image-to-relief-stl

// Turn a source image (or multi-color mask image) into a 3D-printable bas-relief STL by mapping colors (or grayscale) to heights. Use when you have an image from an image-gen skill (nano-banana-pro, etc.) and want a real, printable model (STL) via a deterministic pipeline.

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updated:March 4, 2026

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SKILL.md Frontmatter

nameimage-to-relief-stl

descriptionTurn a source image (or multi-color mask image) into a 3D-printable bas-relief STL by mapping colors (or grayscale) to heights. Use when you have an image from an image-gen skill (nano-banana-pro, etc.) and want a real, printable model (STL) via a deterministic pipeline.

metadata[object Object]

image-to-relief-stl

Generate a watertight, printable STL from an input image by mapping colors (or grayscale) to heights.

This is an orchestrator-friendly workflow:

Use nano-banana-pro (or any image model) to generate a flat-color image.
Run this skill to convert it into a bas-relief model.

Practical constraints (to make it work well)

Ask the image model for:

exactly N solid colors (no gradients)
no shadows / no antialiasing
bold shapes with clear edges

That makes segmentation reliable.

Quick start (given an image)

bash scripts/image_to_relief.sh input.png --out out.stl \
  --mode palette \
  --palette '#000000=3.0,#ffffff=0.0' \
  --base 1.5 \
  --pixel 0.4

Grayscale mode

bash scripts/image_to_relief.sh input.png --out out.stl \
  --mode grayscale \
  --min-height 0.0 \
  --max-height 3.0 \
  --base 1.5 \
  --pixel 0.4

Outputs

out.stl (ASCII STL)
optional out-preview.svg (vector preview via potrace; best-effort)

Notes

This v0 uses a raster heightfield meshing approach (robust, no heavy CAD deps).
The --pixel parameter controls resolution (smaller = higher detail, bigger STL).