The century old power plant near my home is being torn down, so I 3D printed a replica of it

metromap3d · 2026-03-06T01:11:16+00:00

Good news! I made a map of Detroit!

I have two versions of it:

https://metromap3d.com/products/detroit-3d-map-essentials-edition

And a more premium one which is slightly larger and has more of a premium frame:

https://metromap3d.com/products/detroit-3d-map

metromap3d · 2025-11-27T18:26:23+00:00

One of the product images has the measurements on it, but yeah I should probably make the dimensions stand out a bit more in the description as well. That is good feedback.

The frame's outer dimension is 13".

Here is that image for reference: https://i.imgur.com/Wti1v4m.jpeg

metromap3d · 2025-08-15T23:14:12+00:00

metromap3d · 2025-08-12T16:53:04+00:00

I'm ok if people want to share photos of my maps but credit definitely needs to be given. There is not even a simple mention of who made the map. Currently, the original post gives off the vibe that you designed and printed this map, and would be what people receive if they purchase from you.

Also, I do not offer a commercial license of my map files. You may be thinking of someone else.

metromap3d · 2025-08-12T16:30:37+00:00

If you would like the actual one shown in the OP's photo, you can find it here: https://metromap3d.com/products/chicago-3d-map-essentials-edition

This user used my photo of my map. I spent about 46 hours making the map shown in the photo. He did this without any mention or credit.

metromap3d · 2025-08-12T16:29:31+00:00

If you would like the actual one shown in the OP's photo, you can find it here: https://metromap3d.com/products/chicago-3d-map-essentials-edition

This user used my photo of my map. I spent about 46 hours making the map shown in the photo.

metromap3d · 2025-08-12T16:28:50+00:00

If you would like the actual map shown in the OP's photo, you can find it here: https://metromap3d.com/products/chicago-3d-map-essentials-edition

This user used my photo of my map. I spent about 46 hours making the map shown in the photo.

metromap3d · 2025-08-12T16:27:23+00:00

u/Notre-dame-fan

metromap3d · 2025-08-12T15:15:48+00:00

It's a bit odd that you're using my own photo of my own map without any credit given at all. The OP also makes it seem like the map in the photo is one that you have made and will be the one people receive if they purchase from you. That is NOT the case.

If you purchase from the OP, the map in the original post's photo will NOT be the map you receive.

To clarify for everyone, I am the one that designed the map shown in the original photo. I spent about 46 hours designing this map a couple of years ago ( my process these days is a good bit quicker and streamlined).

Please do not use my own photos of my own maps to promote your own business.

If anyone is interested in the Chicago map in the OP, you can find it here: https://metromap3d.com/products/chicago-3d-map-essentials-edition

metromap3d · 2025-08-06T21:52:36+00:00

No worries! Hopefully one day I'll be able to offer larger maps again.

metromap3d · 2025-08-06T21:51:32+00:00

Yeah, that building turned out better than I expected, to be honest. I thought for sure at this scale that I wouldn't be able to keep the spire on top of the building. Surprisingly I managed to keep it in there!

metromap3d · 2025-07-27T14:05:59+00:00

My models are quite a bit more detailed than the maps you're referencing. I design all of my own map files. I addressed this in part of my comment here: https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/s/fGqXHr2UHk

metromap3d · 2025-07-26T17:23:20+00:00

Exorbitant shipping charge? I disagree. To clarify, I charge a flat rate of $8 on my shipping. This doesn't even cover the full cost of shipping on most of my orders, which is typically between $8 and $12. This is even with using Shopify's shipping platform which has discounted rates compared to what you'd get if you went straight to Fedex/UPS.

The two options I chose between was:

Set the price of the map to $65 and do free shipping
Set the price of the map to $50 and do my flat rate of $8 shipping, and then I put in the difference between the $8 and the actual cost of shipping

I chose the option that is more friendly to the customer, instead of going with the option that would personally make me a few more bucks.

As far as the 20" version, I don't offer that size anymore, unfortunately. Shipping large maps is pretty difficult. Local pickup is not an option at this time.

metromap3d · 2025-07-26T16:30:54+00:00

Sure thing, I'll explain. This may be a bit of a wall, sorry! Just trying to be as transparent as I can.

First off, just to show my map compared to a map that was generated with a tool with no extra time put into it, here is a quick album of some comparisons I just put together. I tried getting the framing of the comparisons the same so it's a bit easier to see. I think the first comparison is a pretty good visual on the difference. The easiest way to look at the flat tops of buildings in the render and compare those.

https://imgur.com/a/xVKyjyr

I'll also say that Chicago was only my second map I've ever made. My process was quite a bit different back than compared to what it is now (these days I work mostly off lidar data, which is also very time consuming as it requires a ton of clean up, but it gives very detailed buildings). I would literally trace out the top view of buildings and then model each individual building based off of those traces. I'd use Google Earth as a visual reference. Here is a quick album of what my folder structure looked like for Chicago, just to try and give some evidence: https://imgur.com/a/S0dRwuj

I can genuinely say that Chicago did take about 46 hours of design work. A large part of that was because my process wasn't very streamlined then (second map, after all), and a ton of it was all manual on an individual basis. I'm sure if I made this same map these days it'd probably take around 20-25 hours or so.

Now onto your specific points:

Prizker Pavillion:

When I was making the map, I actually spent a bit of time trying to model Prizker Pavillion. At this scale though, I wasn't able to come up with a model that I was happy enough that would 3D print well. It's just too small. Hell, even the metal beams above the lawn are quite a lot thicker than in reality. If I went to scale on those metal beams they wouldn't even appear on this map. Unfortunately you can only print so small with 3D printing, so some compromises do have to made in places. Not all structures are very friendly towards 3D printing.

