Porcela Lithophane Maker

Turn a photo into a flat or curved lithophane STL, with an editable project you can keep on your iPhone or iPad. Porcela prepares the geometry and real print files locally, without uploading your photo.

SHAPE YOUR PHOTO Import a single still image from Files or Photos. Set developed width, choose Flat or a 30°, 60° or 90° arc, and control the light and dark thickness range. Height follows the photo's aspect ratio. An optional 2 mm border uses maximum thickness. Adjust brightness, contrast and gamma; flip horizontally or invert tones.

INSPECT THE MODEL Rotate the actual mesh or select Front, Oblique or Edge. Switch between a digital Tone illustration, the shaded Solid and a mid-height thickness section. iPad places the large model and section beside a dedicated inspector. The preview is capped at 192 samples; the exported STL uses your selected 128, 256 or 512 samples on the longest edge, with at least 16 per axis. The displayed sample spacing helps you choose detail.

HAND OFF REAL FILES Build a closed binary STL and share it into Files or a slicer. The complete ZIP also contains a connected 21-step thickness coupon STL, a two-page PDF with model dimensions, bounding size, section and coupon values, an adjusted photo PNG, settings JSON and print notes. Preview the actual PDF and share individual files from the Files page.

The coupon is a 105 × 20 mm solid with adjacent 5 mm steps from your minimum to maximum thickness. Use it to test your own filament, slicing settings and lighting before printing the final photo. Values describe geometry, not measured material transmission.

KEEP YOUR WORK Save up to 12 projects, each with a photo and editable parameters. Reopen, rename, add notes, duplicate, replace the photo or delete a project. Editing clears the previous output so shared files match the current project. Production starts empty; one original generated landscape is available as an optional example through the same processing and export engine.

PRINTING REALITY STL does not store a unit tag. Import with millimetres at 100% scale, check the dimensions and select the printer orientation in your slicer. Y is image height and Z is depth. Curved width is developed arc length, not the shorter chord.

Width 50–180 mm; aspect-derived height 20–240 mm. Minimum thickness 0.6–1.6 mm and maximum 2–5 mm. Single still images iOS can decode, up to 40 MB and 40 megapixels. Working copies are oriented, flattened onto white, converted to 8-bit sRGB grayscale and capped at 2048 pixels on the longest edge. Original EXIF is not retained. Settings JSON is a parameter record, not an importable project backup; keep originals and important exports separately.

Grayscale uses weighted encoded-sRGB luma followed by brightness, contrast and gamma, then maps dark tones to greater thickness. Tone view is a digital illustration, not calibrated illumination. No physical print was performed by the app. No automatic cropping, RAW editor, material profile, slicing, G-code, printer connection, print-quality guarantee or cloud sync.

One upfront purchase. No subscription, in-app purchases, account, advertising, analytics, tracking or developer-server upload. Photos and work stay on your device until you choose to share them.

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