Lithophane maker

Turn a photo into a lithophane: a thin panel that looks plain in daylight and shows the picture when you hold it up to a light. Dark parts of the photo print thick and bright parts print thin.

Picture

Drop a photo here

Choose a photo

JPG, PNG or WebP. The photo is turned to greyscale in your browser; only that is used to build the model. Pictures with clear contrast and a well-lit face or subject work best.

Negative (light parts thick)

Shape

Flat Curved

Picture width mm Border mm

Print standing up

Standing up gives finer detail; lying flat is easier to print. A border helps either way.

Thickness

Thinnest (brightest) mm Thickest (darkest) mm

0.8 to 3 mm suits white PLA. Go thinner if the picture looks too dark when lit.

Detail

Draft Standard Fine

Points every 0.3 mm. Finer than your nozzle width adds file size more than detail; 0.3 mm suits a 0.4 mm nozzle.

Common problems

Print not coming out right? These guides list the likely causes and fixes, easiest first.

Banding and Z wobble (repeating lines)
Fine ripple pattern on walls (salmon skin)
Layers shifted sideways

All troubleshooting guides