Reference

Resin printing glossary

Short, plain-English definitions of the terms you will encounter when you start resin printing miniatures. Each entry points to the article that covers it in full context. Definitions are kept brief on purpose: the point is to answer fast and get you back to printing.

A

ABS-Like resin: A category of mid-priced resin formulated for higher impact resistance and lower brittleness than standard resin. It bends a little before it breaks, which makes it the practical default for miniatures that get handled, dropped, or painted regularly. Most hobby-focused resins sold today are ABS-Like in formulation. See: Best Resin for Miniatures
ACF film: Anti-Curl Film. A vat film alternative to FEP, designed to reduce the peel forces that occur when the print separates from the bottom of the vat between layers. ACF is increasingly common on tilting-VAT printers and in higher-end VAT replacements. It wears differently from FEP and does not need to be tensioned the same way. See: When and How to Change the FEP on a Resin Printer
Anti-aliasing: A slicer setting that smooths the pixel edges on each layer slice, reducing the visible stair-stepping at the boundary between cured and uncured resin. Useful at 30 micron pixel sizes and above. At sub-20 micron XY resolution the pixels are small enough that anti-aliasing adds little and can sometimes blur fine detail. See: Chitubox, Lychee, or the Manufacturer Slicer: Which Should You Use

B

Build plate: The metal platform that descends into the resin vat and lifts the cured print layer by layer toward the top of the printer. The first thing a new owner needs to level, and the surface print adhesion lives or dies on. Most modern printers include an auto-levelling function, but understanding why levelling matters is still worth the five minutes it takes. See: Unboxing and Levelling a New Resin Printer
Bottom exposure: The longer exposure time used for the first few layers of a print, designed to build strong adhesion to the build plate before the model starts forming. It is distinct from the normal per-layer exposure used for the rest of the print. Too short and the print detaches; too long and fine detail at the base of the model blooms into a solid mass. See: How to Read RERF Exposure Test Results
Burn-in layers: See Bottom exposure. The term originates in FDM printing and means the same thing in resin slicers: the first group of layers printed at a higher exposure to bond the model to the build plate. The count is typically between 4 and 8 layers. See: How to Read RERF Exposure Test Results

C

Calibration: The process of finding the correct exposure settings for a specific resin on a specific printer at a specific room temperature. It is the single most under-appreciated step in the workflow. Borrowed settings from online communities are a starting point, not a final answer: your printer, your resin, and your room are not identical to someone else's. See: Resin Printer Calibration Tools, Starting with the Cones of Calibration
Chitubox: One of the two main resin slicers. The most widely used by raw numbers, and bundled in a rebranded form on most Elegoo printers as Chitubox CE. It is a competent slicer with a long track record, though Lychee has pulled ahead on default support quality for miniature work. See: Chitubox, Lychee, or the Manufacturer Slicer: Which Should You Use
Cones of Calibration: A third-party calibration model that prints a grid of thin cones at different exposure times in a single run. Each cone tip either prints cleanly or bleeds and merges depending on whether the exposure is under or over for your resin. The result is a one-print answer to your correct exposure setting. The gold standard alternative to a manufacturer's built-in test. See: Resin Printer Calibration Tools, Starting with the Cones of Calibration
CRISP: Consistent, Razor-sharp, Improving, Safe, Painless. The framework Micron Monster uses to describe the resin printing workflow. It is the structural backbone of the free course, not a literal process sequence. Each letter names a quality the workflow should produce rather than a step to follow. See: The CRISP Method for Resin Printing
Cure: The UV exposure step that completes the chemistry of a freshly washed print. Washing removes liquid resin from the surface; curing finishes the polymerisation inside the print and makes the surface hard, stable, and paint-ready. A dedicated wash and cure station runs both steps back to back on the bench. See: How to Post-Process Resin Miniatures for Painting

