When starting out in 3D printing, many don’t realize how many filament options exist. Exotic filaments are often used to strengthen parts or achieve a unique texture or effect. Glow-in-the-dark filament, which emits an alluring glow from prints when the light’s off, is a great example. This is accomplished by special additives in the plastic that emit light when charged with ultraviolet (UV) light.
Glow-in-the-dark filament is PLA-, PETG-, or ABS-based, and comes in green, blue, or even rainbow color options. When preparing to use this filament, you’ll notice that it’s much more abrasive in texture compared to standard PLA or ABS. This is due to the strontium aluminate additive that can wear down brass nozzles. Using a hardened steel or ruby nozzle is recommended for optimal prints, but despite the extra precautions, the results of glow-in-the-dark filament are well worth it!
In this article, we’ll go over fantastic glowing prints you can 3D print on your own. Alternatively, consider Craftcloud by All3DP for an instant quote. With a variety of materials and manufacturers, you’ll get your glowing prints delivered right to your doorstep.
The One Ring
The One Ring is an artifact central to J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. Famously inscribed with a message that translates to “One Ring to rule them all, One ring to find them; One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them,” the wearer is effectively granted the power of invisibility, but the ring takes its toll over time. In the movie adaptations, the inscription glows bright orange, but this 3D printed version glows green.
The designer used a multi-material printer to intricately fill in the inscription with glow-in-the-dark filament. Due to the limitations of fused deposition modeling (FDM) printing, this design is scaled-up, although it makes a great decoration piece!
- Who designed it? kijai
- How printable/popular is it? This design is certainly one to rule all 3D printable Lord of the Rings designs. To date, it has over 5,800 downloads, more than 48,000 views, and has exceeded 1,150 likes, with 5 makers sharing their takes on it.
- Where to find it? MyMiniFactory
Lamp Shade
If you’re tired of looking at your boring bedside lamp, consider upgrading it with one of these glow-in-the-dark lamp shades. This collection contains many different kinds of spotlights that you can attach to a lamp. The lamp will activate the glow-in-the-dark material and once you turn it off, you’re left with a nice little display.
The designs available include the fluttering butterflies, a spiderweb, a swinging fairy, and a certain bat signal, among others to choose from.
The designer has left detailed instructions on how to print these models as well as the best types of lamps to use for this project. PETG or ABS are recommended for the actual lamp connections, while glow-in-the-dark PLA will work just fine for the actual shades.
- Who designed it? Hedo3D
- How printable/popular is it? Only one make has been shared for this model so far; you could be the second!
- Where to find it? Printables
Bruni
Whether you enjoy the Disney Frozen movies or not, you can’t deny just how cute this next model is. Bruni is a fan-favorite salamander that’s the perfect candidate for a flexible print. The model only gets better when you opt for glow-in-the-dark material for the spots on his back. You can browse through the makes to see a few that showcase its glowing capabilities.
The flexibility of the model allows it to stand on its four legs. You’ll need a multicolor setup or an AMS unit to print this model how it is intended, though you could always print out a single-color glow-in-the-dark Bruni and you won’t be disappointed.
- Who designed it? Ciuf_Ciuf
- How printable/popular is it? Bruni has quite the fan-club, with over 700 downloads across both sites and around a whopping 300 prints according to MakerWorld. There are plenty of makes for you to browse!
- Where to find it? MakerWorld, Printables
Jack Skellington
The Nightmare Before Christmas is a favorite movie for many, with iconic characters that translate perfectly into 3D printing. While this model may seem like a 2D image, it’s actually 3D printed. The designer uses a two-color approach, with dark filament paired with glow-in-the-dark material to create a very detailed print similar to a lithophane.
This effect is best achieved using Bambu Lab’s Automatic Material System (AMS), though the designer was kind enough to include instructions for those who want to print this model using a single-color printer. If you’re a fan of this type of print, designer Madness3D has many more ideas in the same style.
- Who designed it? Madness3D
- How printable/popular is it? With only just over 110 downloads, you’d be surprised to find that this model has 55 makes already, according to MakerWorld!
- Where to find it? MakerWorld
Cheshire Cat
The Cheshire Cat is a well-known character from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with a distinctive, wide grin. He can become invisible or make parts of his body disappear, making his presence known only by his trademark smile.
The designer of this model used glow-in-the-dark ABS for just the mouth, although some users have opted for a full effect, as seen in the make at the top of this article. It’s an impressive construction, and because the design is an assembly of 54 parts, a multi-material 3D printer isn’t required to pull off this amazing print.
- Who designed it? reddadsteve
- How printable/popular is it? It truly takes talent to accurately design your favorite characters from scratch, and that effort hasn’t gone unnoticed; the Cheshire Cat has well over 4,000 likes and 150 makes, some with glow-in-the-dark features.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
T-Rex Skeleton
Glow-in-the-dark filament generally appears white or translucent when not charged, so objects that are normally printed in those colors, such as skeletons, work well with this filament.
This T-Rex skeleton is a great example because of its detail and anatomical accuracy. The quality of the model also makes it an excellent centerpiece with an added twist!
- Who designed it? icefox1983
- How printable/popular is it? Who doesn’t love dinosaurs? Despite the complexity of the design, it’s a Thingiverse classic with an impressive 122 makes.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Glowing Mushroom Caps
These glowing mushroom caps are part of a larger DIY glowing mushroom lamp, created by the same designer. Some mushrooms can actually glow naturally due to a phenomenon called bioluminescence, where living organisms emit light through an internal, chemical reaction.
