I made my grandmother a 4 sided wooden photo cube for Christmas last year. I frosted the panes of glass and in place of photos I printed lithophanes and slid them in. I mounted it on a lazy Susan ring, drilled a hole in the bottom of the box and mounted a small night light bulb socket to the base. With the light off it just looks like frosted glass panes, flip on the light and it looks like black and white photos projected onto the frosted glass. You can rotate it around the light base. I used a one of her, then one of my grandfather on the other side, and then one of them together followed by one of their kids and them all together. I spray painted the inside of the box gold so it reflects everywhere and gives the lithophanes a nice warm yellowish white glow.
Hi there. I´ve seen few videos of you. I start to like them. Thanks a lot. There are very usefull information for beginners like me. Please don´t stop.
thanks so much for this technique. I've wanted to try lithophanes, but also discovered that I could save the Cura file as STL and import that into Tinkercad for interesting effects.
You should do an update video. The latest update from Cura has some other settings in that convert image section with a translucency and how much light you want transmitted at what height. I'm playing with these new settings right now.
10:09 Hello Joe. You don't say which is which here. The background looks better on the _right_ and the detail better on the _left_ - to my eyes anyway! Wondering if these details also show up when for example you might light up your lithophane? Thank you! 🤍
I know this is a little old now but I am just getting into 3D printing and found this very helpful. I try to understand as much as I can about a process rather than just following what I'm told to do. When you put your image into Cura and set the base at 0.8mm, you said "I'll explain why later" but then never explained why you like to use 0.8? I need to adjust the thickness of my print and wondering if this should be adjusted? Again, just trying to learn and understand. Thank you.
Thanks for your tutorials, I am new to this craft would you be kind enough to share you Cura profile for the lithophanes and other profile to help us beginners please? Thanks
Hey Joe, great video! I am new to 3D printing and have been learning a lot. For my first prints I was doing some vases but after a few faild ones decided to take a break and try making a lithophane. It came out ok. Had a bunch of stringing inside so looks a little messy. Had retraction on. Wondering if I should either print it vertical instead of horizontal and/or turn on Z Hop when retracted. Wonder if that would help. Was wondering your thoughts and if you share your cura profiles. Loving the content you provide as someone who's new!
I did well up until the part where you started changing printer settings. I have nothing in that section of cura. I dont know how to get that window to open for my anycubic vyper
It's different in the latest version of Cura. Now you click the settings block in the upper left of your 3D view, you may have to switch to advanced mode and use the search to find the commands you need.
A flat back on a curved surface doesn't have the thickness variations necessary for the light to shine through. It's a flat back as in planar, not flat as in "without wrinkles".
Can work using "Paint" This works best if you scan in B/W or scan a B/W or Sepia tone photo. It won't do the color to B/W conversion and feeding a color photo to Cura can give strange results. Cura will try to process a color picture.
Iv got a question for you, so im trying to do 180 litophane outer curve, so I need 2 of them to make a full circle , problem is when I take 2 pictures in online program, each litophane is diferent size. How do I acualy make 2 of same. cuz If I scale in Cura edges do not match, for example cirle is ok, but height does not match, if I scae Z only, then picture is distrorted
That's an idea. I gotta fix my Davinci color first, but I would think that a color lithophane would basically drop the tone data from the image, and use the lithophane to acomplish that. Would the color be on the flat side or on the bumpy side. Hmmm? And would it actually obfuscate the image well enough?
Thank you for the helpful video! I just updated to Cura 4.7 and the lithophane settings have me confused. When I open a photo, I change the base and height to 0.8 and 2.7 (I have gotten great results with this setting, so thank you for that!). However, when I look at the total X axis thickness (printed standing on a raft), it is 0.8 thicker at 4.3 instead of 3.5. I have looked through my settings and I cannot seem to find where this additional 0.8 is coming from. Wall thickness is set to 0.4 and I'm using 100% infill. Does your thickness remain at 3.5 when you slice your lithophanes? Thank you again for the content!
Great video! But when I do a lithophane laying down, it ALWAYS warps really bad around the edges, even with a good glue on the build plate that works for everything else. What am I doing wrong? I print with 100% infill at .6 mm layer height on my CR-10S/
Try to make an enclosre around your printer which would keep the temperature around your buildplate stable while printing (so it can be something temporary or removable). Switch Off A/C or Fan in your work area.
