instructables

Lithophane Night Light

by Dustin Rogers

What is a lithophane (lith-uh-feyn) you ask? It is an
etched or molded artwork made of a thin translucent
material that can only be seen clearly when back lit
with a light source. Traditionally these are made of
porcelain, often masterfully crafted into the bottoms of
teacups, but for several years people have been
creating lithophanes with 3d printers.
trying a few different things to improve the process.
Follow along to find out how I use free software to
create the models to 3d print your very own custom
lithophane night light. You will need a night light to
backlight the lithophane. I use these LED night lights
but have used some incandescent lights as well.

Since the first time I experienced the magic of a I encourage you to vote for this instructable as I will
lithophane I thought it would be a perfect accessory be entering it into the Lights contest.
for a nightlight, but my knowledge of how to create
the lithophanes was lacking. Recently I stumbled For those of you who don't like reading, I have
upon an item on Thingiverse by user poor_red_neck demonstrated this method in the video linked below.
that described how to use a modeling software to
combine a part he designed with a generated https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EagvYFY-VUM
lithophane. I used his guide to make a few of these,
but wanted mine shaped a bit differently so I started

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EagvYFY-VUM

Lithophane Night Light: Page 1

Step 1: Create the Lithophane Model

There are many different methods for creating lithophanes, but the easiest that I've found for making night lights is
a web-based utility called Image to Lithophane. It can be found at http://3dp.rocks/lithophane/

1. Open the website and select the Images tab at the top. Here you can upload the image that you
want to use for the lithophane. I've found that portrait layout photos work the best, so those are the
settings that I'll be showing. If you want to use a landscape photo, you'll need to experiment with the
settings a bit to get it sized correctly.
2. Once your image is uploaded, select Settings > Image Settings. Here you will want to select
'Positive Image', as the default setting is set to 'Negative Image'. I leave the remaining Image
Settings on their defaults.
3. Next select Settings > Model Settings. Here you will need to change a few settings. My "go to"
settings are as follows (changes from defaults highlighted):
Maximum Size = 80 (this will limit the height of a portrait image to 80mm tall, which
works well for a nightlight)
Border = 0 (adjust as desired)
Thinnest Layer = 0.8 (a majority of printers are sold with a 0.4mm nozzle, so this will
give you 2 perimeters)
Vectors Per Pixel = 4 or 5 (simply put, the more vectors per pixel, the smoother the
transition between high/low areas. Keep in mind more vectors = more processing time)
Base/Stand Depth = 0
Curve = 180 (in degrees)
Thickness = 2.5 - 3 (this is the maximum thickness of the litho)

4. Once you have your Settings adjusted, click the Model tab. At the bottom of the screen you want to
select 'Outer Curve' and then click the 'Refresh' button. Once the model is generated and looks
acceptable click the Download button.

Lithophane Night Light: Page 2

Step 2: Determine the Size
Once you have your lithophane model downloaded,
you'll need a program that can open the .stl file. The
program that I use is called Cura. It can be
downloaded from here. It is a slicing software that
slices a 3d model into all the separate layers that get
deposited by the 3d printer. The functionality that is
demonstrated in the remaining steps is available in
Cura 2.3 and higher. The current release is 2.5, and
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that is what I use.
Open Cura and then open the .stl file you
downloaded. In the lower right corner you will see the
dimensions of the model. These dimensions will be
used to create the base that will slide onto the night
light.
Step 3: Prepare the Modeling Software
To create the base that will slide onto the night light
you'll need a 3d modeling software. There are many
to choose from, some free, some paid, but I'm most
familiar with Sketchup. If you don't have it, you can
download it here. You will also need to create an
account, or login with a Google account to download
an extension used to export .stl files.
Open Sketchup and choose a template with mm
measurements. In the 'Windows' menu, select
that the origin point (0,0,0) is positioned in the center
of your model, or draw the model and move it so the
center point is positioned at 0,0,0. Also, I'm a big fan
of keyboard shortcuts, so if you see bold square
brackets around an uppercase letter/key combination,
Step 4: Start Drawing...
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'Extension Warehouse'. Click 'Sign In' in the top right
corner. Use a Google account (or create a Trimble
account) to sign in. Once signed in, type 'STL' in the
search bar and hit enter. Select the SketchUp STL
extension by SketchupTeam and then click Install.
In preparing to draw the model, you have to keep in
mind the origin of the model. The origin of the
lithophane model will be directly in the middle of all
axis (X,Y,Z). I'd suggest either drawing the base so
that is the keyboard entry to use for a specific tool
(i.e. [C] = circle tool).
Remember those dimensions you got a couple steps
back? Here's where you'll need those. We know that
the lithophane is a 180° half circle, therefore the X
dimension of your lithophane should be roughly twice
the Y dimension, which should be the radius of the
circle. In my instance, the width = 47mm and the
depth = 24mm, so I need to start by drawing a half
circle with a 47mm diameter. Since the center of a
half circle is NOT the same as the center of a whole
circle, I start by using the tape measure tool [T] to
layout some construction lines. First I double click on
both the red axis and the green axis. This will place a
construction line directly on the axis lines. These will
come in handy later. Click on the green axis and drag
your mouse to the left. You can enter a specific
distance by typing the numbers and pressing enter. I
entered 47/2 to draw a construction line that was
23.5mm to the left of center. I repeated this to the
right. I repeated the same steps dragging the line
back and forward of the red axis, using 24/2 for the
direct entry measurement.
**Direct entry in sketchup can handle
mathematical equations of whole numbers.
Unfortunately it cannot handle a decimal on either
side of an operator (+,-,*, or /). For example 2.5/2
will not result in a 1.25 distance.
Now that the working area is defined by the dashed
lines, I set the radius to 1.5mm less than the original
radius. I do this by dragging another construction line
1.5mm from the front construction line towards the
center. You can then draw a circle [C] using the
intersection of the rear construction line and the green
axis as the center point.
**Circles in sketchup are made up of a bunch of
short, straight sides. By default, a circle in
sketchup has 36 sides. This can often result in flat
spots in a curve. To smooth out the curves you
need to increase the number or sides. I typically
use 100 because it's a number that is divisible by
4. To set the new number of sides, start to draw a
circle by clicking where the center point of the
circle should be and then type the desired number
of sides followed by a 's' and press enter (i.e.
100s).
Drag the edge of the circle and click on the
intersection of the 1.5mm offset line and the green
axis. Now draw a line [L] along the rear construction
line. This should go through the middle of the circle.
You can then use the eraser tool [E] to erase the
back half of the circle. You can erase most of the
construction lines at this point, too.

