Print a lamp that throws your artwork across the wall.
Upload an SVG. Lampcaster designs every wall of the lamp, checks that each line and bridge will print, and hands you STL files for your slicer, ready to print.
Every picture below is the studio's own output, made from the example designs it ships with. Nothing is mocked up.
Step 1
See your artwork on the wall before you print anything
Upload any SVG. Dark shapes become shadow. The studio traces the light ray by ray through walls at their real thickness, adds the LED's blur and falloff, and scores the result against your drawing.
Drag across the picture to compare your drawing with the simulated wall.
Step 2
Put the lamp anywhere on the design
Drag the lamp onto the darkest part of your art and it disappears into the shadow. The light, the walls and the shadow are worked out again for wherever it sits. Set how wide the shadow should be on your wall, in centimetres, and the lamp keeps its size.
Or press Auto setup. Say how big the shadow should be and the studio searches the box size, where it sits, the LED height and the print settings, then lists every change with its reason before you apply it.
Drag the lamp. Every position here is a separate run of the generator.
Step 3
Any outline, framed or open
A framed lamp lights a clean rectangle of wall. An open lamp lets the walls' top edges follow your silhouette, with the LED held over the open top. The walls print flat, then fold up or roll round, so every opening prints sharp.
Either kind can hold a battery holder, a switch, a USB-C socket and a remote dimmer, or turn slowly on a small motor so the shadow rotates on the wall.
Step 4
Every wall checked before you spend any filament
The manufacturing check reads every wall: pieces that float free get bridges, lines too thin for your nozzle are marked, and weak corners are explained with what to change. Pick a check to see where it is on the walls.
Step 5
Open the file. Slice. Print.
The download is the finished model: the walls as flat strips that fold up into the lamp, and the flat parts laid out on plates your printer takes. No supports, no modelling, nothing left to draw.
- Wall STLs: the walls as flat strips that fold or roll up after printing, plus a one-piece upright version
- Plate STLs for the back and front panels, frames and small parts, laid out on your bed
- Assembly guide for the LED and electronics, as a PDF
- Simulation and settings report to keep with the job
What it handles for you
Light and shadow
- Ray-traced preview
- Through the real wall thickness, with LED blur and falloff
- Match score
- How much of your drawing the wall will show, and where it differs
- Shadow size
- Set the width on the wall; reach and brightness follow
- Brightness at the edge
- Know before you hang it whether it needs a dark room
- 3D view
- Turn the finished lamp and watch its shadow move
- Light position
- LED height, light hole, and the LED holder for open lamps
- Light edge
- The lit area hugs your design's outline, or takes the box's own shape
Strength
- Automatic bridges
- Floating pieces tied on, at a width you choose
- Thin lines
- Anything under your nozzle's minimum is marked before you slice
- Finest detail
- The thinnest wall line the far edge of the shadow will need
- Weak corners
- Corners with too little solid wall, and how to fix them
- Specks
- Pieces too small to hold are removed and shown as lit spots
- Per-panel review
- Every part listed with its own issues and size
Printing
- One-piece body
- Walls, corners and back panel as one closed solid, ready to slice
- Any slicer
- STL in millimetres for Bambu Studio, PrusaSlicer, OrcaSlicer and Cura
- Plates
- Front panel and small parts laid out on your bed size
- Prints flat
- Walls lie outside face down and fold up after, so no supports and no sagging edges
- Any wall thickness
- The simulation follows your wall thickness
- Any shape
- Rectangle, triangle, hexagon, octagon, faceted or truly round
Putting it together
- Press-fit front
- Tabs on the walls hold the front panel, no glue
- Named parts
- Each flat part is listed with where it goes
- Keyholes
- Printed into the back panel; it hangs on two screws
- Lamp placement
- Drag it on your art, or mark it in the SVG with
id="box" - Your units
- Work in millimetres or inches
Power and motion
- Battery bay
- A 2 × AA holder inside the lamp, in a printed frame you glue it into
- Switch and USB-C
- Holes for a rocker switch and a snap-in power socket
- Remote dimmer
- Room for a 433 MHz receiver: on, off and dim from across the room
- Turning lamp
- A small motor and printed gears turn the lamp, so the shadow rotates
- Hidden compartment
- Behind an open lamp: fitted to the parts, or empty at a height you set
- Parts in 3D
- The holder, receiver and motor shown in place, with assembly notes
In the studio
- Auto setup
- Picks the lamp, light and shadow size for your design, and explains each change
- Saved projects
- Your SVG and every setting kept with your account, to open again
- Bed fit
- Told before you generate when the lamp is too big for your printer, with the largest size that fits
- Cut-off warning
- Told when the shadow is too big and the outer part would be left out
- Place in line
- At busy times you see your place in the queue and the estimated wait
- Built-in examples
- Open at once and don't use your plan's generations
Pricing
Design and preview for free. Pick a paid plan when you're ready to print.
Prices in US dollars; VAT is added at checkout where it applies. Cancel any time from your account menu.
Questions
Which 3D printers does it work with?
Any FDM printer. You get STL files in millimetres that open in Bambu Studio, PrusaSlicer, OrcaSlicer and Cura: fold-up wall strips and plates of flat parts, all laid out flat on your bed size. The defaults assume a 0.4 mm nozzle and a 256 mm bed, as on Bambu Lab's A1, P1 and X1; set your own under Your setup.
What filament should I use?
An opaque, dark PLA. At 2 mm, black or dark grey PLA blocks the light completely; light colours glow through and soften the shadow. Set your wall thickness and the shadow simulation follows it. Lines thinner than about two nozzle widths won't print, so the studio marks them before you slice.
What artwork can I use?
An SVG. Dark shapes become shadow. Bold, flowing silhouettes with a solid dark centre, where the lamp can hide, work best. A photo needs tracing to a vector drawing first. The built-in examples open straight away if you want to try it without your own art.
How big is the shadow?
You set its width on the wall, in centimetres or inches. As a guide, a lamp 15 cm across throws a picture about 90 cm across. The preview also shows how bright the edge of the picture will be, so you know whether it needs a dark room.
What light goes inside?
One small LED pointed at the wall. The lamp can hold a 2 × AA battery holder, a rocker switch, a USB-C socket and a 433 MHz remote dimmer, or turn slowly on a small motor so the shadow rotates.
Can I try it before I pay?
Yes. Design and preview for free, and pick a paid plan when you're ready to download the print files. You can cancel any time; see the refund and cancellation policy.
More detail in the guide to printing a shadow lamp.