Image to STL Converter
Make a printable 3D model from a flat picture. Brightness becomes height, so a photo turns into an embossed plaque or a lithophane and a logo turns into a solid shape you can slice right away.
3D Model Converter
or drop STL, OBJ, MTL … files here ·
Max 95 MB per file· Up to 20 files· Deleted after 30 minutes
Files are processed on our servers and deleted after 30 minutes.
STL and OBJ store no units. If a part shows up 10× or 25.4× too small or too big in the slicer, the units were read wrong — set them here.
Blender, CAD programs and slicers use Z-up; glTF, Unity and most game engines use Y-up. Switch it if the model lies on its side after import.
Used when converting STEP or IGES solids to a mesh. Fine gives smooth curves but larger files; coarse is enough for quick previews.
Only used for PNG, JPG or SVG input. Relief raises dark areas; a lithophane is a thin panel that shows the photo when lit from behind; extrude turns a logo or SVG outline into a flat solid shape.
Width of the printed model; the height follows the image's aspect ratio.
Maximum raised height for a relief or lithophane, or the thickness of an extruded shape. Lithophanes usually use 2–3 mm.
Solid plate under the relief so the print holds together. 0 means no base.
How to use this tool
- 1
Upload an image
JPG, PNG, WebP, BMP or SVG, up to 20 at once. High-contrast pictures with a plain background give the cleanest models.
- 2
Pick what the image becomes
Under Image becomes, choose Relief, Lithophane or Extruded shape. Set Model width, Height / depth and Base thickness in millimeters; the model's other side follows the image's proportions.
- 3
Convert and slice
Press Convert to STL. The file opens in Cura, PrusaSlicer or Bambu Studio at the size you entered.
Image to STL works by reading each pixel's brightness as a height. Dark becomes tall, light stays low, and the result sits on a solid base so it prints in one piece. Nothing about the photo is guessed beyond that.
How an image to STL converter builds a 3D model
A picture has width, height and color but no depth. To make a printable solid, the converter lays a grid of points over the image, one per pixel, and lifts each point by an amount set by its brightness, up to the Height / depth you choose. The grid is then closed on the sides and bottom, with a plate of Base thickness underneath, so slicers see a watertight model rather than a loose sheet.
Sizes are real millimeters. Model width runs from 5 to 1,000 mm and the other side follows the image's aspect ratio, so a 3:2 photo set to 120 mm wide comes out 80 mm tall. Because STL itself stores no units, the numbers are written so that every common slicer reads them as millimeters. For logos with clean edges, SVG to STL uses the vector outline itself instead of pixels and gives smoother walls.
Relief, lithophane or extruded shape
A height map with a flat back, like an embossed coin or a topographic tile. Dark pixels rise up to the depth you set.
- Good for plaques, coasters and textured panels
- 3 to 5 mm depth reads well from arm's length
- Tick Invert heights to raise light areas
A thin panel that looks like a gray relief until light shines through it, when the photo appears. The technique dates back to porcelain panels made in Europe around the 1820s.
- Heights invert automatically
- Keep the thinnest areas near 0.6 to 0.8 mm
- Print upright in white filament
The dark shape of the image is pushed straight up into a solid of even thickness, and the background is removed.
- For logos, silhouettes, cookie cutters and keychains
- Use a black shape on a white or transparent background
- Depth sets the thickness of the shape
How many pixels the image needs for a given print size
| mm wide | Pixels at | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 72 DPI | 150 DPI | 300 DPI | |
| 50 | 142 | 295 | 591 |
| 100 | 283 | 591 | 1181 |
| 150 | 425 | 886 | 1772 |
| 200 | 567 | 1181 | 2362 |
ANY I
Any image
This tool accepts common image formats, including JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, GIF, BMP and TIFF. The format is detected automatically from the file, so you do not need to know what kind of image you have.
STL
STL mesh
STL (stereolithography) is a 3D mesh format created by 3D Systems in 1987. It describes only the surface geometry of an object as a list of triangles, without colour, materials, units or scene information. Its simplicity makes it the default input for 3D printing slicers such as Cura and PrusaSlicer. Curved surfaces are approximated by many flat triangles, so smooth models can produce very large files.
- Compression
- –
- Transparency
- –
- Animation
- No
- Introduced
- 1987 · 3D Systems
People convert an image to STL when they want to print something they only have as a picture: a photo for a lithophane or plaque, or a logo, sign or stencil outline.
Pixels to heights
The image is read as grayscale and each pixel gets a height between the base and the maximum depth.
Grid to solid
Neighboring points are joined into triangles, then walls and a base close the shape.
Solid to STL
The mesh is written as binary STL at the width you chose, ready for the slicer.
Image to STL questions
Which kind of picture makes a good relief?
Strong contrast and large shapes: a portrait with lit and shaded sides, a logo, a map, a pet against a plain wall. Busy photos with even lighting come out as a rough, noisy surface. Crop tightly and boost contrast before uploading if the first print looks flat.
What thickness settings work for a printed lithophane?
A common starting point is about 3 mm total, with the thinnest areas between 0.6 and 0.8 mm so light passes through. Print it standing upright, in white PLA, with 100% infill so the layers do not show their own pattern.
Can Cura make a model from an image without converting?
Yes, Cura opens JPG and PNG files directly as height maps and asks for height, base and width. Converting to STL here is useful when you use PrusaSlicer or Bambu Studio, want a lithophane or extruded outline, or need to share the model as a file.
Why are light areas raised instead of dark ones?
Relief raises dark pixels by default, and a lithophane inverts heights automatically so dark areas print thickest. If your image needs the opposite, tick Invert heights and convert again.
Does the image resolution change the STL size?
Yes. More pixels mean more triangles, so a 4,000-pixel photo produces a much heavier STL than a 1,000-pixel one for no visible gain on most printers. Resize the image to roughly what the table above suggests for your model width.
Can I turn a photo into a full 3D object like a figurine?
No. An image has one viewpoint and no depth, so this tool makes reliefs, lithophanes and flat shapes. Rebuilding a full object needs photogrammetry from many photos or a modeling program. If you want the relief for a game or rendering scene rather than a printer, PNG to OBJ writes the same surface as an OBJ.
- PNG to STL ConverterConvert a PNG to STL as a lithophane panel: brightness becomes thickness, 0.8 to 3.2 mm, ready to print and light from behind. Relief and logo modes too.
- SVG to STL ConverterExtrude an SVG logo, lettering or silhouette into a solid STL for keychains, signs and badges. Set exact width and thickness in millimeters, no CAD needed.
- PNG to OBJ ConverterConvert a PNG height map, logo or grayscale picture into an OBJ mesh for Blender, Unity or Godot. Choose relief or extruded shape and set the size in mm.
- 3MF to STL ConverterConvert 3MF to STL for slicers, print services and tools that only read STL. Geometry is kept in millimeters; colors, plates and print settings drop out.
- OBJ to STL ConverterConvert OBJ models from Blender, ZBrush or a scan into binary STL for 3D printing. Quads are triangulated, parts merged and the scale fixed to millimeters.