What can be more special than preserving a moment in time from a special memory and storing it in a place where you can notice it every day? Enter picture frames. Coming in a variety of shapes and sizes, they function to both protect the image from dust and other undesirables, as well as potentially adding some aesthetic features. The right frame can enhance the appearance and significance of the image it holds.
3D printed frames offer the designing benefit of quick customization, giving you the freedom to add your own unique twist to the frames with tools you probably already have. You can go this route and create your own frame using 3D design software or you can choose from huge collections of creative 3D printable frames online. Many of them even let you modify the printable file to fit your needs.
Whether you’re going for functional or a unique design (or both!), we’ve got some printable frames for you. Pick the color that suits your style, matches your room, or is the only filament that you have handy, and get started! Don’t forget: these custom frames make a great last-minute gift too.
Simple
This is a minimal, single-file photo frame that can be printed for use in either landscape or portrait orientation, just check for the print files with the corresponding name. You can also find the frame in two sizes: one for 3.5 x 5-inch pictures and the other for 4 x 6-inch pictures.
The designer claims that you can print this frame in under 90 minutes and use less than 20 grams of filament, but recommends printing the frame with a 0.24-mm layer height and 100% infill for best results.
- Who designed it? XYZ Space
- How printable/popular is it? This fame has 7 posted makes and over 300 downloads.
- Where to find it? Printables
Steampunk
This frame has a one-of-a-kind design with steampunk accents, and it displays your picture in an eye-catching internal gear behind all the ornaments. To stay true to the steampunk theme, one maker printed it in silver and copper PLA.
Another maker took it a step further by placing an automatic night light with a flickering candle bulb behind the frame, capturing the steampunk aesthetic perfectly. The same maker also shared their successful print settings, which are a 0.2-mm layer height and 20% infill.
To hang the frame on the wall, simply insert a nail between the two topmost gear teeth. Alternatively, you can add a tab to the back of the design to hang your frame, similar to some of the makes.
- Who designed it? SteveCaplin
- How printable/popular is it? This design has been downloaded over 2,500 times and has a total of 4 makes.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Instax Mini
This is a frame compatible with your Instax Mini photos, and it works great in either orientation (portrait or landscape). It has a simple and minimal design, all you have to do is click your pictures and slide them into the frame.
One maker reported a successful print of this frame with settings of 0.1-mm layer height with 25% infill. You can also customize your frame by using various colored filaments or by painting it. For example, another maker painted a sky and clouds on their frame, making it more lively and vibrant!
- Who designed it? malopezn
- How printable/popular is it? Thingiverse reports 10 makes and 3 remixes of this mini picture frame; the design has been downloaded over 13,200 times.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Snap-In Frame
A neat and pretty photo frame whose unique beauty lies in the heart inserts that you can use to display any message you want. Customize the provided design files for these inserts to add your initials or mark a special date.
This frame can hold any 4 x 6-inch pictures and comes with stands for both landscape and portrait orientations, as well as a hole for hanging on the wall, all in the same print! Apart from this, you can opt not to use the custom heart insert or to add additional heart detail around the border.
Finally, the designer suggested individual print settings for all the required parts, along with a video showing how to assemble and get your frame ready for display.
- Who designed it? BigRedButton
- How printable/popular is it? On Printables, this frame has 4 makes, over 100 downloads, and counting.
- Where to find it? Printables
Floating
This frame tricks you into thinking the photos are suspended in air with its simple and straightforward design. Let your photo speak for itself!
It’s a single 3D printed part that you can pin into a wall, and you can easily swap out the picture when you want a change. While it was designed for the standard 4 x 6-inch photo, you could easily adjust the size of this holder to secure pictures of different sizes, scale it up, or scale it down (for your Polaroid pics). Additionally, there are many remixes of this floating frame, some of which are quite interesting, including a rotating carousel and a desktop version.
A maker has successfully printed this frame with print settings of a 0.1-mm layer height and 20% infill, so adding it to your decor should be a piece of cake.
