Software
Our desktop apps for Windows and Mac: download them here
The apps run on your own computer and work with your 3D files straight from your folders. Each download button is on the app's card below. Some downloads need you to be logged in, so the site knows whose copy it is; registration is free.
Although the core features of all our software tools will always be free, by choosing to pay a monthly or annual support of a few dollars you can help us build and update more tools and features, and for your support receive FULL use of these tools.
3D Maker Studio New
Everything for your 3D prints in one desktop app. Your 3D files, the 3D Designer and the File converter, side by side in one window.
- Library: every 3D file in your folders, previewed in 3D, searched, tagged and measured
- Designer: design and edit models, export STL, 3MF with colours, OBJ and GLB
- Converter: STEP, OBJ, GLB, 3MF and more, pictures too
- Paint: paint a model in several colours with brushes and fills, and save a 3MF your slicer shows in colour
- Mechanism: gears, belts, motors, levers and hinges that move on screen, then print them
- All connected: right-click a model to open it in the Designer, and your Designer exports land in your Library by themselves
Download for Windows
First time on a Mac
- Open the downloaded zip and drag 3D Maker Studio into Applications.
- Open it from Applications. macOS says it cannot check the app: click Done, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway (once only).
- On an Apple-chip Mac, macOS may offer to install Rosetta first: say yes.
3D Previewer
Our free Windows and Mac app for 3D-print collectors: point it at any folder and see every STL, 3MF, OBJ, FBX, GLB and glTF inside, with real 3D thumbnails, true size, weight and cost, a bed-fit check, duplicates, tags and more. Sign in with your 3d-lithophane.com account.
- Free account — up to 1,000 files per folder scan
- 3D Previewer Supporter — every file in every folder, for life
- Plus 30 days of Supporter here on 3d-lithophane.com — unlimited lithophanes, tools and designer exports
First time on a Mac
- Open the downloaded zip and drag 3D Previewer into Applications.
- Open it from Applications. macOS says it cannot check the app: click Done, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway (once only).
- On an Apple-chip Mac, macOS may offer to install Rosetta first: say yes.
3D Designer for Windows and Mac
Our 3D Designer as a Windows and Mac app: the same tools, in its own window, with your whole screen to work in. Sign in with your 3d-lithophane.com account — your saved designs and shapes are the same in the app and on the website.
- Free to use — 2 saves and 2 STL exports a day, as on the website
- Unlock for life — $15 once — unlimited saves and exports in every format, every tool, and 30 AI models a month for the first 12 months. One purchase, Windows and Mac
- Supporter and Supporter Plus — everything included, in the apps and on the website
- On a Mac — it opens the designer from this website in its own window and Dock icon, so it is always the latest (it needs the internet)
Download for Windows
First time on a Mac
- Open the downloaded zip and drag 3D Designer into Applications.
- Open it from Applications. macOS says it cannot check the app: click Done, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway (once only).
- On an Apple-chip Mac, macOS may offer to install Rosetta first: say yes.
Unlock the app for life — $15 3D Previewer + 3D Designer — $25
CNC Router Studio Release: 21 November 2026 Beta
Everything for your CNC router in one app for Windows and Mac, or on this website: make G-code from a photo, an outline, text or a circuit board, watch it cut in 3D, then run it on your GRBL router over USB.
- Carved relief, Cut & pocket, V-carve: G-code from a photo, an SVG or a traced picture, or your own text
- 2D designer and PCB designer: draw shapes or text to cut, or a simple circuit board with its parts
- PCB to G-code and the height map: mill a board from Gerber files, and probe it so the cut follows a board that is not flat
- 3D simulator: cut the file into a block of wood on screen before the cutter does
- Send to machine: G-code from a file, pasted or typed, with a live preview, draw-then-cut, and a simulated machine to try every button first
- Your machine: work area, Z travel, home corner, reversed axes and limit switches, GRBL 0.9 and 1.1
Laser Maker Studio Release: 21 November 2026 Beta
Everything for your hobby laser engraver and cutter, on this website and soon as an app for Windows and Mac: make G-code from a photo or a drawing, find the right power and speed for your material, and watch the job run before the laser does.
- Photo engraving: dithered for wood and anodised aluminium, or shades of power, with the burn and the path shown first
- Cutting and scoring: from an SVG or a traced picture, a job for each colour, kerf so parts come out the size you drew, and tabs
- Power and speed test grid: burn one chart and read your settings off it
- Simulator: any GRBL file played back move by move, with a check for the usual mistakes
- Send to machine: run the job on your GRBL laser over USB, with a low-power dot to find the spot, framing, and the power and speed changeable while it burns
- Laser designer: shapes, text, SVGs and traced pictures, each colour a layer that fills, scores or cuts, in one file
- Box maker: finger-jointed boxes from a size and a sheet thickness, kerf allowed for, with a 3D view
Foam Maker Studio Release: 14 November 2026 Beta
Everything for your hot-wire foam cutter, on this website and as an app for Windows and Mac: cut a shape or a wing section out of foam, with a different shape at each end of the wire for tapered wings, draw your own, and watch the job run before the machine does.
- Cut a shape: from an SVG, a traced picture or a NACA wing section, with kerf, and the wire never lifting
- Two ends of the wire: tapered, swept or twisted wings, or a drawing of its own at each end, for four-motor machines
- Foam designer: shapes, text, SVGs and wing sections on the block, one drawing for each end
- Simulator: any foam file played back at both ends of the wire
- Send to machine: run the job on your GRBL foam cutter over USB, move both ends or one, and switch the wire on and off
Lathe Maker Studio Release: 21 November 2026 Beta
Everything for turning, on this website and as an app for Windows and Mac: G-code for a CNC lathe, and for a rotary axis on your CNC router. Draw the part or start from a picture, see it cut before the machine does, and send it over USB.
- Turn a part: facing, roughing, a finishing pass with the tool's nose radius allowed for, grooves, a thread, a hole and parting off
- Rotary axis: turn a shape with the router, cut flutes and barley twists, and wrap text, a drawing or a picture round the work
- The part's outline: ready-made shapes, your own points and curves, or the outline of a picture or an SVG
- Simulator: the work as each move leaves it, and a warning for any move that would hit it
- Send to machine: run the job on a grblHAL or GRBL machine over USB, jog, set the zeros and switch the spindle
More to download
- Free STL models: ready-to-print models and lithophanes, free with an account.
- The book, From Idea to Print: the PDF and its project files. Free for Supporters, or a free sample to read first.
- Supporter: what the website's free and paid plans include.
Can't find a download, or an app won't start? Write to support@3d-lithophane.com and say which app and which computer (Windows or Mac).