
On a resin 3D printer, it’s even possible to 3D print a lithophane in less than 20 minutes but printing it flat. Here’s a video that takes you through the process of getting the photo, editing it in a photo editing software like GIMP, then getting it ready to 3D print on a filament 3D printer or resin 3D printer. PLA is a popular material to 3D print lithophanes, but you can also use PETG and even resins on a resin 3D printer. In terms of colors, most people recommend 3D printing your lithophanes in white because they show up the best, though it’s possible to do them in color. Some methods are very quick, while others take a little more time to get it just right. You can transform any 2D image into lithophane using various techniques that I’ll explain throughout this article. You won’t be able to see the detailed image until the lithophane is put against a bright enough light, but when you do, it’s very noticeable. They work by 3D printing different thicknesses where the image has lighter and darker spots, resulting in more light passing through thin areas and less light in the thicker areas. Install "Image2Surface" Add-In to Fusion 360Ī lithophane is a 3D version of a 2D picture that shows the image when a light is shined through it.How to Make a Lithophane for 3D Printing.I hope this has fully answered the question "Why do you need it?".Įspecially with Fusion360 gearing more and more towards the additive manufacturing use cases I would really hope that simple features like PLA and PETG in the standard fusion360 library and maybe some more advanced features like suggested or directional strength parameters, would get integrated. It is then up to the user to correctly interpret this information and account for deviations. They merely provide the user some indication of potential outcomes. It is not the purpose of a simulation to perfectly represent real life situations since the conditions are far too complex to model. If you are asking why one would need to simulate PLA for 3D printing since the theoretical values will not match the real world results, I have only one question to ask back: Why do we simulate at all? No simulation I have ever heard of can be directly applied to the real world without taking non-ideal conditions into considerations. I agree with as an engineering student who works a lot with additive manufacturing I would love to see materials like PLA and PETG in the standard Fusion360 library.
