Kromacut

Open-source HueForge-style tool for converting images into stacked, color-layered 3D prints.

Kromacut is a browser-first app that converts images into multi-color lithophane 3D prints. It offers two powerful workflows:

Auto-paint mode — Define your actual filaments (color + Transmission Distance), and Kromacut automatically computes optimal layer stacks using physically accurate Beer-Lambert optical blending. Features include a calibration wizard, advanced optimizer (simulated annealing/genetic algorithms), and region weighting for spatial priority.

Manual mode — Reduce images to a small palette, manually tweak per-color layer heights and ordering, and fine-tune every aspect of the stack with complete control.

Both modes include live 2D/3D previews, layer-by-layer visualization, and export to STL/3MF with detailed print instructions.

Examples

A quick look at what Kromacut produces from a source image to a printable model:

• Fuji test image (2D input) → 3D preview → per-color sliced view → real print

2D Input	3D Preview
Sliced by Colors	Real Print

Another minimal test you can try yourself in the app header: the Transmission Distance (TD) test image.

TD Test

Notable Features

• Image upload and preview (drag & drop or file picker).
• Color reduction / quantization with selectable color count.
• Inline color pickers to tweak or replace generated palette colors.
• Per-color slice heights and a configurable base slice height.
• Reorder colors with drag-and-drop to control stack order (darkest → lightest default ordering).
• Live 2D preview and a 3D stacked preview rendered with three.js.
• Layer-by-layer preview slider — Interactively visualize how the print builds up by dragging a slider to show/hide layers at specific heights.
• 3D model export to binary STL or 3MF (Preview) suitable for multi-material slicers.
• Plain-text 3D print instructions that describe layer heights and exact layers where filament swaps are required.
• Copy-to-clipboard button for the print instructions (produces a clean, copyable plain-text plan).
• Filament calibration wizard — Accurately determine Transmission Distance (TD) values through measured samples with confidence scoring.
• Advanced optimizer — Simulated annealing and genetic algorithms find optimal filament ordering for complex multi-color prints.
• Region weighting — Prioritize accuracy in specific image areas (center, edges) during auto-paint optimization.

Notable implementation details

• Frontend: React + TypeScript + Vite.
• 3D Rendering: three.js with BufferGeometry. The geometry pipeline produces per-face (non-indexed) triangles so each color slice renders as a solid block (no blended vertex colors) and vertical side walls are preserved.
• Texture sampling: we create a CanvasTexture from the preview canvas and use NearestFilter with mipmaps disabled so the texture stays crisp when mapped onto the 3D mesh. The texture UVs are adjusted (repeat/offset) so the canvas region aligns with the mesh bounding box.
• Color ordering: palette swatches are derived from image pixels, then ordered by hue/saturation/lightness and presented from darkest to lightest by default (you can reorder manually).
• Async mesh generation: The greedy meshing algorithm yields control back to the browser every 8ms during large mesh builds, keeping the UI responsive. Boundary vertex filtering uses binary search for optimal performance.

How to use

Quick start (Auto-paint mode — Recommended)

1. Upload or drag an image into the preview area.
2. Switch to the Auto-paint tab in the 3D controls panel.
3. Click Add Filament and configure your filaments:
   • Use the calibration wizard (calibrate icon) to measure accurate TD values, or
   • Enter TD values manually.
4. Enable Enhanced color matching for optimal results (auto-selects best algorithm).
5. (Optional) Set Region weighting to Center or Edge to prioritize important areas.
6. Use the layer-by-layer preview slider to verify transitions.
7. Export via Download STL or Download 3MF and follow the print plan.

See the Auto-paint section for complete details.

Manual mode workflow

1. Upload or drag an image into the preview area.
2. Adjust quantization settings to reduce to the desired number of colors.
3. Tweak or replace swatches using the color pickers in the Swatches panel.
4. Open the 3D panel → Manual tab to configure:
   • Per-color slice heights
   • Base slice height
   • Pixel size
   • Color order (drag-and-drop)
5. Preview in 3D and use the layer slider to inspect the stack.
6. Click Download STL or Download 3MF to export your model.
7. Use the Copy button to copy the plain-text print plan with layer heights and swap instructions.

3D / printing specifics and tips

• Base slice height default: 0.20 mm
• Layer height default: 0.12 mm
• Layer height used to compute the exact layer numbers at which color swaps happen in the plain-text plan.
• Per-color slice heights are snapped/multiplied to sensible values relative to layerHeight when the swatches change or are initialized.

