Step 1: Pick the Right Photo
Lithophanes work because brightness becomes thickness — bright pixels become thin (light passes through) and dark pixels become thick (light is blocked). High-contrast photos with a clean subject and a dark or empty background read best. Group portraits, complex landscapes, and photos with overexposed skies translate poorly.
Step 2: Choose a Shape
The Shape dropdown offers three modes:
Flat
Classic rectangular panel. Easiest to print, slot into a frame with a backlight.
Curved
Gently arched panel (set the curve angle 30–120°). Looks beautiful on a desk lamp.
Cylinder
Full 360° tube. Wraps around a candle or LED tea light for a glowing column.
Step 3: Set Thickness Range
The two thickness sliders define the brightness mapping:
Min Thickness
0.6–0.8 mm. Thinner than 0.6 mm risks holes; thicker than 1 mm dims the highlights too much.
Max Thickness
3–4 mm. Thinner than 2.5 mm and shadows look weak; thicker than 5 mm and you waste filament.
Step 4: Resolution and Contrast
Set Resolution to 200–300 px for a good balance of detail and slicing speed. The Contrast slider (0.5–2.0) is your secret weapon — bump it to 1.3–1.5 for portraits, drop it to 0.8 for already-punchy photos.
Toggle Invert only if the image is a negative or has unusual lighting.
Print Settings That Matter
Print in white PLA on a smooth bed (PEI or glass). Use 0.1 mm or finer layers, 100% infill, and slow down to 30 mm/s. Print flat panels with the photo facing the bed for the smoothest result. Cylinders print upright in vase mode at the max thickness as a single perimeter.
Backlight Choice
Warm-white LEDs at ~3000K give the most photographic look. Cool-white LEDs flatten contrast. A bare bulb behind a flat lithophane is fine; for cylinders, a tea-light LED (or a real candle in PETG-printed shades) reads best.