Can you think of a way to make automated batch conversions to .STL or Gcode? I have in excess of 272,300 fractals that would look damn cool as 3D printed Lithophanes. Has resin 3D printers been used to make Lithophanes?
@@IraQNid Conversion from STL to Gcode is called slicing. Batch slicing isn't really a thing. Resin lithophanes would work, but I haven't seen any examples.
Don't worry, problem sorted. I just watched the video again and I realise I was setting both primary and secondary to black. Using the swap arrow has fixed it. Thanks for the quick response.
Hello Professor: As you mentioned Blender & some tools that create "curved" lithophanes, I want to ask you something: If I create a flat one in Blender & then I curve it (maybe using the Curve modifier) to create a lampshade to put on a lamp with a motor that makes it rotate, will it print properly so I can enjoy the lithophane?. Thanks & greets from Argentina (Hope it is from England someday). IDsign4U (Marcelo Miguel Bazan)
It's very difficult to make the thickness of the curve remain the right thickness with the curve modifier. I've tried. The better way I've managed to make it work is to displace a cylinder, then boolean out the internal wall with another cylinder.
Yeah, that's to be expected. But at the same time, I wouldn't increase the resolution or it may be too complicated and crash your computer. Chooseing your subject is very important. Maybe something with less detail.
or you could use this website 3dp.rocks/lithophane/ use the solid cilinder and print in vase mode ;) made some lamps myself like this if you want to see them you can look here ;) > instagram.com/p/Bh6dns6g0hK/
@3D Printing Professor: Nice Video! Good Method with cura that i instantly reproduced but i dont understand the problem with flat back. with this method the back is also flat or i missunderstood something. i used the online tool successfull with a bit of help by a video from RCLifeOn.
OK, I'm thinking I did something wrong with my setup to print a lithophane. I selected the extra fine and went with the default settings and the sliced time is 14h 12m. Is this normal? Thanks.
That does seem a little long. But there's a lot of variables you didn't communicate. What printer, what layer height, did you play with speed settings, etc?
Hi.. Prof. I interested to print some Wall Clock where my face as lithophanes at the background of the wall clock (round shape), can you help me give some idea how to design the lithophanes in round shape and the clock numbers. I mean what software easy to use and the best method to do the round shape of lithophanes. Thanks in advance... Kureka Penang Malaysia.
Penang! Dude, Bukit Timah was my one comfort when I was there. I was missing the mountains of Colorado. The easiest way to do what you're trying is to create the lithophane in Cura, then save the STL, import it into your choice of editing software and go for it. If you're trying to choose a new editing software, I recommend TinkerCad. Easy to use. Free. A good place to start.
Hi Me again sorry to bother you.but I have been look for a good white filament to use so I can do a lithophane print could you recommend a good white filament to use please Thanks
@@Mobile_Dom thanks I use creality PLA with I got with my ender 3 pro and have been looking on Amazon for a good white filament so I can start doing lithophane picture but not sure what one to use as I don't want to ways money on the wrong one
I've switched my blog to a new host so that I can make some changes in the near future. But that means in the meanwhile, while the DNSs are resolving themselves, you may not find the new blog for a little while. Give it another try tomorrow, it should be there, and prettier than ever.
Not to change the subject but have you seen the new SR 30 I feel like there’s a better design for that like you could have the hot in that you can make it in a square cage form and have the hardened towards your body and had the conveyor running towards you in the heart and run away from you so in theory it would it would print the part and it would keep going back and you could in theory make a 30 foot part if you wanted to
There is still a free version. It's $7 on the windows store if you want to go through that. Which isn't a bad way to support the creators. But you have the free option too.
NEVER print the lithophane laying down.... Even his 2 pictures look different.. Study the math, not high enough number of gray scales printed laying down. It is all in the math.
![[Lithophane tips] 10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Making Lithophane - 3D Printing](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3teKRhzTORY/mqdefault.jpg)
![[Lithophane tips] 10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Making Lithophane - 3D Printing](/img/tr.png)
Step by step instructions on the blog: www.3dpprofessor.com/2018/09/making-3d-printed-lithophanes-easy-way.html
When I turn 18, I will try to buy you a better quality mic for your videos. Keep up the good work!
