Lithophanes: a photo printed into a thin plate

How a lithophane works

A program generates a model from a photograph in which every point has a different thickness according to its brightness. Light parts of the image are thin, dark ones thick. When lit from behind, you get an image with subtle shades. The idea is centuries old, they were originally made of porcelain, and Wikipedia describes them. Today several free programs and web tools will make one from a photo.

The resulting file is an ordinary STL. It is a surface with a wavy face, with a thicker solid layer or a frame behind it.

What affects the result

• Material. White PLA is best, because it diffuses light evenly. Dark colours let little light through and no image appears. Of our two materials, choose PLA.
• Thickness. The thinnest spot about 0.6 to 0.8 mm, the thickest around 3 mm. At a 0.2 mm layer that is only 3 to 15 layers, so the number of shades is limited.
• Layer height. We print with a 0.2 mm layer. Finer layers would give smoother transitions, so a lithophane from us has slightly fewer shades than you can get on a printer running 0.1 mm layers.
• Orientation. The plate is usually printed standing up and held in a frame or a stand, which can be part of the model.

The contrast of the source photo matters too. A photo with clear light and dark areas comes out better than a flat grey one. Portraits and landscapes work, fine detail in the shadows is lost.

Light and frame

A lithophane needs a light source behind it, such as an LED strip, a lamp or a window. We do not supply the light or electronics. We print only the plate itself, and a frame or stand if it is in your model. Even backlighting is important, a point source will show a bright spot on the plate.

When ordering

Send the finished lithophane model as an STL, not a photograph. Choose PLA and the lightest colour you can. Infill strength plays no big role, the plate is thin. If you want it bigger or smaller, use the scale, but remember that the thickness changes too, and so does the light.

The photos in the model remain your responsibility. We do not check licences or copyright of the image, so use your own photographs.