Cylindrical Lithophans

Lithophans are one of my favorite things to 3D print. I have written software in MATLAB and python that can convert images to lithophans. Most years I design a lithophan and 3D printable frame to give away to family for Christmas and each year I like to try to do something different, creative and a little more challenging.

This year we had a picture of all 9 kids (my four, our brothers four and our exchange student) all standing in a line between our two houses. This picture works best as a long and thin image (See above). I thought it would be cool to print this on a cylinder with a light source on the inside and then have it rotate. It took me a while to get the mesh right but the results turned out quite good:

I also had fun with my time-lapse camera during the print. I added in an electronic tea light when the print head was high enough and I managed to show the lithophan as it is being printed.

The last thing I did was make a "lid" for the cylinder so that I could include a picture of my niece who was the only grandchild not in the picture from the two houses. For this one I just made one of my standard square lithophans and then added a circular frame with a stepped lid so that It would fit snugly in the cylinder. It took a few iterations to get the lid part working but I just drilled a hole in the top and used the failures as ornaments for my brother and sister to give away.