Your photo turned into a panel of light, frame optional

What it's for

• Mother's Day gift with a photo of the grandkids, frame printed alongside
• Pet portrait on a panel to lean against the living room lamp
• Bedside lamp with the family photo, mounted on an LED base
• Graduation portrait on the study desk, lit by an LED strip behind it
• Swap-in panel for a light box you already have
• Travel photo as a small backlit picture on the shelf

What you adjust

• Width from 50 to 200 mm — the height follows on its own, from your photo's aspect ratio
• Thickness at the bright end, 0.6 to 1.6 mm: the thin part, the one light passes through
• Thickness at the dark end, 2 to 5 mm: the black of the image, the one that blocks light
• Detail in three levels: 90, 140 or 200 — that's how many points of the photo the app reads across the width. More points, finer detail, and a slower build
• Optional frame, 2 to 10 mm wide, at the same height as the panel
• Split into two parts with an alignment pin, when the panel is bigger than your bed

How to print it

• It comes out as STL, and the whole thing is one single color — what draws the picture here is thickness, never a filament change
• Print it upright: turn the panel 90° in the slicer — the program that slices the model before printing — and the layers start running across the image, erasing the stepping between tones. No supports needed, just a brim: the skirt of first layer the slicer draws around the part, because the base is narrow
• White or translucent filament, and infill at 100%, meaning no hollow anywhere inside: color tints the light, and a pocket of air becomes a blotch once the panel is lit
• Declare your printer — nozzle and layer height — and the bright-side thickness stops going down: the floor is three layers. On a 0.2 mm layer it sits at 0.6 mm; on a 0.3 mm one, at 0.9 mm. Not a warning: the control locks there

Frequently asked questions

Do I really need a light behind it?

You do. With nothing behind it you get a gray relief you can barely read. Any diffuse light works: an LED strip, a desk lamp, or your phone screen just to check before you mount it.

What kind of photo works?

PNG or JPEG, with contrast and a large subject — a face up close, a silhouette against the sky. The panel reads only the brightness of each point and turns it into thickness: color is lost, a dark photo comes out thick all over, and small detail disappears.

Can I make it multicolor, with an AMS?

Not in this model, and that isn't a shortcoming: the image here is made of thickness, and it's precisely because the panel is a single translucent color that a lithophane works at all. Colored filament tints the light and kills the portrait. If you want a multicolor part, the app has another model, the Multicolor picture.

Does my photo go to a server?

Not to generate it or download it. The photo is read and the panel is built inside your browser, no queue and no upload. It only leaves your machine if you choose to keep the model in an account — and downloading asks for no account at all.