Van Gogh's "The Starry Night" Color Lithophane

“The Starry Night” by Vincent Van Gogh is both one of the world's most well-known and well-loved paintings. Van Gogh's vision of color at play in the darkness is transformed in lithophane format, with both light and texture contributing to a new way to experience this artwork.

A 0.4mm nozzle was used to make this highly detailed reproduction of this 1889 painting by the famous Dutch painter that is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The image was color balanced to create the best possible match of the original artwork that CMYW printing allows.

Bambu's frame for the Bambu CMYK LED Backlight Board (FAZ007) is included in the print profile. Comparable backlight panels may be available at online electronics retailers. Another MakerWorld user has designed a lighting system using Bambu's 2-contact white LED strips (https://makerworld.com/en/models/862322#profileId-812830), although soldering is required.

Comparable backlight panels may be available at online electronics retailers. The frame has a stand component that can shake loose during printing. If you encounter problems, add a raft or other support, or consider using a glue stick.

Lithophane made using filaments in the Bambu Lab Basic PLA Lithophane Bundle (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Jade White). Frame made using Bambu Lab Matte PLA in Dark Brown, with the light guide plate (diffuser) printed with Kingroon PLA Plus.

Commercial license available.

How to Print a Great-Looking Lithophane

The print profile will take some minutes to slice. This is normal. Warnings about “floating regions” can be safely ignored.

A high-quality lithophane has some of the same quality problems seen when printing signs or other large, flat objects: a tendency for the edge to lift. This spoils the print. Bambu Lab recommends minimizing this problem by reducing the bed temperature to between 40-55 degrees C.

A lithophane printed at 50 C on top, and 65 C below:

While this lithophane image looks ok, the end product is actually quite poor without crisp corners and edges. It is also possible for the bottom layer to lift off entirely and bring the upper layers into hard contact with the print head, as you can see here. You will know if this happens because your printer will turn the plastic it hits into little pieces of confetti all over your print bed.

It's strongly recommended to take the following steps before printing this lithophane:

• Wash your build plate with a mild, oil repelling detergent (such as Dawn), and rinse and dry thoroughly.
• Calibrate the filaments being used, including Bambu Lab filaments (I discovered considerable variation among fresh-out-of-the-plastic filaments from the same product line, in this case PLA Basic).
• Reduce the bed temperature from 65 degrees C to somewhere in the Bambu recommended range of 40 C - 55 C. Alternatively, you could use a cool “Cryo Grip” type plate, but this has not been tested with this lithophane.
• Your local conditions and materials will vary, so you may have to experiment.
• Important Note: the transmission of light through plastic lithophanes, as through any other media (including air) is subject to the inverse-square law. The intensity of light from a point source decreases in proportion to the square of the distance from the source.
  • This means that if you double the distance between a light source and the lithophane, the light intensity drops to one-fourth. Triple the distance? The intensity drops to one-ninth, and so on.
  • Lithophanes must receive enough light sufficient to diffuse through the medium, illuminating all parts so they can be perceived correctly by the eye.
  • Therefore, only use strong light placed close behind the lithophane to prevent the loss of light to the inverse-square law.

The original artwork used to create this lithophane is in the public domain.