There’s nothing like seeing an awesome 3D statue like She-RA, Bugs Bunny, Mario or T-Rex up close and personal. Have you ever wondered how they make those larger-than-life statues on display at museums, trade shows and theme parks? New and innovative technology is enabling all sorts of creativity to surface. Materials and technology like expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam and 3D printing produce one-of-a-kind 3D statues. By taking advantage of the latest fabrication methods, artists create stunning works of art.

Museums, theme parks, trade shows, movie premiers, and movie sets have all showcased 3D statues created with 3D printing and foam sculpting. From colossal dinosaurs to Venus de Milo, from Egyptian sphinxes to mermaids, from elephants to dinosaurs, from Mario to Harry Potter, 3D statues can be created for the ultimate fan experience. Fans young and old alike will want to take selfies to share with everyone on social media.

We start with your design file, a napkin drawing or if you choose, we’ll design the 3D statue for you. The size and where it will be displayed determine what materials are used. Typically, we build 3D statues with expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam or 3D printing with a plastic filament. Our fabrication team brings it all together with bonding, sanding and priming to prepare it for painting in our in-house paint shop.

A recently completed project made use of 3D-printing technology, metal fabrication, and other technologies to create a colossal 30-foot statue for the CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2020. Seeing what's possible with this tech is pretty cool. To learn more, visit our Largest 3D-printed Statue page.

• Sizes – All sizes of 3D statues are available – from 6 feet to 20 feet tall or more. The possibilities are endless.
• Materials – We fabricate with EPS foam, plastic, wood, metal, fiberglass or a combination of materials (composites) that are best suited to the design of your statue.
• Professional Creators – Our team consists of designers, artists, model-makers, painters, airbrush painters, sculptors, carpenters, and welders that breathe imagination and creativity into the life of each statue.
• Finishes – We use a variety of finishes from latex and acrylic paint, special automotive paints, and custom colors with matt, semi-gloss, or high-gloss finishes. Cementitious (concrete look), bronze-look, marble-look, and special vinyl wrappings to emulate chrome, gold, carbon fiber and hundreds more are available.
• Strength – Most often our 3D statues are designed for stand-alone or temporary displays. For the larger-than-life statues, we custom build the internal structures with metal for added strength and durability. Custom bases can be built to meet the various requirements of the statue.
• Design – We start with your designs, drawings, sketches on a napkin. If you can’t design it, our expert designers can create them for you.
• Capacity – We have 45,000 square feet of production facilities in Utah, including the largest capacity of full-color 3D printing in the world.
• Technologies – WhiteClouds employs technologies including Foam Fabrication, Hot Wiring, CNC Cutting, Laser Cutting, Welding, Sculpting, and several different 3D printing technologies.
• Combination displays – It may make sense to combine your 3D statues with special themed displays or trade show displays for an interactive experience.
• Special effects – Our experienced team can add to the aesthetics with custom electronics, LED lighting, and sound.

• With 3D printing technology, you aren't limited to straight lines and boxes. A 3D printer can easily create detailed, complex shapes. We use six different 3D printing technologies using different materials including sandstone-like, digital plastic, and UV-cured resin. The type of physical end-product determines which material will produce the best results. We can help you choose the material that is best for your project. Resolution on our printers is finer than a human hair. Our color 3D printers can print in full color (over 750,000 variations of color) for awe-inspiring reality.
• We use foam fabrication technologies such as CNC Cutting, Hot Wires, Laser Cutting, Hot Knifing, and Sculpting.
• Our in-house spray booth gives us flexibility in different types and grades of paint and finishing capabilities.
• Depending on requirements for durability, weatherproofing, temperature, mobility, strength, and flexibility, different finishes can be used. These finishes may be combinations of painting, airbrushing, flat-to-glossy finishes, natural environment finishes, soft-shell and hard-shell coatings, sealers, and glassing. These can be from latex, acrylic, urethane, polyurea, epsilon, polyurethane, and many others.

The cost of creating custom 3D statues is based on the volume of material (size of the sculpture), the time it takes to create the 3D printable file or CNC file, and other elements of the model. Each 3D statue is bid individually and the best way to determine cost is to contact us and let us bid your project.

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Can you use my custom artwork to create a 3D statue?

Yes. We prefer vector AI, EPS, or PDF formats and if you design in 3D, we'll start with your files. If you've got 2D artist sketches or napkin drawings, we can build statues from these also.

What is the material used to create my 3D statue?

We match the correct material and fabrication process to your requirements in terms of presentation, strength, size, and transportability. We fabricate in our model shop using different types of foam, wood, metal, resins, and acrylics. Our 3D statues are typically made with EPS foam, 3D printing technology, or composites.

What is the largest model you can 3D print?

There is no limit to the size of the model we can 3D print. Transportability and installation may become the largest issues on an extremely large 3D statue, but those challenges can all be resolved.

How long will it take to build my 3D statue?

Typically, statues can be completed in six to eight weeks but it totally depends on the size of your model. If it's really big, it may take extra time to complete.

What finishes are available for 3D statues?

We have many different finishes available including bronze-like, cementitious and high-gloss just to name a few.

If I want a second statue, is it cheaper?

Our pricing is based on the fabrication costs and the time it takes to prepare your design. If it's the same design, the second statue is less money because the design portion is complete.

WhiteClouds has delivered models around the world.

The first step in building a statue is receiving the CAD file from our customer. If preferred, our in-house team of designers will design one based on customer's specifications. At this time, we will also discuss the materials and technology best suited for the statue and whether or not it will require a custom-built base. To create a 3D statue, we use expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam, 3D printing technology or composite technologies.

Using Foam Fabrication

If EPS foam is best for your project, our sculptors draw out the design using the grid system on large 4 x 8-foot blocks of foam. They begin the sculpting process by using heated wires, CNC cutters, and other tools to carve the design into the foam. This part of the creation process can take weeks depending on the details of the design. Adding epoxy clay allows the creation of extreme detail on your statue. In some cases, we add other fabrication materials for strength and durability.

The foam statue is prepared for painting by sanding and adding a basecoat primer. There are multiple finishes to choose from to achieve the desired effect – cementitious, bronze-like, high-gloss, and more.

Using 3D-printed Technology

We typically begin the building process with a maquette (miniature) of the statue. Depending on the size of the statue, the maquette may be anywhere from 8” to 36” tall. These are 3D printed based on the 3D design. The maquette allows the customer to see 3D as opposed to just viewed a digital design. Typically, the maquettes identify changes in the early stage of the process.

If we're using 3D printing technology to create your statue, we send the design file to the computer that will communicate with the 3D printers. Each piece of the design is then printed with plastic filament in ultra-thin layers. Once the pieces are done printing, we bond them together with special glues and additives. Depending on the finish, there may be a lot of sanding involved to attain the final finish. There are many finishes available from standard automotive paint to concrete/marble/bronze looking statues. Even special vinyl wrapping can be applied that emulates chrome, gold, carbon fiber, or any specially designed graphics - think of graphics wrapped on automobiles.

Note: If your 3D printed statue is extremely large, we assemble the layers around metal framework and fill them with foam for added stability and strength.

Using Composite Technology

Composites are where you combine multiple materials that have different properties. When combined they make a stronger finished product. We can use different fabrication technologies where we might combine any of the following: EPS foam, expanding foam, 3D printing, wood, fiberglass resin/cloth, cementitious coatings, and metal. The time-lapse video below shows an example where all of these materials are used in a single project.

Timelapse of 30' Tall Composite Statue

To learn more about how this composite statue was built, visit our Largest 3D-printed Statue page.