Design Calculators

3D printing opens up a huge range of creative possibilities, from personalised gifts and home decor to detailed model-making and art installations. Getting decorative details to print cleanly requires understanding the physical limits of your machine. Our Text Emboss Calculator determines the minimum character height and embossing depth for readable text on printed surfaces, which is essential if you are creating custom nameplates, labels, or keyrings. The Logo Size Calculator serves a similar purpose for brand marks and graphic details, ensuring fine lines are thick enough for your nozzle to resolve.

Lithophanes have become one of the most popular decorative prints in the UK 3D printing community, regularly shared across forums like the UK 3D Printing Facebook group and r/3DPrinting. The Lithophane Calculator helps you set the correct thickness range, typically between 0.8 mm and 3.0 mm, and calculates the ideal image dimensions for your chosen frame size. For vases and decorative vessels, the Vase Mode Calculator works out the single-wall thickness and estimated print time when using spiral vase mode, a setting that produces seamless, beautiful results with no visible Z-seam.

If you are designing modular systems, tiled panels, or repeating surface patterns, the Modular Design Calculator, Tessellation Calculator, and Pattern Repeat Calculator help you get connector tolerances, tile dimensions, and spacing right first time. The Relief Depth Calculator is particularly useful for bas-relief artwork and textured surfaces, calculating the optimal depth based on your layer height to ensure clean detail reproduction. These tools are invaluable whether you are preparing files in Fusion 360, Blender, or OpenSCAD.