D

Detail retention: How well a resin preserves fine surface features through printing, washing, and curing. Faces, filigree, chainmail, and rune-etched armour are the test cases for miniature work. It is primarily a function of resin viscosity and cured brittleness, not of the printer's resolution. A high-resolution printer cannot save a resin with poor detail retention. See: Best Resin for Miniatures
DLP: Digital Light Processing. A printer architecture that uses a projector rather than an LCD masking screen to cure each layer. DLP can produce sharper geometry at the same pixel size because the light source is coherent, but build volumes tend to be smaller and units are more expensive than equivalent mSLA printers. See: How to Choose the Right Resin 3D Printer
Drainage hole: A small hole sliced into a hollow model so uncured liquid resin can drain out during and after printing. Without it, a hollow model traps resin inside the walls. That resin cures under ambient UV over time and can crack the model from within. The hole also prevents a suction cup effect during the print itself. See: Printing Bigger and Hollow Resin Miniatures

E

Exposure time: How long the UV light illuminates each layer to fully cure it. The single setting that genuinely needs calibrating to your specific printer, resin, and room temperature. Too short produces soft or detaching prints; too long blooms detail and makes the print brittle. Everything else in a printer profile is secondary to getting this right. See: How to Read RERF Exposure Test Results

F

FEP: Fluoroethylene Propylene. The transparent film stretched across the bottom of the resin vat. Resin cures against it on every layer, then peels away as the build plate lifts. It wears gradually and eventually needs replacing, typically when you see visible scratches, cloudiness, or a run of adhesion failures that calibration does not fix. See: When and How to Change the FEP on a Resin Printer
Frontiers: MyMiniFactory's crowdfunding model for digital miniature files. Sculptors launch a campaign, backers pre-fund it, and files are released in stages as each sculpting phase completes. A lower upfront risk than buying a finished product at retail, and a way to fund sculptors before a full release exists. See: Chitubox, Lychee, or the Manufacturer Slicer: Which Should You Use

H

Heated VAT: A built-in heating element under the resin vat that holds the resin at a stable temperature regardless of room conditions. It eliminates the cold-room failure mode that catches new hobbyists in winter when they cannot understand why calibrated settings suddenly stop working. Standard on most mid-range and flagship printers as of 2026. See: How to Choose the Right Resin 3D Printer
Hollowing: A slicer operation that removes the solid interior of a model and replaces it with thin walls, or with a wall-and-lattice structure. Hollowing saves resin, reduces print time, and lowers the peel forces on each layer. It requires a drainage hole. Water-washable resins hollowed without sufficient drainage can crack from trapped moisture during curing. See: Printing Bigger and Hollow Resin Miniatures

I

IPA: Isopropyl Alcohol. The standard wash solvent for non-water-washable resin. Dissolves uncured resin from the surface of a fresh print before the UV cure step. The three-container method (Dirty, Not-That-Dirty, Wash Station) extends solvent life significantly and is the most practical approach for regular hobby use. See: How to Post-Process Resin Miniatures for Painting

L

Layer height: The Z-axis thickness of each cured slice, measured in microns. Typical hobby printing runs at 30 to 50 microns. Dropping to 20 microns captures finer vertical detail but roughly doubles print time. The XY pixel size is a fixed property of the printer; layer height is a slicer choice you make per print. See: Resin Printer Calibration Tools, Starting with the Cones of Calibration
LCD: Liquid Crystal Display. The masking screen between the UV light source and the resin vat in an mSLA printer. It acts as a per-pixel shutter: pixels go dark to block light, clear to expose resin. The LCD wears out under UV exposure and is the most common consumable on a resin printer after the FEP film. See: Best 3D Printer for Miniatures
Lift height: How far the build plate travels upward between layers. A greater lift height gives resin more time to flow back and fill the vat floor before the next exposure. Shorter lift heights speed up the print. Most printers default to something sensible; it becomes relevant when troubleshooting adhesion issues on large flat layers. See: Chitubox, Lychee, or the Manufacturer Slicer: Which Should You Use
Lift speed: The speed at which the build plate rises away from the vat between layers. Slower lift is gentler on the print and produces less suction force on the FEP, at the cost of longer print times. Aggressive lift speeds on tilting-VAT printers are part of how those architectures achieve fast cycle times without damaging fine detail. See: Chitubox, Lychee, or the Manufacturer Slicer: Which Should You Use
Lychee: One of the two main resin slicers, and the recommended starting point for miniature work. Lychee's default support profiles are conservative in the right ways for small models, its community profile library is broad, and the free tier covers everything a hobby printer actually needs. Paid tiers add auto-support refinements and batch processing. See: Chitubox, Lychee, or the Manufacturer Slicer: Which Should You Use

