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peteristhegreat/mesh-to-height-map-to-texture-stamp.md

Last active April 9, 2026 12:35
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3d Mesh to Height Map to Texture Stamp, Souvenir Coin, Stencil
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mesh-to-height-map-to-texture-stamp.md

Task Statement

Given one or more 3d models, like a stl of a building or a stl of a statue or a bust or a landscape, etc Turn it into a recognizable shape on a coin that can be 3d printed.

Steps broken down

  1. Get the meshes into blender
  2. Orient the angles so that you have them the way they should look in an orthographic projection from the z axis
  3. Move the camera to point downwards at the subject
  4. Make the height map texture color Texture Node
  5. Save a rendered image at 4K resolution as a exr
  6. Open the exr in Gimp
  7. Exaggerate the features you don't want lost when printing using edge detection
  8. Resave the exr
  9. Make a high density mesh in Blender of roughly the size you want to print at and/or turn on dynotopo (Dynamic Topology) for scupting
  10. In sculpting mode set up your tool to have a constant brush (zero drop off), and set the texture to be the exr image
  11. Increase the strength of the brush
  12. Use shift and right click drag to place and scale the image in the sculpting tool
  13. Click to place the image on the surface
  14. Repeat 1 to 13 for each distinct subject that needs crisp edges and have starkly different depths
  15. Boolean the separate meshes onto the coin shape
  16. Save as an stl
  17. Bring into your slicer software, orient, and print

Tutorial Sources for individual steps

How to render height map in Blender?

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/191253/how-to-render-height-map-in-blender

Bake PERFECT Displacement Maps (with blender)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arvhK4tvYuY

Sculpting Textures in Blender using Stencils - EASY (brick textures and more)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwqvzK3qjys

How To Use Heightmaps In Blender

https://3dgrayscale.com/how-to-use-heightmaps-in-blender/

Height Maps Purely for Textures

https://alanedwardes.com/blog/posts/create-meshes-from-height-maps-using-blender/

This looks good, but doesn't allow for 3d printing with them...

Hand crafting a height map from a 2d image to make a 3d stamp...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ju8Q94gL94

Lithophane

Create 3D Printable Lithophane in Blender

https://www.instructables.com/Create-3D-printable-lithophane-in-Blender/

Easy lithophane in Blender for 3d printing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMy50wf8KCI

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