Lithophane and stand

thingiverse

A lithophane is a dynamic 3D representation of a static 2D photograph. The black and various shades of gray are skillfully depicted by the varying heights of printed material. When illuminated from behind, the artistry is beautifully revealed. The stand I designed accommodates a curved lithophane with an arc length of 75 cm, perfectly capturing the curved width of the photo. To effectively illuminate the lithophane, a LED light on an inclined platform works well. The more diffuse the LED light, the better it performs. If an uneven light source is used, placing a white 3D printed part over the light can greatly improve the results. I have clearly illustrated this process with a photo of Einstein. For those interested in learning more, I recommend visiting http://3dp.rocks/lithophane/ to generate their own STL file. My example image was W7.6xH9.57 at 300 dpi, and it doesn't matter whether the input image is colored or grayscale. To achieve optimal results, I use the following settings: Thickness: 2 mm Thinnest layer: 0.8 mm Positive image All other settings are default. When using these settings, be sure to select "Use outer curve" and refresh whenever a value is changed. Hit download to bring up the dialog box, and a file name with nameofpic.jpgWxxH100 will pop up, where xx represents the arc length and 100 is the percentage. Note the value of xx, as it will be used to calculate the necessary reduction in lithophane size. To do this, divide 75 by xx, then multiply by 100 to get the required percentage. Cancel out of the dialog box and include this calculated percentage into the Model settings. Refresh and regenerate the STL file, keeping in mind that scaling the model will change both the arc width and thickness. Once complete, slice and print your lithophane using Cura at a layer height of 0.15 with a brim for support. Print vertically to achieve the best results.