M

mSLA: Masked Stereolithography. The technology used by all consumer LCD resin printers. A UV light array shines through an LCD screen acting as a per-pixel mask, curing an entire layer at once rather than tracing it with a laser. The result is fast, consistent layer times regardless of layer complexity. Every printer in the affordable hobby tier uses this architecture. See: Resin 3D Printing for Miniatures: A Clean Beginner Setup
MyMiniFactory: The dominant marketplace for premium pre-supported miniature files. Hosts both Tribes (monthly sculptor subscriptions) and Frontiers (crowdfunded releases). Most serious miniature sculptors in the indie space publish their catalogue here, and the pre-supported quality is generally higher than files sourced from Patreon or personal storefronts. See: Chitubox, Lychee, or the Manufacturer Slicer: Which Should You Use

N

Normal exposure: See Exposure time. The per-layer exposure time used for all layers after the burn-in layers at the base of the print. This is the number the Cones of Calibration and RERF tests are designed to help you find. The bottom exposure is a separate, longer value. See: How to Read RERF Exposure Test Results

O

Overcuring: Exposing a layer for longer than needed. In the UV post-cure step after washing, extended curing does not meaningfully degrade a print under normal hobby conditions. The real risk most beginners do not know about is getting brittleness back from curing for far longer than the resin chemistry requires. Calibration tests exist precisely to find the useful range. See: Brutally Honest Resin Printing Advice

P

Pixel size: The physical dimension of one LCD pixel projected onto the build plate. This is the XY resolution figure that actually predicts print detail, measured in microns. It is not the K-number (8K, 12K) on the box. A 12K screen at a large format has bigger pixels than an 8K screen at a small format. Always read the micron figure. See: Best 3D Printer for Miniatures
Pre-supported files: STL or OBJ models with supports already designed by the sculptor as part of the file. The correct starting point for a new printer owner. Generating your own supports from scratch requires understanding of angles, tip diameters, and contact points that takes time to develop. Pre-supported files from a quality source let you print confidently while you build that knowledge. See: Chitubox, Lychee, or the Manufacturer Slicer: Which Should You Use

R

Raft: The flat base layer generated by the slicer between the build plate and the bottom of the model and its supports. A raft lifts the print away from the plate surface and makes support removal easier. It also protects fine details at the model's lowest point from the aggressive adhesion of the burn-in layers. See: How to Post-Process Resin Miniatures for Painting
RERF: Resin Exposure Range Finder. A built-in calibration print available on Elegoo printers that outputs eight identical test patterns at increasing exposure times in a single run. Each panel is labelled with its exposure value. The cleanest-looking panel is the correct exposure for your resin at your current room temperature. See: How to Read RERF Exposure Test Results
Retract distance: The distance the build plate descends back into the vat after a lift, and the speed at which it does so. It affects how quickly the next layer of resin settles and how aggressively the model re-enters the resin pool. Slower retract on large flat models can reduce the wave distortion that causes layer lines on flat surfaces. See: Chitubox, Lychee, or the Manufacturer Slicer: Which Should You Use

