GUIDE · POTFORGE & LAMPFORGEHow to turn a photo into a 3D-printable texture

Which photos work

A photo records brightness, not depth. It turns into convincing relief when light and dark follow the bumps of the thing you photographed, or when a printed pattern is meant to become relief.

• Good: basket weave, knitting, rattan, wood carving, embossed leather, brick, tiles, bark, a printed fabric or wallpaper with a clear motif.
• Take it straight on and evenly lit. Daylight from a window, no flash. A slanted photo makes a slanted pattern; a strong shadow becomes a dent.
• Fill the frame with a few repeats. Two or three whole repeats each way let the tool find the repeat by itself.
• A PNG with a transparent background (a logo, a leaf, a claw mark cut out) works differently: its shape becomes raised, and the transparent part stays plain wall.
• Less good: faces, landscapes and busy scenes. They have no repeat and their light and dark do not mean height, so they come out as noise. For a picture through the wall, see lithophanes below.

JPG, PNG and WebP all work. The photo can be any size; the framed area is converted at up to 512 pixels on its long side, which is more than the model can show.

Step by step

1. Open the texture layers

   In Potforge, open Surface layers and press + From photo. In Lampforge, open Surface texture for the shade or the base and press + Texture from a photo. The window docks on the left so the model stays in view; you can turn and zoom it while you work.

2. Pick the photo

   Choose a file or drop one onto the window. You need to be signed in to a free KUZE account, because every texture you make is kept in My textures; the same screen lists the ones you made before, in any KUZE tool. If My textures is full, it says so: delete one there, or upgrade.

3. Frame the pattern

   Drag the box over the part you want and drag a corner to resize it. The small preview shows the wall unrolled: once round, from the bottom of the texture layer to its top.

4. Tune the relief

   Choose what the pattern comes from and set the light, detail and contrast (each setting is explained below). The model updates as you go, so judge it there rather than in the photo.

5. Lay it out on the wall

   Wrap it continuously, like wallpaper, or place separate copies with plain wall between. Set how many columns go round and how many rows go up the layer.

6. Use it and print

   Press Use this texture. It becomes an ordinary texture layer: change its depth and height band like any other, stack it with built-in textures, then save and download the STL.

The settings, one by one

Pattern from

Light and dark for most photos. Colour differences for prints whose motifs differ in hue more than in brightness, such as a red pattern on green cloth. Shape for a PNG with a transparent background: its outline is raised. A cut-out PNG chooses Shape for you.

Even out lighting

Takes out light that falls off across the photo, so one side does not come out higher than the other. Start around the middle; lower it if the pattern itself loses strength. Not used for Shape.

Detail

High keeps every pixel; low smooths to broad shapes. Detail finer than the printed mesh disappears anyway, so broad usually prints better.

Contrast

Spreads or squeezes the range between the lowest and the highest point. The overall depth is set on the layer afterwards.

Seams

Find the repeat crops to whole repeats when it finds them, and blends the edges in a direction where it does not. Blend the edges always blends. Leave as is keeps the frame exactly, and the join may show.

Swap raised and recessed

Turns the relief inside out: dark becomes proud of the wall instead of sunk into it. The plain background stays where it is.

On the wall

Continuous wraps it like wallpaper. Separate copies places each copy in its own cell with plain wall round it, with a size for each copy. Columns around (1–24) is always a whole number, so there is no seam at the back; rows (1–12) count within the layer's height band, and shift moves the pattern up or down.

Before you print

• Depth. A new photo layer starts at depth 1, about 1 mm of relief on a Potforge pot. Raise it for a bolder pattern, lower it for a quiet one, and judge it on the model. A negative depth inverts the relief.
• The rim. Leave Fade at the rim on and the pattern eases out just below the top edge, so the rim prints clean. Turn it off if the pattern should run right to the top.
• Mesh quality. In Potforge, set Quality higher before you download for a fine pattern. Fine detail is limited by the mesh, not by the photo.
• Lamp shades. In Lampforge, switch the light on: thin parts of the wall glow brighter, so the texture shows as light and shadow. Keep the shade wall thin enough to glow once the relief is cut in.
• Look at the back. Turn the model round to check the join and the top and bottom of the layer before you save.

Limits and privacy

• A design can carry as many photo textures as you like, alongside the built-in textures. Every one is saved inside the design, so it opens and downloads anywhere.
• Every texture you make is kept in My textures: 3 on the Free plan, up to 100 on Commercial, shared by every KUZE tool. When it is full, delete one or upgrade before making a new one; the textures already there can always be used again. A saved texture can be laid out again; its tone and detail need the original photo.
• The photo is processed in your browser. Only the texture made from it is saved; never the photo.
• Use only patterns you have the right to use. When you sell prints, clearing the pattern's rights is up to you.