Although mushrooms normally glow green or yellow, choosing blue glow-in-the-dark filament adds a sense of mysticism, as it stands apart from the colors you would expect.
- Who designed it? MakeAnything
- How printable/popular is it? With their bright blue glow, we find these glowing mushroom caps mesmerizing, and the rest of the community seems to agree! Collectively, the design has over 5,500 downloads, almost 59,000 views, and over 1,600 likes.
- Where to find it? MyMiniFactory
Super Mario Boo
Boos are recurring enemies within the Mario franchise known for their mischievous appearance. As ghosts, it’s only natural for them to glow in the dark!
Similar to other figurines on this list, this Boo prints in multiple pieces, so you can choose which parts to print in glow-in-the-dark filament.
To help this print stand upright, it’s recommended to increase the infill percentage of the back body piece.
- Who designed it? bpitanga
- How printable/popular is it? At over 100 makes, this is one of the most popular Mario-related designs on Thingiverse!
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Space-Themed Wall Stickers
A classic use for glow-in-the-dark material is to create fun wall and ceiling stickers that kids can hang around their rooms to make bedtime a bit more interesting. Now, you can 3D print your own. This collection features many fun space-themed shapes, such as astronauts, planets, stars, an X-wing from Star Wars, and even a spaceship.
You’ll need to come up with your own method of adhering these prints to your walls – double-sided tape might do the trick. You can scale these models to create larger or smaller scenes, though the designer recommends maintaining the original thickness of about 1-2 mm for best results.
- Who designed it? ericao
- How printable/popular is it? This space-themed collection has already earned itself a total of 27 makes.
- Where to find it? Printables
Apollo Astronaut
Glow-in-the-dark stars that stick to your wall are cool. Why not complement that theme with a glowing Apollo astronaut?
This spacesuit is inspired by the ones worn throughout NASA’s Apollo Program, including the first Moon landing in 1969. Remixed from the original design of the same name, this design is popular because of its improved supports within the model, so you don’t have to generate your own supports or worry about post-processing.
- Who designed it? Charlie1982 (remixed from model by MaxGrueter)
- How printable/popular is it? With over 210 makes, more than 72,000 downloads, and over 5,000 likes, this design continues to shoot for the Moon!
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Articulated Shark
What’s even cooler than a glow-in-the-dark 3D print is an articulated glow-in-the-dark 3D print! This shark’s design gives it flexibility as if it were swimming in your hands. Some real-life deep sea sharks also use bioluminescence as a form of camouflage against predators, so while the design may not be entirely realistic, there is that added touch for marine enthusiasts.
When printing an articulated model, its orientation on the print bed and application of the right support settings are especially important. In this case, the articulated shark can print upright without supports.
- Who designed it? McGybeer
- How printable/popular is it? With 325 makes, this articulated shark will go swimmingly with your other glow-in-the-dark prints!
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Radioactive Planter
3D printing and cool planters go hand-in-hand and this model is no exception. Give your plants a new glow-in-the-dark home and watch them glow once the sun goes down.
The model is separated into two parts, making it very easy to print without requiring support.
The base model will print a planter with a 14-cm inner diameter and a depth of 12 cm, perfect for smaller plants such as succulents. You can always scale the model up should you want a larger planter.
- Who designed it? CharlyKramer
- How printable/popular is it? This model has been successfully printed at least once now, and you can be next.
- Where to find it? Printables
Chromatic Vase
Vases are popular among the 3D printing community because they’re both aesthetically appealing and easy to print. Vases with intricate patterns can be admired both day and night with a glow-in-the-dark filament!
This design is an excellent example because its sharp grooves produce shadows on the surface. Because the shadows create contrast, the same effect is visible when the vase is glowing, as can be seen in 3D Printing Nerd‘s YouTube video.
- Who designed it? MakeAnything
- How printable/popular is it? With close to 53,400 downloads and over 40 community prints shared, there’s no doubt that this is a popular model!
- Where to find it? MyMiniFactory
Digi-Reaper
If you’re a longtime Windows user, chances are you’ve come across the infamous blue screen of death when your system has crashed. The Digi-Reaper is meant to symbolize the cause of the blue screen, always reminding you to back up your files.
This design is fairly easy, with only three parts to assemble, and was intended to be printed with glow-in-the-dark filament. The Reaper’s lantern even has room to hold a 5-mm LED for an especially eerie effect.
- Who designed it? DeepFri3d
- How printable/popular is it? Aside from the constant fear of your computer crashing, the Digi-Reaper is pretty cool! This design has over 3,300 likes, more than 18,000 downloads, and 66 makes, many of which are complete with an LED in the lantern!
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Among Us
Among Us is a popular online game in which you and your fellow crewmates must work together to find the Imposter while stuck on a spaceship.
The outer space theme along with the cute, simplistic design of the crewmates make it the ideal glow-in-the-dark figurine. Its modular design also makes parts interchangeable, so you can mix and match the parts that glow with solid colors.
- Who designed it? BoopidooDesigns
- How printable/popular is it? It seems that popularity of Among Us has reached the likes of the 3D printing community! The design for these crewmate figurines has 36 makes in a variety of colors, and over 2,000 likes.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
License: The text of "The Best Glow-in-the-Dark 3D Prints in 2024" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.