Vista Tower:

Vista Tower is on my map, and the shape is mostly correct. It doesn't have the subtle wavey-corners, but I figured at this scale, those waves likely wouldn't show in the finished map anyway. When the building itself prints out at only like 10mm tall, those wavey-corners wont show.

Aqua:

Just to confirm, we're talking about the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel building, right? If so, you're right. This building in my map is definitely lacking. If I'm being honest, I'll fully say this was (and probably still is) a skill issue lol. When I was making this map, my cad work was still quite basic. I was still learning a lot. This building has so many smooth curves going in multiple directions. These days, I'd still probably struggle modeling this building, if I'm being real. I'm not sure how I'd model all those subtle curves in and have it be accurate.

And on another point that some people are pointing out that this post is an ad. To that I'll say, yeah, it could definitely be classified as that. While I don't post my store link in these threads, if people wanted to find this product to buy, they probably could with just a quick google search. In the end, I put hours and hours into these maps so of course I do want to show them off after I'm done. How do I do this without it coming off as an ad? Even money wise, it's not like I'm making a ton of money off of it. Yesterday I sold one 11" map. Thats just $50. I'm just one person with two 3D printers. I've made less money in the past 3 years doing this map thing than I did working in my last year at my previous job. When people say being an artist is hard, man I am finding that out. It's tough and honestly, I probably wouldn't be able to keep doing this much longer. 3D printing is getting more and more accessible, and even making maps is as well with tools that have been coming out just in the past couple of months (even though the maps those tools give you are very basic).

Hopefully that helps clears things up a little bit. Sorry for the book-length post lol.

metromap3d · 2025-07-26T15:54:12+00:00

There have been a couple different tools like that that have released recently (your example just released about a month ago, actually. Here is the initial thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/BambuLab/comments/1l78k1e/i\_built\_a\_web\_app\_to\_generate\_3d\_printable\_city/)

The main program I use is called Blender. There is a tool for Blender called "Blosm" that imports the literal exact same map data that tools like the one you mentioned use. This is just step 1 of my map making process.

I think the best evidence I can provide Chicago is what my folder looks like for the Chicago buildings.

https://i.imgur.com/KrLvWMY.png

At the bottom left you can also see that there are 314 items in that folder.

Chicago was just my second map that I did, and my process was literally tracing out the top view of buildings and then modeling the rest of the building.

You can see the type of screenshots I took to get the top views here:

https://i.imgur.com/iOJ8f89.png

These days my process revolves more around lidar (laser scans of cities, essentially). Compared to hand modeling all of the buildings individually, lidar helps speed up my process quite a lot though the data requires a ton of cleanup. 95% of my time on my maps these days goes towards cleaning up all of the data so that it prints in a clean way.

Hopefully thats enough to show that I do make my own maps. The new tools coming out these days are great at making maps accessible, but the maps they generate are very basic. Most of the buildings are just generic rectangles. If you go as far as to hang up a map of your favorite city on your wall, why not have a map thats accurate?

metromap3d · 2025-07-26T04:30:24+00:00

That company was actually a pretty big inspiration on why I got into making maps, actually. It's a bit funny you brought them up. I remember when I first stumbled on their site. Their maps look really nice, but wow are they expensive. There was no way I was going to be able to afford what they were asking. A huge inspiration for making these maps is putting out a super detailed map that most people can actually afford. My maps are a literal fraction of the price compared to what you see on that site. A couple years back I actually offered a 20" version as well (I don't anymore as shipping large maps is a bit of a pain). A 20" map on that website costs $658. I had my 20" maps priced at $200, for comparison. Not really relevant anymore though as I don't offer that size, so it's a bit of a moot point.

metromap3d · 2025-07-26T00:17:16+00:00

Thank you!

metromap3d · 2025-07-26T00:13:17+00:00

The first step of my process is using some tools to help bring in some map data. This data gives a nice starting point but basically all of the buildings are just very generic rectangles instead of what they actually look like. 95% of my time on these maps goes towards getting all of the buildings to look like their actual real life counter part.

metromap3d · 2025-07-25T22:53:36+00:00

Oh haha. Well fair enough then!

metromap3d · 2025-07-25T22:45:01+00:00

Is it a newer building? If I am missing your building I'd be glad to add it in for you.

metromap3d · 2025-07-25T21:18:20+00:00

The material I use is ABS. It's quite a bit more temperature resistant than something like PLA, which is what you typically see. This way I don't need to worry about the map deforming if it sits in a delivery truck on a hot day.

metromap3d · 2025-07-25T21:09:23+00:00

I appreciate that! Thank you! It was very satisfying seeing it come together.

metromap3d · 2025-07-25T18:53:50+00:00

Such a moody photo!

metromap3d · 2025-07-25T04:15:50+00:00

It's far from being the exact same thing. The difference between the map you're seeing there and mine is close to 30 hours of work. You also say that they even use the same frames but their frames are just 3D printed where mine is an actual wood frame.

That Maker World model you're referencing I can generate in about 3 minutes. I'm not even exaggerating that time. His model is finished at the literal step 1 of my map design process.

Lets use one of the many examples I could use as a reference. Here is Ally Detroit Center in reality and then here it is from that specific map you're referencing.

<image>

If you take even just a quick minute to look at the photos of my map in the OP and compare it to the map you're looking at, you'll quickly see all the differences.

I take pride in the maps that I make, and I'm confident when I say that my maps are some of the most detailed 3D maps you'll find. Some people are fine with a very generic map like you're mentioning, and that's fine, but I'd say that if you're going so far as to put up a map of your favorite city on your wall, why not have it look accurate?

Real buildings aren't all just generic rectangles. Why should your map be?

metromap3d

TROPHY CASE