Create an STL Relief from an Image
Create a height-map relief from PNG or JPG/JPEG brightness. Set width, base and relief height, preview locally and export STL with side walls and a base.
Supported input and output
PNG and JPG/JPEG → binary STL. Choose model units or explicitly select millimetres.
Brightness becomes height above a base
The image is sampled onto a bounded grid. White is high by default and dark regions are lower; Invert reverses the mapping. A base and side walls close the relief. This produces a height map from a single image, not a reconstruction of hidden surfaces or the full object photographed.
How to use this tool
- Choose a PNG or JPG/JPEG and inspect the oriented image.
- Set width, relief height, base thickness and grid resolution; explicitly select millimetres for physical dimensions.
- Review the generated surface and bounds, then export STL with the same unit choice in your slicer.
Limitations to check
- This is a brightness relief, not AI reconstruction of a full 3D object.
- White is high by default; invert reverses the mapping. Transparent pixels are composited onto white.
- Local browser decoding honors image orientation. Resampling to the selected grid loses small image details.
- No smoothing or color output. Closed-edge checks do not guarantee printing success.
File and processing limits
- PNG/JPG/JPEG up to 8 MiB, 4,096 pixels per axis and 8 million pixels total.
- Mesh sampling: at most 96 samples on the longest grid side.
- 20 seconds per job; 150,000 vertices, 50,000 triangles and 3 MiB output.
Processing happens in this browser; your file and filename are not uploaded. Cancel, reset or replace the file to stop its worker. Downloads are generated locally.
Questions about this workflow
What happens to transparent pixels and fine details?
Transparent pixels are composited onto white before the brightness mapping. Grid resampling loses details smaller than the selected mesh resolution; increasing resolution still remains subject to the processing limits.