Most of the typical night lights have a D-shaped

section that the original lens slides around. The width
of this section is just under 17mm. To allow for a little
wiggle room, I find that making a slot 17.4mm wide
slot into the base makes a good fit. Working out from
the center, draw construction lines 8.7mm to each
side of the green axis. Depending on the depth of the
lithophane you're using, you'll need to establish the
front of the D-section. I typically offset from the front
of the curve 3mm. From that point, I can draw a
construction line 8.7mm from the offset line to get the
center point of the D-section.

Using the arc tool, click the center point defined by

the construction lines. Next click the intersection of
the 8.7mm construction line to the right of the center
point and drag the arc around to form a half circle.
Next use the line tool [L] to draw from the ends of the
arc along the green axis to the back edge of the base.
Use the eraser tool [E] to erase the line that closes
the end of the D-shaped slot. You can also erase all
the construction lines now.
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Now that the shape of the base is established, we
need to give it some thickness. Use the push/pull tool
[P] and click the face of the shape drawn and drag
upward to extrude the shape. Type 1.6 and hit enter
to give it the appropriate thickness.

If you want to bevel the edges of the opening to make

it easier to get onto the night light, you can, but I'm
not going to cover that here. I do show how to do it in
my video if you want to see how to do it. Otherwise
it's time to export the model in a format that can be
opened with the slicing software. This is where the
SketchUp STL extension is used.

Press the [spacebar] to activate the selection tool.

Click and drag a window around the entire part to
select it. Go to the File menu and select 'Export
STL...', when the dialog pops up, check the box for
'Export selected geometry only' and select 'Model
units' in the drop down box. Save the file.

Lithophane Night Light: Page 6

Lithophane Night Light: Page 7
Step 5: Mash 'em Together
Go back into Cura and click Preferences > Configure
Cura... In the General settings, uncheck the 'Ensure
models are kept apart'. This will allow you to overlap
two models.
Open the base model file that you created in
Sketchup. You should now have the lithophane
model and the base model on the build plate. To
combine them you can do it one of two ways.
Merge Models
Hold [Shift] and select both models. Right click on
one of them and choose 'Merge Models...' The merge
models will merge the selected models together
aligning them on the origin. Since we created the
base model around the origin point and the origin of
the lithophane was in the center this should work
without issue. If things aren't lined up properly, press
[Ctrl Z] to undo the merge and position both pieces
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manually using the next method.
Position manually
Positioning manually is pretty self explanatory. When
you select one of the models, you will see green, red,
and blue arrows. You can click on one of the arrows
to drag it in that direction. Pan/orbit around the model
to verify that you have the two models lined up
properly. If you need to move both pieces to a
different spot on the build plate and keep them
aligned, just hold [Shift] and select both models and
then right click on one and select 'Group models'.
Adjust your settings for the material and printer. I
always use a 6mm brim just to minimize any warping.
Once you've got all your settings dialed in, slice the
model and save the gcode file and send it you your
printer.
Step 6: Printing

In closing, here's a few others that I have made.
These are really fun to make and everyone that sees
them for the first time is in awe. They make really
great gifts. If you don't have a 3d printer, there are
plenty of printing services out there that you could
send the 3d models to and have them printed. You
may even have someone locally that would be willing
to print them for a few bucks.
Good luck with making your own custom lithophane
night lights. I'd love to see what you all make. And if
you made it this far, thank you and please consider
voting for this instructable.

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