- Who designed it? Tosh
- How printable/popular is it? As the most popular photo frame on this list, this frame has nearly 53,000 downloads, almost 50 makes, and more than 25 remixes.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Baroque
This Baroque-style frame depicts the design and detail reminiscent of the era that focused on ornamentation and vibrancy. You can find this design and art style in a variety of artwork and architecture (think Palace of Versailles). Use this frame to give your pictures a grand look! The suitable photo size is approximately 4.5 x 3.75 inches at full scale.
The designer printed this frame with wood filament, giving it a very antique look that is ideal for any old portrait. One maker printed the frame in PLA and then painted it in gold to give it more of a polished and distinctive look. This could also be a cool design to test out with some shiny silk filaments.
For a successful print, the designer recommends printing the frame with a 0.2-mm layer height and 20% infill (using wood filament).
- Who designed it? Zemba Craftworks (remixed from levenement71’s design)
- How printable/popular is it? Between Printables and Thingiverse, this model has five makes and three remixes shared by the community.
- Where to find it? Printables, Thingiverse
Tiny
These tiny and unique picture frames are ideal for desks as they take up so little space, so multiple of these little guys can be kept on display. The designer created this for framing any 1.375 x 1.75-inch picture (UK passport photo size), perfect for mini pics, little doodles, or even some ticket stubs and other small mementos that are display worthy!
A maker modified the frame to fit a scaled-up A5 (5.8 x 8.3-inch) picture, showing that you can alter the frame to fit images of any size, big or small.
- Who designed it? Nakozen
- How printable/popular is it? Even though there are only three shared makes of this tiny frame, which was downloaded around 100 times, because you can print and assemble it easily, we expect the numbers to keep on growing!
- Where to find it? Printables
Modular
If you want to fill a wall with all your cherished memories, this modular photo frame is perfect for you. Its design is such that you can connect them to each other in either orientation to create a unique and changeable display for all your standard 4 x 6-inch photos.
The frame is rectangular and has jigsaw puzzle-like connectors around its border that connect to other frames. One of the makers printed 34 frames at a 0.2-mm layer height and 10% infill. Only one frame is secured on the wall using two screws, and the connected frames are lightweight enough to be supported by that single anchor.
- Who designed it? garygrano
- How printable/popular is it? There are over 1,500 downloads and 2 makes of this very straightforward design.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Stargate
This frame is literally a Stargate from the “Stargate” franchise, which is a wormhole used for travel in space, or technically, it is an Einstein-Rosen bridge device. The features on this frame are extremely detailed, and some paint will make it seem more realistic.
You can frame an image with a diameter of about 3.5 inches or you can increase the Stargate’s size to hold a larger picture. However, it’s not recommended to reduce the frame size because the fine detailing may be lost.
There are two variations of this frame: one that can stand on any surface and one that can be hung on a wall. The only difference is the back plate used to secure the photo in place, and an optional stand to print separately.
Finally, the designer also recommends printing at a 0.12-mm layer height, with supports enabled for the Stargate itself and disabled for the base.
- Who designed it? Passavopercaso
- How printable/popular is it? From both sites combined, this frame has over 200 downloads and 3 successful makes.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse, Printables
Decorative
This is a lovely decorative photo frame with detailing that will add dimension to any photo. The 3D model is a single part with an open backside, so you’ll need to secure the photo in place. While glue would be the easiest option, if you ‘e sentimental about that particular picture, you might want to opt for a frame that can offer some more protection.
You can either display this frame on walls or place it on tables; it’s small enough to fit just about anywhere. However, to put it up on the wall, you’d need to modify the 3D model to add a tab so that you can easily hook it to a stud or nail.
Finally, to print the frame, you can’t go wrong with the maker’s recommended print setting, which include a 0.2-mm layer height and 20% infill. You don’t need to do any post-processing once you’ve finished the frame, but you can paint it to bring out its features.
- Who designed it? ryborg
- How printable/popular is it? There are over 22,000 downloads of this frame and 4 makes on Thingiverse.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
License: The text of "The Most Beautiful Picture Frames to 3D Print" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.