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Tools

Filament art

We turn a picture or a photo into filament colours and make a picture for the wall of them: one print with the colours one above another, or a layered picture of plates in a frame, every colour a plate of its own.

Input

Picture

PNG, JPG, WebP or SVG. A drawing with a few solid colours comes out best; of a photo we take the main colours.

What kind of picture it is

1–5 mm

Nothing in the picture will be smaller. A larger value gives bigger, cleaner areas and a faster print. Photos and paintings look best with 5–6 colours and a detail of 2–3 mm.

0–100
0–1 mm
Adjust the photo (contrast, brightness, saturation)
50–150 %
50–150 %
0–200 %

Size

How it is made
Frame
Shape of the base
50–250 mm
50–250 mm
0–20 mm
6–20 mm
1.5–3 mm
0–5 mm
0.8–3 mm
0.4–1.2 mm

Colours

1–8

Material and quantity

A finished print, as an examplelib:colour/snowman

Sizes and parts appear with the preview.

The calculation shows the exact price and print time, and you can download the model or a project for your printer. No sign-up.

Layered picture: print every plate in its colour (the project and the STL files come plate by plate), then glue them in the order of the guide, back plate first. One print with the colours as steps: the printer stops at every height the project names and the filament is swapped.

Filament art: a photo or a drawing as layers of plastic

The tool reduces a picture or a photo to 1 to 8 colours of filaments we really have in stock on our print farm and builds a picture for the wall of them, 50 to 250 mm wide. By default it is a layered picture: every colour is a plate of its own, 1.5 to 3 mm thick, and the plates stack one behind another like a paper cut, the back one carrying the whole silhouette and the front one only its colour. Spacer posts of 2 to 5 mm between the plates give the picture depth and shadow; for a thin picture the plates lie flat. Add a round or square frame with a slot for a nail and, if you like, room for an LED strip.

The second way is one print: a base plate with the colours 0.4 mm one above another. Every layer of the print holds one filament, so any printer prints it by swapping the filament at the heights the project names. For every colour you see the spool the tool chose and can swap it for another from our catalogue, reorder the colours or merge two. Next to the preview is the guide: the plates in order from the back to the front, each one drawn.

How it works

  1. Upload a picture. Upload a picture, pick one from the library, or reuse one you uploaded earlier. The background goes by itself; for a photo that is to fill the whole area, switch the removal off.
  2. Choose how it is made. A layered picture of plates with a frame, or one print with the colours one above another. Set the width, the thickness of the plates and the gap between them, the frame and room for an LED strip if you want it.
  3. Fine-tune the colours. Choose how many colours and give each one a filament from our catalogue. Colours can be moved forward or back, or two merged into one.
  4. Order the print, or download. Next to the preview you see the size; the calculation after "Continue" shows the exact price. Download every plate as its own STL, or the whole design as a project for your slicer, free and without registration.

What the tool can make

A snowman as a layered picture of five plates in a round 180 mm frame, with spacer posts.
A snowman as a layered picture of five plates in a round 180 mm frame, with spacer posts.
A Christmas tree from the library as four plates without a frame, 150 mm, the back plate carrying the whole silhouette.
A Christmas tree from the library as four plates without a frame, 150 mm, the back plate carrying the whole silhouette.
A gingerbread man as one print of 120 × 140 mm: a base and three colours 0.4 mm one above another.
A gingerbread man as one print of 120 × 140 mm: a base and three colours 0.4 mm one above another.

Common questions

How is a layered picture assembled?

Print every plate in its colour, then glue them by the guide from the back to the front. The spacer posts are part of the plate and go under the plate in front of them. Superglue is enough. The frame prints bottom down and the plates are glued inside it.

What if I only have a single-colour printer?

The layered picture is made for it: every plate is a single-colour print. One print with the colours as steps works too; the project holds filament changes at the right heights, the printer stops and you swap the filament.

Which pictures come out best?

Drawings and logos with a few solid colours. Of a photo the tool takes the main colours and the result is poster-like; for a portrait a lithophane is the better choice. Lines thinner than 0.8 mm would break as a plate of their own, so the tool gives them to the colour behind them and says so.

What frame, and how does it hang?

Round or square, 6 to 20 mm wide, with a slot for a nail in the back. With "Room for an LED strip" the plates stand 10 mm further from the back and there is a slot for the cable at the bottom; the strip is yours to buy.

What is the picture printed from?

From PLA, which has the widest choice of colours and prints flat without supports. The colours are spools we really have in stock, so the print looks like the preview.

How do I pay and how do I get the print?

You pay from prepaid credit topped up by card; prices show in crowns or euros. We send the print by Packeta to a pick-up point or an address in the EU.

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