Introduction: Designing a Lithophane Box in Fusion 360

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This guide will walk you through some basic features in Fusion 360 to create a box that you can place four square lithophanes in. With the techniques taught, you can easily adjust sizes to fit any size lithopahne you make.

Step 1: Download Fusion 360

Head over to Autodesk's Fusion 360 page and click "Download Free Trial". Follow the prompts after opening the downloaded file, as you would with any other program installation.

Step 2: Create Your First Sketch

  • Click "sketch", hover over "rectangle", then select "2-point rectangle". An alternative keyboard shortcut is to click the "R" key
  • Select the plane on which you will build the sketch. In this case, we will select the Z plane.
  • Click on your beginning and end points of the rectangle. In this case, we will make a square that is 100mm by 100mm.
  • Click "Stop Sketch" in the Sketch Palette or on the top menu

  • Be sure to save your progress along the way, so you don't lose all your hard work!

Step 3: Extrude Your Sketch

  • Click the "Home" icon, to get a perspective view of our new sketch
  • Select the square (it will turn a darker shade of blue)
  • Click "E" on the keyboard and type "10" in the window that appears
  • Click "OK" to complete the extrude

  • Be sure to save your progress along the way, so you don't lose all your hard work!

Step 4: Create a Second Sketch, and Extrude It

  • Click the "Sketch" menu, and select "Line"
  • Select the top surface of your new extrusion
  • Draw lines that resemble stair steps, in the top left corner, ensuring that they are perpendicular to the sides and themselves (look for a pop up displaying 90degs)
  • Draw additional lines that create rectangles in the bottom and right "sides" of the new shape
  • Type "s" on the keyboard to bring up the model shortcuts menu, then type "di" and select "Sketch Dimension"
  • Click the left side, then right side of one of the rectangles and type "3" to define the width as 3mm
  • Do the same for the other rectangle
  • Click the left side of the extruded square, then the left side of the bottom rectangle and type "1" to define the distance from the side of the square to the edge of the rectangle as 1mm
  • Do the same for the top side of the square to the other rectangle
  • Click the top side of the square, then the bottom of the shape and type "7.5" to define the overall length of the shape as 7.5mm
  • Do the same for the left side of the square to the right side of the shape
  • Click "Stop Sketch" in the Sketch Palette" or on the top menu
  • Click "Home" again
  • Select the new shape created by your sketch and type "e" to extrude, entering "90" in the distance field of the "Extrude" window that appears
  • Click "OK" to close the "Extrude" window
  • Be sure to save your progress along the way, so you don't lose all your hard work!

Step 5: Create Mirrored Patterns to Make the Other 3 Corners

  • Click "Home" to center the view
  • Click "Create", then select "Mirror"
  • Change the pattern type to "Features" in the "Mirror" pop-up window
  • Select the extruded feature you made in the previous step
  • Select "Mirror Plane" back in the pop-up window, then select the y-plane (the one with the green line on its bottom and blue line on its side)
  • Click "OK"
  • Click "Create", then select "Mirror"
  • Select the extruded feature AND the mirror feature
  • Select "Mirror Plane" again in the pop=up window, the select the x-plane (red line on its bottom, blue line on its side)
  • Click "OK"
  • Be sure to save your progress along the way, so you don't lose all your hard work!

Step 6: Export Your Lithophane Box As an STL

  • Click the arrow next to the word, "Bodies" in the Browser menu on the left
  • Right-click "Body1", then select "Save as STL"
  • Click "OK" in the pop-up menu, and select where to save the file on your hard drive, naming it something you will remember (I named it "lithobox")
  • Be sure to save your progress along the way, so you don't lose all your hard work!

Step 7: Make Lithophanes to Place in the Box

  • Using Cura, 3DP.rocks website, or in my opinion, the best Lithophane maker with the most features - LuBan, create four lithophanes from your own photos or those found scattered all across the world wide web.
  • Print the lithophanes out on your favorite 3D Printer
  • Be sure to adjust the size of your lithos to fit the box you just created (in this case 90mm square, max thickness 2.9mm)

*For more details on LuBan and making lithophanes, check out LuBan Lithophane Maker by Inov3D