Lithophane maker

A lithophane is a relief: dark parts of the picture are printed thick, light parts thin. When you hold it up to a lamp or a window, thin areas let more light through and the photo appears, often with a surprisingly lifelike look. Unlit, it just looks like a white textured plate.

This tool converts your photo to grayscale and maps each pixel to a thickness between the minimum (light areas) and maximum (dark areas). It builds a closed, watertight mesh in millimeters, ready for any slicer. The photo never leaves your browser.

The height follows from the crop's aspect ratio and is shown under the width. For a cylinder the diameter is shown too: circumference ÷ π, so 200 mm is about 63.7 mm (2.5 in) across.

Only the cropped part of your photo goes into the lithophane, so you don't need a photo editor first.

• Aspect ratio: original, 1:1, 4:3, 3:4, 3:2, 2:3 or 16:9. A fixed ratio matches standard frames: a 4×6 in frame needs 2:3 or 3:2. Heart, circle and dome always use a square crop.
• Zoom and position: zoom 1–4× and slide horizontally or vertically to pick the subject, for example one face from a group photo.
• Brightness, contrast and gamma: a lithophane turns gray levels into thickness, so a flat photo gives a flat print. Raising contrast by 20–30% usually helps. Gamma below 1 brings out shadow detail; above 1 brings out highlights. The backlit preview updates after every change.

These adjustments only affect the lithophane; your original file is untouched.

Heart and circle lithophanes are closed meshes with any outline: the photo is embossed inside the shape, and the border runs along the outline as an even, solid rim. A round window ornament with a hanging loop and a heart on a stand are the classic gifts.

The dome is a spherical cap with the picture upright when seen from outside. Its rim is flat, so it prints open side down with no supports, and it works as a lamp over a tea light or LED. At 100 mm diameter and a 120° arc it is about 31 mm (1.2 in) tall.

Every shape is exported as one closed solid; the stand and the loop merge with the lithophane, so slicers accept it without repair. The 3MF holds the same mesh compressed, usually a fifth to a tenth of the STL size, and opens in Bambu Studio, OrcaSlicer, PrusaSlicer and Cura.

Next to the 3D view, Backlit (simulation) shows roughly how the print will look with white PLA in front of a light. It models light passing through plastic of varying thickness. If the preview is too dark overall, lower the maximum thickness; if it looks washed out, raise it or lower the minimum. The preview is an approximation: your filament brand and light source will change the real result.

• Filament: white or natural PLA gives the best detail and contrast.
• Infill: 100%, so the thickness is solid plastic everywhere.
• Layer height: 0.12–0.16 mm for fine detail.
• Orientation: print it standing upright, as the file is oriented. Don't lay it flat in the slicer; vertical printing gives the smooth gradients.
• Adhesion: add a brim so a tall, thin panel doesn't tip over.
• Speed: slower outer walls help quality.

A 100 mm flat lithophane typically uses a few tens of grams of filament; the stats panel shows the estimate, the triangle count and the STL file size before you download.

Photos with clear contrast and a well-lit subject work best: portraits, pets, landmarks. Very dark photos turn into thick, opaque prints; overexposed ones lose detail in the highlights. Crop tightly to the subject before uploading, and consider boosting the contrast slightly. Busy backgrounds compete with the subject, so a plain background usually prints better. For a cylinder lamp, wide panoramic pictures look great because they wrap around.

To check or convert the downloaded file, open it in the STL viewer.