Size a relief STL

The STL is a closed relief: a displaced top, a flat floor, and four walls. It is the file a slicer or a mesh viewer opens. The 16-bit PNG is the file a laser or a CNC opens.

Long side

The long side starts at 40 mm and can be set from 10 to 200 mm. Moving it scales the width and height of the mesh. It does not upload the photo again, and it does not spend another credit.

The portrait sample, portrait-relief.stl, uses that 40 mm default, with 5 mm of relief and a 2 mm base. The lion sample, lion-relief.stl, uses 3 mm of relief and a 1.5 mm base, also at 40 mm.

Height comes from the depth slider, not from the long side. A 3 mm depth stays 3 mm tall when you stretch the long side from 40 mm to 80 mm. The base thickness is added under the relief, and the floor of the mesh sits at zero.

What is in the file

The mesh is downsampled so a 1024-pixel photo does not become a multi-million-triangle STL. The download header begins with depth-map.com relief. The 3D preview on the page is the same relief, drawn in the browser. It is not a separate file.

A lithophane uses the same mesh with invert turned on, so the near parts of the photo become the thin parts of the print. That STL is still a flat plaque. It is not a curved lamp shade.

Open Image to STL to move the long-side slider on the portrait sample.