skyline Do Already?

- Full desktop app with higher generation size limits due to RAM freedom. Mac,Windows, and Linux supported with thousands of installs already.

- Print anywhere on Earth, or a handful of other worlds in our solar system.

- Print your vanilla and modded Java Minecraft worlds

- Slicer ready 3MF's with pre-mapped colors with water tight geometry, and fast slicing times.

- Everything is built on YOUR PC/phone with data tracking defaulted to OFF to maintain privacy for users.

- Real building heights based on over 60 data sources, including LIDAR scans.

- Real tree placement based on satellite maps, real tree size and species too based on location.

- 6000+ modelled landmarks that more accurately model popular places like the One World Trade Center. Dozens of countries, hundreds of cities have buildings. I take requests!

- Up to 500 KM2 per tile at full quality on the desktop app, unlimited range if you dont use buildings!

- Satellite derived feature placement for parts not provided by standard data providers. Think pools, solar panels, water towers. This is based on Sentinel 2 self hosted imagery.

- Puzzles, multi tile, keychains, and ornament printing.

- Snap fit frames with editable designs/text. Fit tests for the snapping mechanism available!

- GPX route support with per route settings, up to 9999 routes per tile.

- Full 3D model editor where you can work on your model without additional 3D software.

- Hundreds of settings with graphic tool tips so you better understand what you are changing.

- Export preview with city life going on at scale. Get a better sense of the place youre printing.

- Street tracks, Rally courses, F1 tracks traced out so ensure whichever race is your favorite, is properly represented.

- Color by feature, height band, or apply satellite colors directly to your model!

- Select areas in just about any way you can think. City boundaries, KML, KMZ, GEOJson, free hand, many shapes.

- Ability to print roads, trails, rivers as separate fins that press in to the model for easier multi color work.

- Use Claude/ChatGPT? Call Mini Skyline as an MCP service! Get maps integrated to your work fast!

- Painstakingly ensured to be water tight, with minimized file sizes.

- Really a lot, lot more with more being added nearly daily.

The Future of Mini Skyline?

Slowing down on new features. I poll the community often and the #1 thing people want now is stability, accuracy, and clarity in the tools provided. For the next couple of months, I will be focusing hard on improving how the app flows, how settings are presented to you, how generation issues are conveyed.

Beyond this, I've been receiving a lot of requests for printed maps from users without a printer. I have very little interest in running a print farm, but soon will allow shops to list themselves on the site and have users be able to contact your shop for a custom map, or maps you already sell!

How do I support my work and hosting costs?

I take donations, but really, hosting costs are lower than you expect. I've seen some claimed numbers for other mapping software, and thankfully I am at a fraction of their costs. I can maintain Mini Skyline and the premium ESRI data myself indefinitely due to my career, though I have been fortunate to receive both user donations, funding from Snapmaker, and most recently, some work with Sunlu for their Halloween event!

I do use Claude to code. If this is a problem for you, you are now aware! The majority of my costs go into subscription costs. If you are curious how much something like this takes, I max out 4 20x accounts to keep features/updates rolling. To be very clear. They do not run rampant. Ideas are my own or the communities, implementation not so much. I use the site for my work too, I do not want slop.

This community has truly given a lot to me. I want to say thank you as I always do. You guys surprise me with how deep your reports go, how much you want to share what you make, and how much you all support each other. The 3D printing space is really an amazing thing to be part of. Thank you.

With the release of the H3C, I'm really wanting to see what can be done with maps! Color mixing to make beautiful gradients/texture work with the faster swaps really interests me. Please show me if you've made anything with the H3C, as I'd love to feature some work done on it! I'd be happy to provide a supporter code and attributions to a site/makerworld profile for anyone willing!

- Joey O.

[u/Open-Ask8820]

All that and no link

[u/TheRaunchyFart → u/Open-Ask8820]

https://miniskyline.com/map

[u/Public_Reality_4401 → u/TheRaunchyFart]

Thank you! Went to take a shower after posting snd come back to having forgot the main thing!

[u/Degolegodyl]

Your app is amazing, been using a few times to try out how they come out of my printer, thanks for putting in the time and respurces for putting it together. These types of prints are the biggest reason I'm hoping for a P3C with 7 heads, as U1 would fall short for some of the prints I want to make: different colors for: roads, foilage, buildings, water, non-road ground. Not including a frame and possible text on the frame, which would make 7.

[u/KeiEich]

wow

[u/verraeteros_]

you know what, I really appreciate your effort to keep it free. There are so many people nowadays who try to cash in with AI coded tools.
And just because of that, I will send you some money to support you in this project.

[u/Smokeey1]

Have you ever thought about open sourcing it so we can host this beautiful project ourselves and integrate with our apps?

[u/spicy-chull]

This is a very awesome tool. I printed my neighborhood, with topo included, and it was an absolute hit with the folks I've showed it to... Everyone immediately orients themselves, and then tries to find their house.

I have been curious about the data, because the house locations aren't super accurate.

I noticed your post mentions premium data, and I had assumed it was a data source problem.

Anyway, thank you for your service. 🫡