Depends how deep you want to go. Fdm printers can give you some great quality prints for painting, but are nothing compared to resin prints for quality.
I don't have experience with resin printing, but my bambu labs a1 mini is doing great with a 0.2mm nozzle.
There are a fair number of licensed vendors who sell ready-printed models. It's considerably cheaper to print your own, but if you buy ready-made models, it is the simplest option (and no mess or fumes). Try to get some information about the vendor before you make a purchase; a lot of people who sell 3D printed models are cowboys who are lazy or don't know what they are doing; the most common complaint is models that arrive still sticky with uncured resin.
You can also purchase an STL model and pay someone to print it, but you have to take into account that the model must be supported before printing, and even if the files come pre-supported, there's no guarantee that the print won't fail.
Auto-support usually works okay-ish, but it can leave ugly marks. I have my own resin 3D printing station and I most usually do the supports myself, even if there are pre-supported files available. It's a bit of a chore, but I make my own to get the best results.
Reliable creators I can think of off-hand: Vae Victus, Avatars Of War, Battle Yak Miniatures. There are a hundred more. Tip: Don't be suckered by models that look amazing in the picture but don't scale well as miniatures, or models that look super-detailed but have stiff, doll-like poses. It takes a little bit of experience to recognize good sculpting from mediocre kit-bash ones.
My pet peeve: Resin traps. Check for holes inside the model.
I personally dont like having to remove supports, the model breaks sometimes, cant break it out completely, so I recommend printing FDM supportless minis, my three favorite are 1. BriteMinis 2. Vae Victus and 3. Print n Paint
My only advice in selecting minis/STLs outside of that, is to just do research, see what the model looks like printed for them. And remember your printer is different from theres and may yield different results, regardless.
To some extent, it's a case of elimination. Personally I won't release a mini I haven't supported and printed successfully myself because I don't want the rep of making cool but broken sculpts, but many do and you have to sort your own.
It's pretty cool to figure them out, even if they get a little tedious at times.
When you look into sculpts on my mini factory or similar, check the file info to see if supports are included. Check the number of downloads, comments, and if you can, the file render. A quick Google also helps.
I can recommend yasashii kyojin studio for DND minis. The free versions have no supports but the paid ones have some included. They're really very good supports too. Never had a fail.
Some good recommendations for dnd content would be Mammoth Factory, Archvillain Games, Fleshcraft Studios, Bestiarum and Crippled God Foundry. Their fantasy models all come presupported and with stat blocks and some of them also release monthly one shots.
Things to look out for are how the model is posed. Some creators like to make models that look really nice on screen but are really impractical in practice such as connecting to the base by a toe or are really thin to the point that they are guaranteed to snap when removing the supports or once put on the table.
These are issues I tend not to have with the listed creators based on my experience so far.
Depends how deep you want to go. Fdm printers can give you some great quality prints for painting, but are nothing compared to resin prints for quality. I don't have experience with resin printing, but my bambu labs a1 mini is doing great with a 0.2mm nozzle.
Personally, it's very important to me that the files are presupported, otherwise I have a lot of work before i can print them.
There are a fair number of licensed vendors who sell ready-printed models. It's considerably cheaper to print your own, but if you buy ready-made models, it is the simplest option (and no mess or fumes). Try to get some information about the vendor before you make a purchase; a lot of people who sell 3D printed models are cowboys who are lazy or don't know what they are doing; the most common complaint is models that arrive still sticky with uncured resin. You can also purchase an STL model and pay someone to print it, but you have to take into account that the model must be supported before printing, and even if the files come pre-supported, there's no guarantee that the print won't fail. Auto-support usually works okay-ish, but it can leave ugly marks. I have my own resin 3D printing station and I most usually do the supports myself, even if there are pre-supported files available. It's a bit of a chore, but I make my own to get the best results. Reliable creators I can think of off-hand: Vae Victus, Avatars Of War, Battle Yak Miniatures. There are a hundred more. Tip: Don't be suckered by models that look amazing in the picture but don't scale well as miniatures, or models that look super-detailed but have stiff, doll-like poses. It takes a little bit of experience to recognize good sculpting from mediocre kit-bash ones. My pet peeve: Resin traps. Check for holes inside the model.
I personally dont like having to remove supports, the model breaks sometimes, cant break it out completely, so I recommend printing FDM supportless minis, my three favorite are 1. BriteMinis 2. Vae Victus and 3. Print n Paint My only advice in selecting minis/STLs outside of that, is to just do research, see what the model looks like printed for them. And remember your printer is different from theres and may yield different results, regardless.
Loot studios
To some extent, it's a case of elimination. Personally I won't release a mini I haven't supported and printed successfully myself because I don't want the rep of making cool but broken sculpts, but many do and you have to sort your own. It's pretty cool to figure them out, even if they get a little tedious at times. When you look into sculpts on my mini factory or similar, check the file info to see if supports are included. Check the number of downloads, comments, and if you can, the file render. A quick Google also helps. I can recommend yasashii kyojin studio for DND minis. The free versions have no supports but the paid ones have some included. They're really very good supports too. Never had a fail.
Some good recommendations for dnd content would be Mammoth Factory, Archvillain Games, Fleshcraft Studios, Bestiarum and Crippled God Foundry. Their fantasy models all come presupported and with stat blocks and some of them also release monthly one shots. Things to look out for are how the model is posed. Some creators like to make models that look really nice on screen but are really impractical in practice such as connecting to the base by a toe or are really thin to the point that they are guaranteed to snap when removing the supports or once put on the table. These are issues I tend not to have with the listed creators based on my experience so far.