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I made my grandmother a 4 sided wooden photo cube for Christmas last year. I frosted the panes of glass and in place of photos I printed lithophanes and slid them in. I mounted it on a lazy Susan ring, drilled a hole in the bottom of the box and mounted a small night light bulb socket to the base. With the light off it just looks like frosted glass panes, flip on the light and it looks like black and white photos projected onto the frosted glass. You can rotate it around the light base. I used a one of her, then one of my grandfather on the other side, and then one of them together followed by one of their kids and them all together. I spray painted the inside of the box gold so it reflects everywhere and gives the lithophanes a nice warm yellowish white glow.
When I have done them I think I get best results with them standing up, I add a brim and have no worries about them falling over.
printing laying down no layers are visible under the light
Thank you so much, This is one of the easiest tutorials I have watched. Now lets see if I can put it all into motion
You can do it!
Hi there. I´ve seen few videos of you. I start to like them. Thanks a lot. There are very usefull information for beginners like me. Please don´t stop.
thanks so much for this technique. I've wanted to try lithophanes, but also discovered that I could save the Cura file as STL and import that into Tinkercad for interesting effects.
You should do an update video. The latest update from Cura has some other settings in that convert image section with a translucency and how much light you want transmitted at what height. I'm playing with these new settings right now.
I appreciate this excellent lesson as well as your whole channel! Thank you! This is awesome.
its about time to remake this. so many of the cura settings have changed i got a little lost
10:09 Hello Joe. You don't say which is which here. The background looks better on the _right_ and the detail better on the _left_ - to my eyes anyway! Wondering if these details also show up when for example you might light up your lithophane? Thank you! 🤍
You can see the layer lines in the one printed vertically (on the right) vs the one printed laying down (on the left)
This is one of the best RUclips videos ever 😉
I know this is a little old now but I am just getting into 3D printing and found this very helpful. I try to understand as much as I can about a process rather than just following what I'm told to do. When you put your image into Cura and set the base at 0.8mm, you said "I'll explain why later" but then never explained why you like to use 0.8? I need to adjust the thickness of my print and wondering if this should be adjusted? Again, just trying to learn and understand. Thank you.
On the side by side of the upright versus flat, which was which? I think the one of the left had better contrast.
Left was flat, right was upright.
Very cool! Can't wait to try one!
Thanks for your tutorials, I am new to this craft would you be kind enough to share you Cura profile for the lithophanes and other profile to help us beginners please? Thanks
Hey Joe, great video! I am new to 3D printing and have been learning a lot. For my first prints I was doing some vases but after a few faild ones decided to take a break and try making a lithophane. It came out ok. Had a bunch of stringing inside so looks a little messy. Had retraction on. Wondering if I should either print it vertical instead of horizontal and/or turn on Z Hop when retracted. Wonder if that would help. Was wondering your thoughts and if you share your cura profiles. Loving the content you provide as someone who's new!
I did well up until the part where you started changing printer settings. I have nothing in that section of cura. I dont know how to get that window to open for my anycubic vyper
It's different in the latest version of Cura. Now you click the settings block in the upper left of your 3D view, you may have to switch to advanced mode and use the search to find the commands you need.
I am confused why the other software or online options are a problem for creating a flat back (comment at 12:28) but printing flat on the bed is fine.
A flat back on a curved surface doesn't have the thickness variations necessary for the light to shine through. It's a flat back as in planar, not flat as in "without wrinkles".
Love your video
Can work using "Paint"
This works best if you scan in B/W or scan a B/W or Sepia tone photo. It won't do the color to B/W conversion and feeding a color photo to Cura can give strange results. Cura will try to process a color picture.
Iv got a question for you, so im trying to do 180 litophane outer curve, so I need 2 of them to make a full circle , problem is when I take 2 pictures in online program, each litophane is diferent size. How do I acualy make 2 of same. cuz If I scale in Cura edges do not match, for example cirle is ok, but height does not match, if I scae Z only, then picture is distrorted
I have no idea what online program you're using, but I might recommend you take it up with them. If they have an email, contact them.
Hello professor I really like what you do why not print a litophane color with davinci color?
