How to Export STL from ZBrush with the 3D Print Hub

Author: Arndt von Koenigsmarck · Technical review by Paul Gaboury · Last reviewed August 2026 

Once a model is watertight, hollowed if needed, and decimated to a sensible polygon count, the last step is export. In ZBrush this is handled by the 3D Print Hub plugin, which sets the real-world size and writes the file your slicer or print service needs. This guide covers how to export STL from ZBrush, along with the other supported formats. It is part of the wider guide to ZBrush and 3D printing.

Open the plugin from ZPlugin > 3D Print Hub. It is available in ZBrush on the desktop and in ZBrush for iPad. The panel is organized into import, size options, and export, so the natural order is to set size first, then export.

The 3D Print Hub is where you define how large your model will be, but there is one key thing to understand: the plugin does not change the physical size of the model inside ZBrush. It applies the size only when you export.

Follow this order:

1. Click Update Size Ratio. A window opens where you choose the unit, millimeters or inches, and enter the size you want to print at.

2. Set your desired dimensions in that window.

3. Export.

To print larger or smaller, adjust the X, Y and Z sliders and then export. The separate Check Mesh Volume button does something different: it reports the volume of the mesh, which is mainly useful for estimating material cost, for example how much silver or gold a piece will consume in jewelry work. If you set real-world scale earlier with Scale Master, this is a good moment to confirm the dimensions match what you intend to print.

The 3D Print Hub exports the main formats used in 3D printing. Pick the one your slicer or print service prefers:

• STL is the standard 3D printing format and the safest default, accepted almost everywhere. It can be written as binary or ASCII, and also has full support for vertex colors.

• 3MF is a modern format that can carry color, materials and multiple objects in a single file, which makes it a good choice for color workflows and multi-part exports.

• VRML (.wrl) also carries UVs, textures and PolyPaint, so it supports color printing on services that accept it.

• OBJ is a widely accepted interchange format, useful when a slicer or service asks for it specifically.

Click the button for the format you want, and the plugin writes the file at the size you set.

ZBrush can carry color all the way to a color 3D print. When you export, you can keep the model's vertex color (PolyPaint) directly, or bake the colors into texture maps, depending on what your print service or slicer expects. Combined with the color-capable formats above, such as 3MF and VRML, this means full-color 3D printing straight from ZBrush.

Decide what should be included before exporting. Depending on your setup you can export everything, only the visible SubTools, or just the selected one, which is useful when a model is split into parts that you want to print or send separately.

The 3D Print Hub also imports STL files, which is handy for bringing a scan, a previously exported model, or a part from another program back into ZBrush for further work or repair.

Before you hand the file to a slicer, confirm:

• The mesh is watertight, with no open holes into the interior. See preparing a ZBrush model.

• Normals face outward and the surface is a single closed volume.

• The polygon count is within your printer or service limits. If not, run Decimation Master.

• The size is correct in millimeters or inches.

• The design makes physical sense: no unsupported floating parts, and no elements too thin to survive printing.

The exported file is not printed directly. Load it into a slicer such as PrusaSlicer, UltiMaker Cura, Lychee Slicer, CHITUBOX or Creality Print, which generates the printer instructions and any supports. This hand-off is the same regardless of the modeling software, and it is covered from the Cinema 4D side in how to export STL from Cinema 4D.

Back to the overview: ZBrush and 3D printing.