Layer-by-layer preview

The 3D view includes an interactive height slider at the bottom that lets you visualize how the print builds up layer by layer:

• Drag the slider to show/hide layers progressively from base (0mm) to full height
• Current height and layer information displayed in real-time
• Slider step size matches your configured layer height for accurate control
• Helps verify filament swap positions and catch potential issues before printing

This is especially useful for complex multi-color prints where you need to understand exactly when each color transition occurs.

Auto-paint

Auto-paint is an automated layer-generation mode that replaces the manual palette/swatch workflow. Instead of reducing an image to a fixed number of colors and manually tuning per-color slice heights, you define a set of filaments (each with a color and a Transmission Distance) and let the algorithm compute the optimal layer stack automatically.

Core concepts

• Filaments: Each filament has a hex color and a Transmission Distance (TD) value (in mm). TD describes how translucent the filament is — at a thickness equal to TD, only ~10% of light passes through. Dark/opaque filaments have low TD (e.g. 0.5 mm); light/translucent filaments have high TD (e.g. 6+ mm). When you add a filament without specifying a TD, Kromacut estimates one from the color's luminance and saturation.
• Beer-Lambert optical blending: The algorithm simulates how light transmits through stacked filament layers using the Beer-Lambert law: transmission = 10^(-thickness / TD). This physically models the color you see when printing thin semi-transparent layers on top of each other.
• Transition zones: Each filament in the stack needs enough vertical space to visually transition from the color below it to its own pure color. The algorithm simulates adding layers one at a time until the blended color converges (DeltaE < 2.3 — the "just noticeable difference" threshold) or opacity exceeds 85%. The result is a set of transition zones, each with a start height, end height, and the filament used.
• Luminance-to-height mapping: Once the transition zones are computed, each pixel's brightness is mapped to a target height in the model. Dark pixels get the minimum height (base layer only), bright pixels get the full height (all layers), and mid-tones fall proportionally in between. This produces the characteristic lithophane-style relief where image brightness = model thickness.

How it works (step by step)

1. Define filaments — Add your filament colors and Transmission Distances in the Auto-paint tab. Use the color picker and TD input for each filament row.
2. Filament ordering — By default filaments are sorted by luminance (darkest on the bottom, lightest on top). With Enhanced color matching enabled, the algorithm evaluates orderings to find the one that best reproduces the image's color palette.
3. Transition zone calculation — For each consecutive pair of filaments, the algorithm simulates Beer-Lambert blending layer-by-layer until the color converges. The first (darkest) filament gets a foundation zone thick enough to be ~95% opaque (TD × 1.3).
4. Height compression — If the ideal height exceeds a user-set Max Height, all zones are uniformly compressed. The UI shows which zones are compressed and by how much.
5. Virtual swatch generation — The transition zones are sampled at each layer-height increment to produce a sequence of blended colors (virtual swatches). These drive the 3D preview and the height map, where each pixel maps to the layer whose blended color best matches.

Filament Calibration

Each filament row in the Auto-paint tab includes a calibration wizard to help you determine accurate Transmission Distance values:

1. Click the calibrate icon next to any filament to open the calibration wizard.
2. Print test samples — The wizard guides you through printing 3-5 samples of different thicknesses (e.g., 0.3mm, 0.6mm, 1.0mm, 1.5mm, 2.0mm).
3. Measure luminance — Use a light meter or camera to measure how much light passes through each sample, or visually compare against reference colors.
4. Automatic TD calculation — The wizard performs exponential regression on your measurements to compute the optimal TD value with a confidence score (High/Medium/Low/Very Low).
5. Save profile — Keep calibrated filaments in a reusable profile for future projects.

Calibrated filaments display a confidence badge next to their TD value. Higher confidence = more accurate optical simulation = better print results.

Advanced Optimizer

When Enhanced color matching is enabled, Kromacut uses advanced optimization algorithms to find the best filament order:

Algorithm	When Used	Description
Exhaustive search	1-4 filaments	Evaluates all possible orderings to guarantee the optimal solution. Fast for small sets.
Simulated Annealing	5-8 filaments	Physics-inspired probabilistic search that escapes local minima via controlled randomness. Balances quality and speed.
Genetic Algorithm	9+ filaments	Evolution-inspired population-based search with crossover and mutation. Best for large filament sets where exhaustive search is prohibitive (8! = 40,320 permutations).
Auto	Default	Automatically selects the best algorithm based on filament count and search space size.