That's an idea. I gotta fix my Davinci color first, but I would think that a color lithophane would basically drop the tone data from the image, and use the lithophane to acomplish that. Would the color be on the flat side or on the bumpy side. Hmmm? And would it actually obfuscate the image well enough?
thank you for this .
thank u very much sir
Would it be easy to convert a pic in photoshop. Then convert to black and white?
Thank you for the helpful video! I just updated to Cura 4.7 and the lithophane settings have me confused. When I open a photo, I change the base and height to 0.8 and 2.7 (I have gotten great results with this setting, so thank you for that!). However, when I look at the total X axis thickness (printed standing on a raft), it is 0.8 thicker at 4.3 instead of 3.5. I have looked through my settings and I cannot seem to find where this additional 0.8 is coming from. Wall thickness is set to 0.4 and I'm using 100% infill. Does your thickness remain at 3.5 when you slice your lithophanes? Thank you again for the content!
the lithophane holder link errors out on my end, do you have another link please?
Updated the link. Try this one. www.thingiverse.com/thing:67241
11:48 Good to know that Lorem Ipsum is alive and well. :)
Good eye.
Zoom feature in Mac OS ;)
How’d u get the frame around the photo ?
Have a white edge on the image.
Great video! But when I do a lithophane laying down, it ALWAYS warps really bad around the edges, even with a good glue on the build plate that works for everything else. What am I doing wrong? I print with 100% infill at .6 mm layer height on my CR-10S/
Try to make an enclosre around your printer which would keep the temperature around your buildplate stable while printing (so it can be something temporary or removable). Switch Off A/C or Fan in your work area.
How would you create a full color 3D printed lithophane?
Jason Preuss at Pattern to Print already has, and there's even a tool to help make them at LithophaneMaker.com
Can you think of a way to make automated batch conversions to .STL or Gcode? I have in excess of 272,300 fractals that would look damn cool as 3D printed Lithophanes. Has resin 3D printers been used to make Lithophanes?
@@IraQNid Conversion from STL to Gcode is called slicing. Batch slicing isn't really a thing. Resin lithophanes would work, but I haven't seen any examples.
Nice, thanks for sharing👍😀
When I try to add the black frame it shows as a grey and white checkered frame. What am I doing wrong?
What image editor are you using?
Don't worry, problem sorted. I just watched the video again and I realise I was setting both primary and secondary to black. Using the swap arrow has fixed it. Thanks for the quick response.
Hello Professor:
As you mentioned Blender & some tools that create "curved" lithophanes, I want to ask you something:
If I create a flat one in Blender & then I curve it (maybe using the Curve modifier) to create a lampshade to put on a lamp with a motor that makes it rotate, will it print properly so I can enjoy the lithophane?.
Thanks & greets from Argentina (Hope it is from England someday).
IDsign4U (Marcelo Miguel Bazan)
It's very difficult to make the thickness of the curve remain the right thickness with the curve modifier. I've tried. The better way I've managed to make it work is to displace a cylinder, then boolean out the internal wall with another cylinder.
I inserted a photo with a very high resolution (around 6k). I lower it down to 300, is that okay? my photo became blurry
Yeah, that's to be expected. But at the same time, I wouldn't increase the resolution or it may be too complicated and crash your computer.
Chooseing your subject is very important. Maybe something with less detail.
@@3dpprofessor Thank you so much!
would you recommend white PETG filament for lithophanes?
That would work fine.
Could you do a tutorial on how to take an image and place it onto the surface of an “abnormal” object like in the shape of a lamp shade?
lithophane makers online have an option for that
For that yo'd need to do hard mode in blender. As I said at 12:17, I've found some online tool, but I can't get htem to work.
or you could use this website 3dp.rocks/lithophane/ use the solid cilinder and print in vase mode ;)
made some lamps myself like this
if you want to see them you can look here ;) > instagram.com/p/Bh6dns6g0hK/
@3D Printing Professor: Nice Video! Good Method with cura that i instantly reproduced but i dont understand the problem with flat back. with this method the back is also flat or i missunderstood something. i used the online tool successfull with a bit of help by a video from RCLifeOn.
What size bulbs are the lithopane clips designed for?
C7. I may be making an adapter for some C6s, but that's mine to worry about.
Awesome. This is going to be one of my next projects. #EthanMakes
Is it possible to do this with a Weedo Tina2?
If you're using WiiBuilder... maybe not. But there's a couple of lithophane building websites out there you can use.
