Drop a photo above and it comes back as a lithophane: a flat panel, ready to 3D print, whose thickness follows the picture. Thick parts block light and thin parts let it through, so with a lamp behind it the photo appears. Choose Lit from behind to see how the panel will look, or 3D model to turn the model itself. The photo never leaves your device.
How the thickness follows the photo
Light loses the same share of its strength in every millimeter of material it passes through. The maker uses 50% per millimeter, the default UltiMaker Cura uses for the lithophanes it makes from images, and works backwards from the photo: the brightest parts get the thinnest setting, the darkest the thickest, and every gray the thickness that lets through the matching amount of light. Working in light rather than in raw pixel values keeps the midtones of the photo where they belong when it is lit.
Transparent parts of a picture count as white, so they come out at the thinnest setting and glow brightest.
Settings
- Width: the panel's width, border included, in millimeters or inches. The height follows the photo's proportions.
- Thinnest: the thickness of the brightest parts, 0.8 mm to start. Thinner lets more light through but makes a more fragile panel.
- Thickest: the thickness of the darkest parts, 3 mm to start. A larger difference between the two gives deeper blacks.
- Border: a frame around the picture at the thickest setting, for stiffness and a clean edge; 3 mm to start, or none.
- Detail: the spacing between the points of the surface. Standard places one every 0.2 mm; Fine every 0.1 mm makes four times as many triangles and a larger file, and Draft every 0.4 mm a quarter as many.
The page shows the finished size, the triangle count and the size of the STL under the settings.
Choosing a photo
The panel shows brightness only: a color photo becomes a picture of light and shadow, as the lit preview shows. Photos with a clear subject and good contrast come through best, while large areas of nearly the same brightness turn into an even glow. To lift a subject off a busy background, remove the background first with the background remover; the empty area then prints thin and glows around the subject.
Printing and lighting it
Prusa Research's page for its lithophane filament recommends 100% infill and a wall thickness between 0.8 and 5.0 mm, the range this maker starts within. The file is a closed binary STL in millimeters with a flat back, so any slicer opens it like any other model.
To see the picture, put a light behind the panel: a window, a lamp or a small LED panel. Without light behind it, a lithophane looks like a plain textured panel.
Lithophane or relief?
A lithophane is made to be lit from behind. To raise a logo or a picture from a plate and see it from the front, use the image to STL converter instead, and for a logo with smooth vector outlines, SVG to STL.
Frequently asked questions
What is a lithophane?
A thin panel whose thickness follows a picture: where the picture is dark the panel is thick and blocks more light, where it is light the panel is thin and lets light through. Held in front of a lamp or a window, the picture appears; without light behind it, it looks like a plain textured plate.
How thick should a lithophane be?
This maker starts at 0.8 mm for the brightest parts and 3 mm for the darkest. Prusa Research's page for its lithophane filament recommends 100% infill and a wall thickness between 0.8 and 5.0 mm. A wider range gives deeper blacks and a heavier panel.
How is the thickness worked out?
Each millimeter of material lets through a share of the light, so the light coming through drops by the same factor for every extra millimeter. The maker uses 50% per millimeter, the default UltiMaker Cura uses for its own lithophanes, and sets each point's thickness so the light it lets through matches the brightness of the photo there.
What is the border for?
A frame around the picture at the thickest setting. It makes the panel stiffer and gives it a clean dark edge when lit. Choose None for the picture alone.
Do colors show?
No. A lithophane printed in one filament shows brightness only, so a color photo becomes a grayscale picture of light and shadow. The preview shows exactly that.
Is my photo uploaded?
No. The photo is read and the model is built inside your browser tab, so it never leaves your device.