Shadow Gen ®

Before you upload

Picking the right picture

Your lamp is cut from a single silhouette, so the outline is the whole design. Thirty seconds choosing well here is the difference between a shadow you recognise instantly and a dark blob.

• One character, near the centre. Not a scene, not a group.
• A plain background. Plain white is ideal. The background must not share colours with the character.
• Arms and legs clear of the body. Limbs folded across the chest merge into one shape when the colour is stripped out.
• Nothing at the edges. No text, logos, borders, or objects running off the side of the picture.
• A bold, recognisable pose. If you would not know it from the outline alone, neither will anyone else.

Side by side

The difference in one look

All four are the same kind of artwork. Only the picture around the character changes, and that is the whole difference.

These work

GOOD

Plain background One character, nothing behind it, and the ears, arms and tail all read as separate shapes.

GOOD

Central and well separated A single figure, clear background, and a body that does not fold in on itself.

These do not

AVOID

Text and clutter A title box, objects overlapping at the edges, and no clear iconic profile underneath it all.

AVOID

Background matches the costume The colours behind are the colours in front, so nothing can tell where the character ends.

What works best

If you can, upload a silhouette

This is the ideal, and it is worth a minute of searching.

BEST

Already a stencil Solid black on clear white, so there is nothing left to guess at. Upload one of these and your shadow comes out exactly as you see it here. Searching the character’s name plus the word “silhouette” usually finds one.

The closer your picture is to this, the closer the finished lamp is to what you pictured.

What to avoid most

Never a group photo

Everything else on the last slide can be worked around. This one cannot.

WORST

No subject, no background, no edges There is no single central character to build a silhouette around, no clean background to lift it off, and every figure overlaps the one beside it. Strip the colour out and all of this becomes one solid black mass with a bumpy outline.

Not sure about your own picture? Squint at it, or turn your screen brightness right down. If you can still tell what it is, so can we.

After you upload

Check it before you order

Everything from here runs on its own. You get three things to look at, and none of them cost you anything.

1. The stencil. Your subject lifted out of its background, in black and white.
2. The shadow simulation. What this lamp will actually throw on your wall.
3. The 3D preview. The printable model itself — drag to rotate, scroll to zoom.

Only place your order once you are happy with both the shadow simulation and the 3D view. If the shadow is not what you pictured, upload a different image and run it again. Trying another picture is free, and it is the only chance you get to change your mind.