OK, I'm thinking I did something wrong with my setup to print a lithophane. I selected the extra fine and went with the default settings and the sliced time is 14h 12m. Is this normal? Thanks.
That does seem a little long. But there's a lot of variables you didn't communicate. What printer, what layer height, did you play with speed settings, etc?
i'm new to 3d printing. i was wanting to add a name to the frame cap. what do you have to do to do this? your help is greatly appreciated.
You need fusion 360 and a svg file with the text. Then you extrude cut
Hi.. Prof.
I interested to print some Wall Clock where my face as lithophanes at the background of the wall clock (round shape), can you help me give some idea how to design the lithophanes in round shape and the clock numbers. I mean what software easy to use and the best method to do the round shape of lithophanes.
Thanks in advance...
Kureka
Penang Malaysia.
Penang! Dude, Bukit Timah was my one comfort when I was there. I was missing the mountains of Colorado.
The easiest way to do what you're trying is to create the lithophane in Cura, then save the STL, import it into your choice of editing software and go for it. If you're trying to choose a new editing software, I recommend TinkerCad. Easy to use. Free. A good place to start.
Hey, do you use Z Hop when retracted option when you are printing lithophane?
I use z-hop almost always. But a small z-hop, like 0.25mm.
@@3dpprofessor Thank you for fast response!
Hi
Me again sorry to bother you.but I have been look for a good white filament to use so I can do a lithophane print could you recommend a good white filament to use please
Thanks
Where are you located?
@@3dpprofessor in the uk
@@BigT44682 i use BQ EasyPLA from Amazon, £14 a kilo, or if Im feeling fancy, i'll step it up to Filamentive
@@BigT44682 I use anycubic white from amazon,
@@Mobile_Dom thanks
I use creality PLA with I got with my ender 3 pro and have been looking on Amazon for a good white filament so I can start doing lithophane picture but not sure what one to use as I don't want to ways money on the wrong one
cool good job
Hi
Could you please tell me were I can buy lithophane filament please
Thanks
Any filament is lithophane filament. I've printed them in PLA, ABS, and PETG. Lighter opaque colors like white and tan work best.
@@3dpprofessor so do I need to use lithophane filament or can I use white filament
Thanks
Mo Warren
@@BigT44682 White filament will work great.
@@3dpprofessor Thanks for your help
making a lithophane from a photo using CURA 3d printing.
Dude, man, you look a lot like her. :)
Nice!
I went to download your blog instructions, but your site is down.
Too much interest resulting in too much traffic?
I've switched my blog to a new host so that I can make some changes in the near future. But that means in the meanwhile, while the DNSs are resolving themselves, you may not find the new blog for a little while. Give it another try tomorrow, it should be there, and prettier than ever.
will does, thanx
Hey I am going to become one of your Patreon members but I wanted to ask you how do I keep my lithophane from getting up being so stringy
That's all about getting the right material temperature, retraction, and speed.
Not to change the subject but have you seen the new SR 30 I feel like there’s a better design for that like you could have the hot in that you can make it in a square cage form and have the hardened towards your body and had the conveyor running towards you in the heart and run away from you so in theory it would it would print the part and it would keep going back and you could in theory make a 30 foot part if you wanted to
Okay, I'm doing something wrong here. I'm printing some larger at 200 x 153, but surely that shouldn't make the print time go to 9 days 8 hours!
Lots I'd things effect print time. Check the print preview. Make sure the layer height is reasonable. And if everything looks good, trust it.
If you want to use blender you can use these file!
github.com/3devangelist/Blender_Lithophane
the frame you've linked, is absolutely not the same one from your video
Had to move it recently because the old one got deleted, and I have no idea where it is now.
She is your great great great grandma...or is she? :{J
paint.net is now 7$ for windows
There is still a free version. It's $7 on the windows store if you want to go through that.
Which isn't a bad way to support the creators. But you have the free option too.
I am confused. Your lithophanes are not flat on the back? I saw no evidence of that in the video??!?
Oh yes, totally flat on the back.
I can see the resemblance if you weren’t fooling
No fooling.
did exactly what you said and it looks like shit
NEVER print the lithophane laying down.... Even his 2 pictures look different.. Study the math, not high enough number of gray scales printed laying down. It is all in the math.