How to leave everyone flabbergasted with your Lithophane? That’s right – Color lithophanes! Bring colors to your lithophane with this fairly simple method.
Lithophanes themselves are already stunning to make, but color lithophanes are even more surprising.
No one is expecting a regular piece of white plastic to turn into a colorful detailed image.
Our method is simple and accessible to anyone. You only need one color of plastic, a piece of (transparent) paper & some magic from ItsLitho.
So let’s dive in, and begin with your colored lithophane!
Normally, we print a lithophane with some semi-translucent filament plastic. When you shine a light through the lithophane a monochromic image will appear. It means that just one “color” with different intensities will show up.
Normally, we print a lithophane with some semi-translucent filament plastic. When you shine a light through the lithophane a monochromic image will appear. It means that just one “color” with different intensities will show up.
But with the colored lithophane, we want to express multiple colors as well as different intensity’s.
With our simple method this can be achieved by using a piece of paper with the image behind the lithophane.
However, your original picture will not work. Why? Because the lithophane has intensity (brightness) information in it, due to the varying thickness of the lithophane.
Therefore, if you were to use the original picture, then the colors would appear different then the original colors.
Luckily, ItsLitho will automatically convert your image to a tailor-made image you can put behind your lithophane.
The intensity levels in the picture are removed, which may look weird on paper. But looks amazing when you put it behind your lithophane!
The tailor-made images downloaded in ItsLitho also have the exact dimensions of the generated lithophane!
This will spare you a lot of time resing the image to the dimensions of your lithophane.
1
First, create your lithophane using the ItsLitho tool. You can create your lithophane in four simple steps:
Step 1 | Upload your image(s)
Select the image(s) you would like to use for your lithophane.
Step 2 | Edit your image(s)
This is optional, but you can enhance the contrast of your lithophane by adjusting your image. Even for the color lithophane, this can enhance the darker parts of your image.
Step 3 | Create your 3D model Lithophane
Enhance the contrast of your lithophane by adjusting your image. Even for the color lithophane, this can enhance the darker parts of your image.
Step 4 | Download your lithophane & Colorful image
After you press the download button you’ll get a pop-up. Now your lithophane will be created! Here you will need the download your lithophane & color lithophane image.
You will get the following files:
You’ll get your tailor-made image for the color lithophane (ItsLithoColor_.jpeg). But also the original image (ItsLithoNormal_.jpeg), which also are the same dimensions as the lithophane.
We noticed that some users which are printing with a resin printer had better results with the original image. So we wanted to give users the possibility to try this out.
2
Now let’s prepare the files. The jpeg file needs some extra attention to make it fit the lithophane.
For slicing your lithophanes, we wrote a post that helps to slice & print them: Tweaking your lithophane to perfection.
For material tips, have a look in our store to see what kind of Filaments works well with lithophanes. We also show light sources that work well by displaying lithophanes.
Before you 2D print your image, you want to make sure the dimensions are correct.
Many programs will try to fit your jpeg on the entire A4 paper. We don’t want this! The jpeg file has the exact dimensions, and therefore we want to keep them.
We used Paint for this. Yes, Paint.
Paint has a feature we need to retain the dimensions of the image. Another plus side is that almost everyone has paint pre-installed on their computer. In the image below we have highlighted these settings!
3
When both prints are ready, there is 1 thing left to do. Add your paper to the back of your lithophane.
This can be done with a little bit of glue, glue spray, or even adhesive tape. Make sure to align it properly for the best result & that’s it.
Now you are all set to make your color lithophane!
Color lithophanes made by Eric Ostler
The colorful can only be applied to plane shapes, arc and cylinder shape.
A spherical lithophane distorts the image and thus it’s not possible to map a flat sheet of paper on a sphere lithophane.
Free online designing software that helps you create high-quality 3D printed lithophanes. It’s a simple yet powerful cross-platform lithophane maker.
