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Halftone generator for laser engraving
Turn a photo into engravable dots at true size: a laser has no grey, a halftone gives it one.
Drop a photo here
JPEG, PNG, WebP or GIF up to 20 MB. Portraits and pets on a plain background work best. It never leaves your browser.
A laser has no grey. Dots give it one.
How it works
Add a photo
JPEG, PNG, WebP or GIF up to 20 MB. Portraits and pets with a plain background work best.
Set the real width
Type the width of the engraving in millimetres; the height follows the photo.
Tune the dots
Fewer dots across for wood and slate, more for coated metal. 45° hides the grid; raise the contrast if the face looks flat.
Download
SVG for xTool Studio or LightBurn, PNG for a preview, or open it in the editor to add a cut outline.
Dot spacing by material
| Material | Dot spacing | Dots across 100 mm | Invert |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plywood, MDF | 1.2–2 mm | 50–80 | Off |
| Light leather, cork | 1.2–2 mm | 50–80 | Off |
| Slate | 1–1.5 mm | 65–100 | On |
| Black acrylic | 0.8–1.2 mm | 80–125 | On |
| Anodised aluminium, coated tile | 0.5–0.8 mm | 125–200 | On for dark coatings |
Starting points, not rules: grain, coating and focus move them. The smallest dot has to be wider than the beam burns, about 0.2 mm on wood, or the light areas of the picture disappear. Burn a 30 mm patch before the whole portrait.
Take the SVG into your laser software, not the PNG. Laser software dithers images on its own — xTool Studio calls it the bitmap mode of an engrave layer, LightBurn calls it the image mode — and dithering a picture that is already dots gives you a moiré instead of a portrait. The SVG carries the dots as shapes, at the size set here, so nothing touches them again.
Questions makers ask
How many dots should a halftone have for laser engraving?
Aim for a dot spacing of 1 to 2 mm on plywood, slate and leather: for a 100 mm wide portrait that is 50 to 100 dots across. Coated tiles and anodised aluminium hold finer grids, down to about 0.5 mm. Dots smaller than the beam's kerf, roughly 0.2 mm, burn into nothing.
What angle should the halftone screen be?
45° is the classic choice because the eye notices rows and columns least on a diagonal. 0° gives a deliberate grid look that suits pop-art pieces.
When should I invert the halftone?
Invert on materials where the burn is lighter than the surface: slate, black acrylic, anodised aluminium and dark leather. On plywood and light leather leave it off.
Can I cut the dots as holes for a stencil?
Yes. Switch on Cut as holes and the dots become a red cut layer. Use fewer, larger dots so the bridges between the holes stay strong, and expect a long job: every dot is its own cut.
Is my photo uploaded?
No. The photo is read and converted in your browser and never leaves your computer.
SVG or PNG: which one do I engrave?
The SVG. It carries the real size in millimetres and engraves as clean filled shapes. The PNG is a preview for a listing or a customer.
More free tools
- Depth MapShape any image into a clean grayscale height map: set the black and white points, the gamma and the smoothing, invert if your machine wants dark for deep.
- SVG to laser prepOpen any SVG, give every shape its job, set the real size and leave with a file your laser software reads the right way.
- BlanksPick a shape, set the size in millimetres and the hanging hole, and download a cut-ready SVG for a whole row of blanks.