The optimizer displays metadata after generation:

• Algorithm used — Which method was selected
• Quality score — Lower is better (weighted DeltaE + penalties)
• Iterations — How many orderings were evaluated
• Converged — Whether the algorithm reached a stable solution
• Cache hit — Whether results were retrieved from cache (instant)

Optimizer seed — Set a random seed for reproducible results across runs. Useful for A/B testing different configurations.

Region Weighting

Prioritize accuracy in specific image regions during optimization:

Mode	Description
Uniform	All pixels weighted equally (default).
Center	Gaussian falloff from center — faces and subjects in the middle get higher priority.
Edge	Sobel edge detection — high-contrast boundaries prioritized over flat regions.

Region weighting is most useful when filament budget is limited and you want the optimizer to focus on visually important areas.

Options

Option	Description
Max Height	Constrains the total model height (mm). When set below the auto-calculated ideal, zones are uniformly compressed. Leave blank or click Auto for the physics-derived default.
Enhanced color matching	Optimizes filament ordering for best color reproduction rather than simple luminance sorting. Uses advanced algorithms (exhaustive, simulated annealing, genetic) automatically selected based on filament count. Scoring considers weighted DeltaE accuracy, height spread, layer count, and transition waste.
Allow repeated filament swaps	(Requires Enhanced color matching) Allows a filament to appear more than once in the stack. This creates intermediate blended colors — for example, a thin white layer over red produces pink. The algorithm greedily inserts up to 4 extra swaps, each at the position that best improves the score.
Height dithering	(Requires Enhanced color matching) Applies block-aware Floyd-Steinberg error diffusion to the quantized height map. Instead of sharp stair-steps between layer heights, dithering produces a stippled gradient that simulates intermediate heights, resulting in smoother tonal transitions in the print. Edge pixels between different heights are protected from dithering to avoid staircase artifacts.
Dither line width	(Requires Height dithering) Controls the minimum dot size for the dither pattern in mm. This should roughly match your printer's line/nozzle width so dither dots are actually printable. Default: 0.42 mm.
Optimizer algorithm	Choose which optimization algorithm to use: Auto (recommended), Exhaustive, Simulated Annealing, or Genetic. Auto selects the best algorithm based on search space size.
Optimizer seed	Set a random seed for reproducible optimizer results. Leave blank for random behavior. Useful for testing and comparing configurations.
Region weighting	Prioritize specific image regions: Uniform (equal), Center (Gaussian falloff), or Edge (Sobel detection). Helps focus quality budget on important areas.

Filament profiles

Auto-paint configurations (filament lists) can be saved, loaded, and shared as profiles:

• Save / Save New — Persist the current filament set under a name. Overwrite an existing profile or create a new one.
• Load — Select a saved profile from the dropdown to restore its filaments.
• Export — Download the current filaments as a .kapp file (JSON) to share with others.
• Import — Load a .kapp or .json profile file from disk.
• Delete — Remove a saved profile.

Profiles are stored in browser localStorage and persist across sessions.

Transition zones panel

When auto-paint is active and filaments are defined, the UI displays a Transition Zones panel showing:

• Each zone's filament color swatch and hex code.
• The start and end height of each zone (in mm) and its thickness (Δ).
• A compressed badge on zones that have been reduced below their ideal thickness due to a Max Height constraint.
• Total model height and total number of physical layers.

Quick start

1. Load an image into Kromacut.
2. Switch to the Auto-paint tab (inside the 3D controls panel).
3. Click Add Filament and configure each filament's color and TD to match your real filament stock.
   • Tip: Use the calibration wizard (calibrate icon on each row) to measure accurate TD values.
4. (Optional) Enable Enhanced color matching for better results with complex images. The optimizer will automatically select the best algorithm (exhaustive, simulated annealing, or genetic) based on your filament count.
5. (Optional) Set Region weighting to Center or Edge to prioritize accuracy in visually important areas.
6. The 3D preview updates automatically. Adjust Max Height if the model is too tall.
7. Use the layer-by-layer preview slider at the bottom of the 3D view to verify color transitions.
8. Export the model via Download STL or Download 3MF and follow the printed swap plan.

3MF Export (Preview)

Kromacut now supports exporting directly to .3mf format. This file format preserves color information by splitting the model into separate objects for each color, automatically assigned to different extruders/filaments.

Disclaimer: This feature is currently in PREVIEW. While Kromacut preserves colors, the rest of the settings in the slicer profile should be manually adjusted. Please report any issues or weird behaviors you encounter on the GitHub Issues page.

