Lampshades are a perfect match with lithophanes. Especially because it already includes a light source. Besides, you can use (almost) any lampshade holder you have and 3D print your own lithophane lamp shade.
You can create your own 3D printed lampshade, which perfectly fit the atmosphere of the room. You can add your own pictures on the lithophane lamp which makes it a great gift for friends and family or just for your own room!
In this guide, we will explain how to make your own lithophane lamp shade with the ItsLitho tool. We will go through four simple steps and the essentials to create your own 3D printed lithophane lampshade!
First, you would like to think about the environment you want to place it in. Or you would like to think about a specific style and choose your image(s).
Once the liked image(s) are gathered then you can upload your image(s) in the “Upload Image” tab. It is often best to use multiple images for a lampshade, unless you have a panorama photo. You can easily select multiple images in the file browser once clicked on upload.
You can move on to the “Edit Image” tab once you’ve uploaded all of your image(s). This tab is not necessary, however, adjusting the brightness and contrast can greatly enhance your image. If you’ve uploaded multiple images, then the next and previous image buttons will appear in the bottom of the image. With these buttons you can slide through all of your images and edit them independently!
We recommend adjusting the contrast setting in particular. Enhancing the contrast can greatly improve your lithophane. You should adjust the brightness accordingly to prevent the image from becoming too bright or dark. The contrast can be the difference between a good lithophane and a stunning lithophane!
The most important tab is where you’ll create your lampshade lithophane, the “Create Model” tab. If the images don’t look as good on the 3D model as expected, then we can easily go to a previous step to make the lithophane even better!
To create a lithophane lamp shade we’ll have to select the cylinder shape, in the shape options. The cylinder shape acts as the basis of the lampshade. The top and bottom diameters should be changed to create the sloping effect, a key characterstic for a lampshade. We made the bottom diameter larger than the top diameter to create such a lampshade. You can modify it to your liking!
Start with the height: The tool will rescale the 3D model to the scale of the image. Therefore, it’s important to start with the height before modifying the top and bottom diameters. Otherwise the top and bottom diameters will be reset to equal to each other.
To give the lithophane lamp a better look we can add a frame or border to the lampshade. Initially, the frame will be drawn around each image. Often, you only want the frame to be on the top and bottom of the lampshade. To achieve this, you should set the between option to 0 mm. This effectively removes the frame/border on the vertical axis.
One feature not to forget are the attributes. With the attributes you can enable a lamp connector. This means that a connecting part is added to the lithophane which can be used to put the lampshade on an existing lamp. You can adjust every aspect of this connecting part. Make sure that you measure the diameter of the lamp socket, as to measure is to know. Input this measured diameter into the fitter diameter. You can also adjust the number of connectors you’d like to use, so that you are not bound to four connectors but instead can use 3 or 5 connectors for example.
Now the only thing left to do is to download your lithophane. Press the download button in the lower right corner of the 3D environment. Your high quality lithophane will be generated after a couple of seconds. If you used the attributes then you can download it together with the “lithophane + attribute” button. If you want the lithophane and attribute apart then you can download them individually.
The possibilities are endless with the ItsLitho lithophane maker. And with the creativity of the users, we’d love to see your creations. Tag us in your lithophane posts on social media, and let us know what you created!
Free online designing software that helps you create high-quality 3D printed lithophanes. It’s a simple yet powerful cross-platform lithophane maker.
