By varying the thickness of a region of this semitransparent print you can control the amount of light that is able to pass through, thereby controlling the brightness (thinner regions of material will appear brighter and thicker regions darker). In this project, I've converted each individual greyscale pixel of an image to thickness, allowing me to precisely reproduce any greyscale image. The photos I've printed include an adorable picture my mom took of our cat Teddy (fig 4), Saturn and its moon Titan taken by the Cassini space probe (fig 5 and 6), and a huge print (19x16") of Mt. Williamson by Ansel Adams (fig 1, 2, and 3).
Step 1: The Code
All of these 3D models were generated algorithmically from Processing using the ModelBuilder libraryby Marius Watz. This library allows you to save 3D geometries in the STL file format, STL files that form a watertight mesh can be printed by a 3D printer.
To get started using this code yourself, download the latest version of the ModelBuilder library, unzip the file, and copy the folder into Processing's "libraries" folder. If you have installed the predecessor to the ModelBuilder library (called the Unlekker library), you will need to delete it. Once this is done restart Processing.
Copy the Processing sketch above and save it. Processing will automatically put this file inside a folder of the same name. Copy any greyscale images you want to convert into this folder.
To run the sketch, replace the part in quotes in following line:
String name = "YOUR_FILE_NAME.jpg";
with the name of your greyscale image. I believe .gif, .jpg, .tga, and .png files will all work fine, but I have only tested .jpg so far. Run the sketch, after a minute or two Processing will tell you that it is writing an STL file and eventually it will tell you that it is finished. The resulting file will be located in the sketch's folder named "NAME_OF_ORIGINAL_FILE.stl"
You can open the stl file with a variety of CAD software and stl viewers, I like MeshLab for simple viewing (it's free and open source).
By default my sketch will scale images to 8" wide, with a base thickness of 0.02" and feature thickness of up to 0.1", you can change these setting by adjusting the variable at the top of the sketch.
source via instructables.com
To get started using this code yourself, download the latest version of the ModelBuilder library, unzip the file, and copy the folder into Processing's "libraries" folder. If you have installed the predecessor to the ModelBuilder library (called the Unlekker library), you will need to delete it. Once this is done restart Processing.
Copy the Processing sketch above and save it. Processing will automatically put this file inside a folder of the same name. Copy any greyscale images you want to convert into this folder.
To run the sketch, replace the part in quotes in following line:
String name = "YOUR_FILE_NAME.jpg";
with the name of your greyscale image. I believe .gif, .jpg, .tga, and .png files will all work fine, but I have only tested .jpg so far. Run the sketch, after a minute or two Processing will tell you that it is writing an STL file and eventually it will tell you that it is finished. The resulting file will be located in the sketch's folder named "NAME_OF_ORIGINAL_FILE.stl"
You can open the stl file with a variety of CAD software and stl viewers, I like MeshLab for simple viewing (it's free and open source).
By default my sketch will scale images to 8" wide, with a base thickness of 0.02" and feature thickness of up to 0.1", you can change these setting by adjusting the variable at the top of the sketch.
source via instructables.com
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