S

Screen protector: A thin film applied over the LCD screen. It catches resin spills before they reach and damage the screen itself. Some printers ship with one in place; others sell them as accessories. Replacing a screen protector costs a few pounds. Replacing a failed LCD screen costs considerably more. Worth fitting from day one. See: Best 3D Printer for Miniatures
Standard resin: The cheapest tier of resin chemistry. Brittle once cured, which makes it unsuitable for miniatures that get handled, transported, or painted. Fine for terrain tiles, test prints, and large objects that will stay stationary. If you are printing anything that needs to survive being picked up and gamed with, ABS-Like is a better baseline. See: Best Resin for Miniatures
Supports: The lattice of thin pillars that hold a model in place during printing. Bottom-up resin printing requires supports on every overhang because each layer peels away from the FEP and gravity pulls unsupported resin down. Supports are generated automatically by the slicer or placed by hand. They leave contact scars where they touch the model, so tip diameter and contact depth matter. See: Support Settings for Resin Miniatures

T

Tank Clean: A printer feature that cures a thin sheet across the bottom of the vat, picking up any debris from a failed print in one piece. The sheet is then peeled out using a paper handle. Available on most modern printers. It is faster and less wasteful than emptying and filtering the entire vat after every failure. See: Cleaning Up After a Failed Resin Print
Tilting VAT: A vat architecture where one edge of the vat lifts to peel the cured layer from the FEP at an angle, rather than pulling straight up. The peel force is lower and more distributed, which is gentler on fine detail and allows faster lift speeds without tearing. Tilting-VAT printers are becoming the standard on mid-range and flagship models. See: Why 2026 Is Still the Best Year to Buy a Resin 3D Printer
Tribes: MyMiniFactory's monthly subscription model per sculptor. Most Tribes cost around $10 per month and include that month's release plus, on first subscription, a back-catalogue welcome pack. It is the most cost-effective way to build a library of models from a sculptor you plan to print regularly. See: Chitubox, Lychee, or the Manufacturer Slicer: Which Should You Use

V

VAT: The resin tank that sits on top of the LCD. The bottom of the vat is the FEP film; liquid resin sits above it. Each layer cures against the FEP as the UV light passes through the LCD and through the film. The VAT is removed for cleaning, resin changes, and FEP replacement. See: When and How to Change the FEP on a Resin Printer
VOC: Volatile Organic Compound. The airborne chemicals emitted by liquid resin while it sits in the vat or is poured, washed, or handled. All uncured resin emits VOCs. A proper respirator rated for organic vapours and adequate ventilation are not optional. The smell being faint does not mean the exposure is safe. See: Ventilation and Safety for Home Resin Printing

W

Wash and cure station: A combined bench unit such as the Elegoo Mercury Plus or Anycubic Wash and Cure 3.0 that handles the IPA wash step and the UV cure step in one device. Worth the cost for anyone printing regularly. It replaces a bowl of IPA and a UV torch with a controlled, repeatable, contained process. See: How to Post-Process Resin Miniatures for Painting
Water-washable resin: Resin formulated to wash off with plain water rather than IPA. Modern ABS-Like water-washable resins are no longer the brittle, detail-poor category they were three or more years ago. The main tradeoff is safe disposal: wash water is contaminated with uncured resin and must be cured in sunlight before disposal, not poured down a drain. See: Can You Really Wash Resin Prints in Water?

X

XY resolution: The physical pixel size on the LCD, measured in microns. The specification that actually predicts print detail for miniature work. It is not the same as the K-number on the box. Read the micron figure on the spec sheet, not the screen's pixel count. Smaller is sharper. See: Best 3D Printer for Miniatures

0–9

4K / 8K / 12K: The pixel count of the LCD screen, used as a marketing label. It is not a direct measure of print quality. A 12K screen at a large format can have bigger pixels than an 8K screen at a small format, which means worse XY resolution despite the higher number. Always check the micron figure, not the K-number. See: Best 3D Printer for Miniatures