How to make a lithophane lamp: a cylinder night light with an LED

By Ashish · Oct 29, 2026 · ~10 min · 3D printing

A cylinder lithophane lamp is the lithophane people remember. The photo wraps all the way around, it stands on its own, and with a warm LED inside it glows like a lantern. It is also one of the easiest to get right, because a cylinder is stiff, prints standing up by nature and hides the light source completely. Here is how to make one, from choosing the light to wiring an LED ring if you want to go further.

Start with the light, not the photo

The light decides the size of the lamp, so pick it first. These are the common options, from easiest to most flexible:

Choose warm white (around 2700 to 3000 K) for the classic amber glow. Cool white makes the picture look like a black and white photo, which also suits some images. Whatever you choose, use LEDs only. A real candle or a hot bulb can soften or ignite PLA, which starts to deform at around 60 °C.

Size the cylinder

In the Lithophane Maker, the lamp is sized by the distance around it (the circumference), not the diameter, because that is the width of the photo once it is wrapped. To convert, multiply the diameter by 3.14:

Leave at least 10 mm between the light and the wall of the lamp. Too close and you see a bright hotspot through the photo; a little further away the light spreads evenly. The tool accepts up to 300 mm around (about 95 mm across), and the cylinder height can be 40 to 200 mm.

Pick a photo that wraps well

A cylinder is a very wide picture: a 70 mm lamp is three times wider than it is tall. Panoramas, beaches, mountain ranges, skylines and group photos fill it naturally. A normal portrait photo gets cropped at the top and bottom to fit that shape. If you want a single face, untick Height follows the photo and set a taller height, or put two or three photos side by side in one image before you load it.

Everything else from picking a photo for a lithophane applies: a clear subject, light and shadow, and no huge dark areas, because dark means thick plastic and a dim lamp.

Generate the lamp STL

1. Open the Lithophane Maker and load your photo.
2. Choose the Lamp shape. The size field changes to Around (mm).
3. Set the circumference for your light (see the table above).
4. Keep Base ring for a tea light or LED puck on. It adds a solid band around the bottom that makes the lamp stiffer and hides the light. Raise Ring height (2 to 15 mm) if your light is tall and you want to hide more of it.
5. Check the backlit preview. Raise contrast if the picture looks flat, and brightness or gamma if it looks dark.
6. Download the STL. The weight shown under the preview tells you how much PLA it needs.

Print it

A cylinder prints standing up with no supports. Use white PLA, 0.10 to 0.12 mm layers, 100% infill and slow outer walls. No brim is usually needed, because the base ring gives a wide, stable footprint. Expect 8 hours or more for a 70 mm lamp; it is a long print, so start it in the evening. Full slicer steps for Bambu Lab, Prusa and Ender printers are in lithophane print settings.

One tip specific to cylinders: set the seam to Aligned so it forms one neat vertical line. Then turn that line to the back when you display the lamp.

Optional: light it with an Arduino or ESP32

If you build electronics, a WS2812 LED ring turns the lamp into a smart night light. It needs just three wires: 5V, GND and one data pin. This sketch uses the Adafruit NeoPixel library (install it from the Library Manager) to give a warm, slowly breathing glow:

#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>

#define LED_PIN   6     // data pin (use GPIO 5 or similar on ESP32)
#define LED_COUNT 12    // 12-LED ring

Adafruit_NeoPixel ring(LED_COUNT, LED_PIN, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800);

void setup() {
  ring.begin();
  ring.setBrightness(60);                    // 0-255, keep it low for a night light
  ring.fill(ring.Color(255, 140, 40));       // warm white
  ring.show();
}

void loop() {
  // slow "breathing" glow
  for (int b = 20; b <= 60; b++) { ring.setBrightness(b); ring.fill(ring.Color(255, 140, 40)); ring.show(); delay(40); }
  for (int b = 60; b >= 20; b--) { ring.setBrightness(b); ring.fill(ring.Color(255, 140, 40)); ring.show(); delay(40); }
}

A few things keep it reliable. Power the ring from 5V, not from a 3.3V pin. Adafruit recommends a resistor of about 300 to 500 Ω in the data line and a 1000 µF capacitor across the ring's power pins. Keep the brightness low: at full white, each LED can draw up to about 60 mA, so a 16-LED ring at full brightness asks for nearly 1 A. A night light rarely needs more than a quarter of that. On an ESP32 you can add a timer, a touch sensor on the base or a phone control page, and if you like screens, an OLED animation on a small display in the base makes a nice combination.

Make it a gift

Lithophane lamps are popular gifts because they hide the photo until the light comes on. A few ideas that work well: a wedding or engagement photo with a warm tea light, a pet lamp for a child's room, a holiday panorama, or a "then and now" pair of family photos side by side. If the photo has text or a name in it, check that it reads the right way around from the outside, and use Mirror if not.

Safety

• LEDs only. Never a candle, an incandescent bulb or a halogen bulb inside PLA.
• Leave a gap between the light and the plastic, even with LEDs, and do not seal the top. Warm air needs a way out.
• For mains-powered lights, use a ready-made, certified LED module rather than wiring mains inside a printed lamp.
• Battery tea lights are the safest choice for a child's room.

Frequently asked questions

What light should I use in a lithophane lamp?

An LED tea light, an LED puck light, a USB LED strip or an LED ring. Warm white around 2700 to 3000 K gives the classic glow. Never use a candle or a hot bulb.

What size should a lithophane lamp be?

About 70 mm across (220 mm around) is a good size for a tea light or small puck. Go to about 90 mm across for a larger puck or an LED ring, and keep the light at least 10 mm from the wall of the lamp.

Which photos work best on a cylinder lithophane?

Wide photos: panoramas, beaches, skylines and group photos. A normal portrait gets cropped at the top and bottom unless you set a taller height or combine several photos into one wide image.

How long does a lithophane lamp take to print?

Usually 8 hours or more for a 70 mm lamp at 0.10 to 0.12 mm layers with 100% infill. It prints standing up with no supports.

Can I control a lithophane lamp with Arduino?

Yes. A WS2812 LED ring needs 5V, GND and one data pin. With the Adafruit NeoPixel library you can set a warm colour, dim it, or make it breathe slowly.

Related guides

• Lithophane frame and light box: how to display it
• How to make a lithophane from a photo
• Lithophane print settings for Bambu Lab, Prusa and Ender 3
• Shadow lamp vs lithophane: which to print
• ESP32 OLED animation guide

Free tools: Lithophane Maker for flat, curved, heart, round and cylinder lamp lithophanes, the Shadow Box Lamp Generator for wall shadow lamps, Text to STL for names and keychains, and 3MF to Web to show your prints on a website. See all tools.