Transmission Distance (TD) — what it is and how to use it here

Transmission Distance (TD) is the concept HueForge uses to produce perceptual intermediate shades by stacking translucent filament layers: instead of relying purely on opaque color pigments, TD models how light transmits through thin layers of filament and how stacking different colors (and varying thickness) produces new perceived colors. For a full conceptual description see the HueForge blog: https://shop.thehueforge.com/blogs/news/what-is-hueforge

Two workflow modes in Kromacut:

1. Auto-paint mode (Automatic TD processing) — The recommended approach for TD-based prints:

• Automatic Beer-Lambert blending — Kromacut simulates light transmission through stacked filament layers using physically accurate optical models.
• Filament-based workflow — Define your actual filaments (color + TD values) and let the algorithm compute optimal layer stacks automatically.
• Calibration wizard — Measure accurate TD values from physical test prints for each filament.
• Advanced optimizer — Simulated annealing and genetic algorithms find the best filament ordering for complex images.
• Transition zones — Automatically calculated vertical zones where each filament blends from the color below to its own pure color.

See the Auto-paint section above for full details.

2. Manual mode (Traditional workflow) — For users who want complete control:

• Reduce your image to a palette with more colors than you actually intend to print. The extra colors give you candidate shades to use as intermediate/translucent-looking layers.
• Use the per-color slice heights and ordering controls in the 3D panel to approximate the stacked thicknesses and ordering that would produce the target intermediate shades.
• Small adjustments to base slice height, per-color slice heights, and layerHeight change the produced layer numbers and perceived blends.
• Iterate with actual filament on small test prints — translucency and perceived mix depend heavily on filament brand, color, and print settings.

Recommendation: Use Auto-paint mode for TD-based prints. It handles the complex Beer-Lambert physics and optimization automatically, producing better results than manual approximation.

TD test image (for manual mode experimentation)

• This repository includes a small test image tdTest.png (found in src/assets/tdTest.png).
• The app header includes a Load TD Test button that will load that image into the preview so you can quickly experiment with manual layer ordering and per-color slice heights.
• This is primarily useful for testing manual mode workflows or understanding how layer heights affect perceived color.

Quick manual workflow experiment:

1. Click Load TD Test in the app header.
2. Reduce colors to your desired number.
3. Switch to Manual mode (3D Controls → Manual tab).
4. Adjust per-color slice heights and ordering.
5. Generate and download your 3D model.
6. Follow the layer color swap instructions and print your 3D model to see results.

Preview of the included TD test image:

Native Desktop App (Tauri)

Kromacut can be built as a native desktop application for macOS, Windows, and Linux using Tauri, offering better performance than the web version:

• Better performance: Native webview for faster rendering
• Smaller size: compact native bundle with low runtime overhead
• Lower memory usage: More efficient resource utilization
• Automatic updates: Built-in update checker notifies you of new versions

The desktop app includes an automatic update checker. See UPDATE_CHECKER.md for details.

Building

# Install Rust (one-time setup)
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
source "$HOME/.cargo/env"

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run in development mode
npm run tauri:dev

# Build production app
npm run tauri:build

The production build creates:

• Kromacut.app in src-tauri/target/release/bundle/macos/
• Kromacut_0.1.0_aarch64.dmg installer in src-tauri/target/release/bundle/dmg/

Releases

Pre-built native apps are automatically released on GitHub:

1. Download the latest release from the Releases page
2. Choose the right file for your platform:
   • macOS Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3): *_aarch64.dmg
   • macOS Intel: *_x86_64.dmg
   • Windows: *.msi
   • Linux: *.AppImage or *.deb
3. Install and launch

macOS "Kromacut is damaged" error? The app isn't code-signed. Run sudo xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Kromacut.app in Terminal to fix it.

Windows SmartScreen warning? The app isn't signed. Click "More info" → "Run anyway".

Note: To eliminate the macOS quarantine requirement entirely, the app would need to be signed with an Apple Developer ID certificate and notarized through Apple's notarization service. This requires an Apple Developer Program membership ($99/year). See TAURI.md for details.

To create a new release, see TAURI.md.

See TAURI.md for complete documentation on development, building, and distribution.

Star History

Contributing

Contributions welcome. Open issues or PRs for bugs, improvements, or feature suggestions. If you plan a larger change (architecture, algorithms), open an issue first describing the approach so we can discuss it.

License

This project is open-source — see the LICENSE file in the repository.