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3DAI
Free · runs in your browser · no signup

Lithophane Generator: Turn a Photo into a Printable STL

A lithophane is a thin panel whose thickness follows the photo: dark parts are thick, light parts are thin, so the picture appears when a light shines through it. Drop a photo, tune the thickness and download the STL. Everything runs on your device.

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How to use it

  1. 1

    Pick a photo

    Portraits, pets and landscapes with clear contrast work best. PNG, JPG or WEBP.

  2. 2

    Set size and thickness

    Width in mm, then the thinnest (light) and thickest (dark) parts. 0.8 and 3 mm is a safe start.

  3. 3

    Check the backlit preview

    The flat preview shows roughly how it glows. Turn the 3D view to check the frame.

  4. 4

    Download and print

    Save the STL and slice it standing up, with 100% infill and white filament.

Print settings that work

Lithophanes are judged by how they look with light behind them, so the slicer settings matter more than for most prints. These are common starting points; your printer may need small changes.

FilamentWhite or natural PLA. Colours and dark plastics block too much light.
Infill100%. Any gaps inside show up as patterns when backlit.
Layer height0.08 to 0.12 mm for fine detail; 0.16 mm is faster and still fine for larger panels.
OrientationStand the panel upright (on its edge) so the detail is built by the nozzle's fine X/Y moves.
SpeedSlower outer walls (around 20 to 30 mm/s) give smoother tones.
ThicknessThinnest 0.6 to 1 mm, thickest 2.5 to 3.5 mm. Thicker gives more contrast but needs a brighter light.

Choosing a good photo

A lithophane only has thickness to show tone, so strong, simple contrast reads best. Crop tight around the subject, avoid busy backgrounds and very dark photos, and raise the brightness a little if faces come out too thick. The Negative option flips it, which can suit night scenes or silhouettes.

Good to know

  • This makes a flat panel. Curved, cylinder and lamp-shade lithophanes are not built here yet.
  • Detail is capped at 800 sample points on the longest side, which is already finer than most nozzles can print.
  • Very large widths at Fine detail make big files. Draft or Standard is plenty for panels up to about 150 mm.
  • The backlit preview is an estimate. Real results depend on your filament, light and layer height.

Want a full 3D model instead?

This page makes flat, layered prints from an image or text. For a real 3D object (a figure, a vase, a toy) our AI generators build one from a photo, a sketch or a sentence, with an STL download. They use credits; this tool does not.

Image to STL →A full 3D object from one photo.Sketch to STL →Draw it, get a printable model.Text to STL →Describe it in a sentence.

Frequently Asked Questions

A lithophane is a thin sheet where the picture is stored as thickness. Thick areas let less light through and look dark, thin areas glow. They date back to 19th-century porcelain and are now a popular 3D printing project.
Yes. It runs in your browser, has no limit on files and needs no account.
A common range is about 0.8 mm for the lightest areas and 3 mm for the darkest. Go thinner for weak lights, thicker for more contrast in bright light.
That is normal. The image only appears when light passes through it, from a window, a phone torch or an LED panel behind the print.
It adds a solid border at full thickness around the picture. It makes the panel stiffer and easier to stand up or fit into a holder. Set it to 0 for none.
Most makers print lithophanes standing on their edge. The fine detail is then made by side-to-side nozzle moves instead of layer steps, which gives smoother tones.
Yes. It is converted to brightness first, so only light and dark matter. Colour does not carry into the print.
No. The page reads your file and builds the model inside your browser with the open-source three.js library. Nothing is sent to our servers, there is no account and no credits are used. Closing the tab discards everything.