A lithophane is a unique piece of artwork that, when backlit, reveals a detailed image. Traditionally, lithophanes were made from thin, translucent porcelain, and the image was created by varying the thickness of the material. The thicker areas appear darker when backlit, while the thinner areas appear lighter, thus producing an image.
A 3D printed lithophane is a modern take on this concept, using 3D printing technology to produce the varying thicknesses required to create the image. Here's how it works:
Image Selection: A digital image is chosen to be transformed into a lithophane. This could be a photograph, artwork, or any other image.
Conversion: Specialized software or online tools convert the digital image into a 3D model. The software translates the brightness values of each pixel in the image into corresponding thicknesses in the 3D model.
3D Printing: The 3D model is then printed using a 3D printer, typically with a white or translucent filament (like PLA). The printer lays down layers of filament to build up the image, with thicker areas for darker parts of the image and thinner areas for lighter parts.
Display: Once printed, the lithophane is best viewed in front of a light source. This could be a window, a lamp, or a dedicated LED backlight. When lit from behind, the image becomes visible in great detail.
Make Your Own Lithophane:
Use this fantastic site http://3dp.rocks/lithophane/ to generate a lithophane panel (STL) from your image.
Here are the settings we used to make our first 3D Printed Lithophane:
Model: Choose "Outer Curve"
Model Settings:
Maximum Size (mm): 87. Use according to your photo
Thickness (mm): 2
Border (mm): 2
Thinnest Layer (mm): 0.8
Vectors Per Pixel: 10 (could set this lower for a smaller STL)
Base/Stand Depth: 0
Curve: 90 (according to you)
Image Settings:
Positive Image
Mirror Image Off
Flip Image Off
Manual Refresh
Repeat X Count O
Repeat Y Count 0
Mirror Repeat Off
Flip Repeat Off
Repeat for all your images.
For the best quality, we recommend printing the lithophane panels in high quality (we used 0.09 mm layer height), 100% infill, standing upright, and with the z-axis seam set so that each layer starts on the edge of the image.
