Lithophane Generator, from photo to glowing 3D portrait
A lithophane turns a photo into a thin, translucent relief: in normal light it looks almost blank, held up to a lamp or a window the picture appears in the play of light and shadow. Upload a photo, set the size, and the generator hands you a print-ready STL, no modeling software required.
Pro plan, 15 EUR/month. No watermark on the STL.How it works
Three steps, about two minutes from photo to a print-ready STL.
Upload a photo
Portraits, landscapes or logos all work, as long as the image has a clear subject and real contrast between its lightest and darkest areas.
Adjust the relief
Set the panel size and the thickness range that will encode brightness: thin areas let light through, thick areas hold it back.
Download the STL
Load the file into your usual slicer, print it in a light-colored filament, and stand it in front of a light source to see the image appear.
Reference
Input and output: size and thickness
| Parameter | Value | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Width (mm) | 30 to 300, default 100 | mm |
| Min Thickness (mm) | 0.2 to 2.0, default 0.6 | mm |
| Max Thickness (mm) | 1.0 to 8.0, default 3.0 | mm |
| Resolution (px) | 50 to 1024, default 200 | |
| Bottom Hole (mm) | 0 to 0.9 of the width | mm |
Ranges and default values of the tool's controls
Shape and quality
| Parameter | Value | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Lithophane Shape | Flat, Curve, Cylinder, Sphere, Moon, Heart, Cone, Cube | |
| Curve Angle (deg) | 30 to 360, default 120 | ° |
| Border Width (mm) | 0 to 20, default 2.0 | mm |
| Border Depth (mm) | 2 to 30, default 4.0 | mm |
Shape and border controls; default values
Any photo, any shape
One photo in, a print-ready STL out, sized for the shape it will end up as.
Why use the generator
A lithophane is simple in principle and fiddly to model by hand. This is the fiddly part, handled for you.
No CAD required
Upload a photo and get a printable 3D model back, instead of learning a modeling tool. Brightness becomes relief automatically.
Control over the relief
Set the panel size and the thickness range yourself, so you can trade fine detail against a thicker, sturdier print.
A keepsake-ready STL
Portraits, wedding photos, a child's drawing: the generator exports a plain STL you can print as a gift or a keepsake.
Works with any FDM printer
The output is standard STL with nothing proprietary attached, so any slicer and any printer can take it from there.
Flat panel or curved lamp: two different prints
The photo-to-thickness principle stays the same, but orientation and end use do not.
| Flat panel | Curved / cylinder / lamp | |
|---|---|---|
| Print orientation | Lies flat on the bed, thickness builds up in Z | Printed upright, in its final curved shape |
| Typical use | Photo frames, wall panels, plaques | Lampshades, night lights, wraps around a bulb |
| Light source | Backlit from behind: a window, LED panel or screen | Lit from inside the curve, usually an LED bulb |
| Supports needed | None, the flat back rests on the bed | None for a smooth loop, tight curves need care |
| Infill | Solid, the thickness itself carries the image | Solid, for the same reason as a flat panel |
Both shapes rely on the same rule: local thickness carries the image, so both need to print solid rather than with a sparse infill pattern. What changes is orientation and what sits behind the plastic. A flat panel is backlit from a separate light source, while a curved or cylindrical piece usually has the light built into the middle of the shape, which is what turns a lithophane into a lamp.
Frequently asked questions
What is a lithophane?
A lithophane is a thin, translucent relief where the local thickness of the material encodes the brightness of an image: thin areas let light through and read as bright, thick areas block it and read as dark. Flat in normal light it looks like a blank panel, but held up to a light source it turns into the picture.
What kind of photos work best?
Images with a clear subject and real contrast between light and dark areas translate best, because brightness maps directly to thickness. Portraits taken in even light and landscapes with visible depth hold up well. Very dark, flat or low-contrast photos lose detail, since most of the image ends up mapped to a narrow thickness range.
Should a lithophane be printed flat or standing up?
A flat panel lithophane is printed lying flat on the bed, with thickness building up in the Z axis from a thin base to the darkest points. A curved or cylindrical lithophane, such as a lampshade, has to be printed standing upright in its final shape, since there is no way to lay a closed curve flat without supports distorting it.
Why is white PLA the usual material?
White PLA transmits light evenly through its thickness and does not tint the image the way a colored or dark filament would. Other translucent filaments can work, but any color cast in the plastic shows up as a color cast in the backlit picture, so white stays the safe default for a clean grayscale result.
What infill does a lithophane need?
A lithophane needs solid infill, because the varying wall thickness is the entire model: any sparse infill pattern or internal gaps would show up as bright or dark patches once the piece is backlit. There is effectively no separate infill setting to tune, since the whole print functions as a single solid wall.
How do you actually display a finished lithophane?
Backlight it. A flat panel goes in front of a window, a lightbox, an LED panel or even a phone screen, positioned so the light spreads evenly behind it. A curved or cylindrical print is lit from inside instead, typically with an LED bulb at the center, which is what turns it into a lamp or a night light.
Other tools
Part of the EduFacturing tool set.
The rest of the tool set
This tool is part of the Pro plan (15 EUR/month). It is one of a set of more than a hundred engineering tools on EduFacturing: calculators, calibration helpers, slicer references, defect diagnosis, CAD utilities and printer configurators. Most of them sit behind a free account.
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