image-to-3dlisted

# Image → 3D print pipeline Battle-tested workflow (developed on a 450 mm calligraphic nameplate, Bambu Lab P2S). Core principle: **the mask is everything**. Geometry quality is decided at segmentation, not at meshing. Never fight a bad source image — upgrade the source instead. ## Phase 0 — Requirements gate (DO THIS BEFORE ANY WORK) Check the source image and STOP to ask the user if any of these fail. These make-or-break the result; proceeding anyway wastes hours: 1. **Resolution**: need ≥ \~250 px per 100 mm of intended print size on the long edge (e.g. 450 mm wide print → ≥ 1200 px of actual subject, ideally 2500+). A 700 px photo produces visibly wobbly curves at 45 cm. If low-res → ask the user for an HD photo, or to AI-upscale (Gemini/etc.) and re-send. 2. **Subject/background contrast**: the subject must be separable. Worst case is *same-material relief on same-material background* (e.g. metal digits on a metal plate) — this is effectively unsegmentable from photos. Solution that works: **ask the user to generate a flat silhouette of just the subject** with an AI image tool ("show only the lettering, flat single dark colour on white, no shadows, no 3D depth, complete shapes"). One such image collapses days of segmentation into one threshold. Offer this EARLY. 3. **Perspective**: near-frontal needed; strong angles distort proportions. 4. **Completeness**: occluded/cropped parts will have to be invented — flag them. Also ask up front: tar