299 Tools for Blender: a free add-on that slices AI figures for 3D printing

The add-on is built around one workflow: get a model, split it, prepare the joints, print.

• Auto Segment analyses the mesh and proposes splits by thickness changes and concavities.
• Freehand Cut cuts along a contour drawn right in the viewport with a preview of affected faces.
• Surface Bridge closes open mesh areas with curved surfaces between edge loops.
• Clearance Boolean leaves a gap between parts so they fit tightly after printing.

Helper functions: scale calculation for the printer size, pose correction, flipped-normal checks. The add-on was tested on Blender 5.0 on macOS on a Mac mini M2 with 16 GB of memory; Windows and Linux were not officially verified, although the code is not platform-bound.

It is optimised for AI-generated figures: organic shapes and characters. For hard-surface models such as vehicles and architecture, automatic segmentation works poorly and manual cuts are still needed.

Personal and commercial use is allowed and printed models may be sold. Distributing the add-on itself or its modifications is prohibited. It downloads only from the 299 MODEL WORKS site as a ZIP archive with English and Japanese manuals; there are no official copies elsewhere.

The add-on is a good example of a product at the meeting point of two waves: AI generation of 3D models became mainstream while print preparation stayed manual. Automating one narrow but repetitive step in someone else's pipeline is a working strategy for small teams and studios.

If you print generated figures, 299 Tools saves the most tedious stage. Check the result on your Blender version and OS: only Blender 5.0 on macOS is officially tested.