Lithophane Project

[laserbill]

This is two of the things I have done.

[fwharris]

Nice job!

A hint on the lighting, try to get the light over the full surface instead of focusing on one spot. It will show a lot better..

[bergerud]

Am I seeing this right? It looks like the carving is a "real" carving. Lithophanes are not real "3D" carvings but are more like negatives.

If one tries to carve a pattern in wood made from a picture, the result is usually very poor. Dark spots in the picture get carved deep. Eyes turn out to be deep holes and so on. The same picture carved as a lithophane, however, produces remarkable results. The deep holes let more light through and are brighter. The original picture is replicated by the light transmitting through it even though, as a 3D carving, it looks hideous.

I hope I am making sense here. If you were to just carve a picture of the Last Supper, it would be quite different. I think you would be shocked at the difference.

See the attached screen shots from Designer. Notice how the carving is hideous while the litho is great.

[fwharris]

Am I seeing this right? It looks like the carving is a "real" carving. Lithophanes are not real "3D" carvings but are more like negatives.

If one tries to carve a pattern in wood made from a picture, the result is usually very poor. Dark spots in the picture get carved deep. Eyes turn out to be deep holes and so on. The same picture carved as a lithophane, however, produces remarkable results. The deep holes let more light through and are brighter. The original picture is replicated by the light transmitting through it even though, as a 3D carving, it looks hideous.

I hope I am making sense here. If you were to just carve a picture of the Last Supper, it would be quite different. I think you would be shocked at the difference.

See the attached screen shots from Designer. Notice how the carving is hideous while the litho is great.

But you can carve 2D/3D patterns as lithophanes with good results. It is a matter of your depth/height setting and the lighting in the boxes..

[bergerud]

I beg to differ on this Floyd. Depth maps do not make good lithos. One could invert a depth map for better results but still, the contrast would never be as good as one gets from a simple picture.

[fwharris]

I beg to differ on this Floyd. Depth maps do not make good lithos. One could invert a depth map for better results but still, the contrast would never be as good as one gets from a simple picture.

Ok I concede that the results would not be as good...

[CarverJerry]

A good high resolution photo or picture works best. Read the tips article on the Carvewright page (tips and tricks) and be sure to follow, depth and height are super important for good results. As for lighting I use this system the most but there are many different ways. Here is a link for you to check out. http://s881.photobucket.com/user/Car...r%20Lithopanes