How to Custom 3D Texture Depth Map: Tips and Tricks

What are Depth Maps?

Depth Maps (or Displacement Maps in the 3D world) are maps that use simple shades of black,

white, and grey to tell software exactly how high (or low) a physical surface should be.

Instead of showing colours, it uses brightness to represent height:

• Pure Black: The lowest point / flat base of the image texture. Only a thin layer of white + CMYK will be added here.
• Pure White:The highest point of the image texture, the highest point for the UV Ink build-up.
• Shades of Gray: All the different heights in between, creating the smooth slopes, curves, and fine details. The smoother the gradient, the smoother the prints, while a harsh gradient / high contrast results in steeper slopes.

How to get your Depth Maps?

Option A: AI Generation

• eufyMake Studio: Build in Relief Generator (download the image to adjust)
• SculptOK: A highly recommended AI tool specifically designed to generate ready-to-use 3D depth maps and relief models. One i personally use a lot (paid, points based)
• Midjourney & Stable Diffusion: You can use standard AI image generators to create

depth maps by using specific prompts. Add terms like "grayscale depth map," "3D displacement map," or "heightmap" to your prompts to ensure the AI outputs pure black-to-white gradients. I find the results to vary, and often not useable.

Option B: 3DSoftware

If you want to have FULL control over your depth maps, have a steady hand and alot of patience,

then you can create your own in 3D software packages. This requires some knowledge that would make this a 100-page long document. Youtube is your friend here.

• ZBrush: The industry standard for digital sculpting. By importing your Albedo (Color) image onto a 3D mesh (plane) you can digitally sculpt the "texture" and export as a Displacement map.
• Blender: A completely free 3D suite. Includes a sculpting module, and does most of the things Zbrush does.

Option C: Pre Made Asset Libraries

There is a massive market of pre-made maps that can be found online. These "texture sets" come with an Albedo (Colour) image and a Displacement (Depth) map along with some others that won't be needed for this use case.

• EpicFab Library: A great marketplace photoscanned textures with extremely detailed Depth maps. Both free and paid (Search for Quixel and thank me later).
• ArtStation & Gumroad

Improve your textures & Save Ink (The Fun Part)

When generating a depth map from any AI tool, they often come out to bright, with too little contrast. This causes are supposed to be the darkest, to be overbright (gray), and will cause extra UV Ink layer build in areas not needed. Resulting in waste ink, time and money.

Therefore, i've created a web based, standalone tool that can be run locally on your laptop or PC, so fine tune, tweak and export your uploaded Depth Maps. It does everything Photoshop does, just a lot easier.

On the next page are 2 examples – one AI generated output without any adjustments, and a map optimized / tweaked in DMM (DMM stands for Depth Map Modifier)

Examples of a BAD and GOOD depth map.

Discussing the results:

In the above 2 examples there's a clear difference between Ink usage & time. Something that's very precious in the UV printing world. Lets break down why there's such a huge difference between these 2 methods, and what it means in the real world.

The "Wrong" way

The RAW output of the AI generated Depth Map consists mostly of white and gray shades, with very little to no black. There's no fall off at the edges, resulting in raised edges with visible white UV ink build up. Pure white with no fall off also results in "flat" top surfaces, an example in the pictures below:

The "correct" way

Adjusting the brightness, black & white levels, applying a slight blur around the edges and overall images results in over 70% in ink savings, without loosing detail.

Discussing the results:

In the above 2 examples there's a clear difference between Ink usage & time. Something that's very precious in the UV printing world. Lets break down why there's such a huge difference between these 2 methods, and what it means in the real world.

The "Wrong" way

The RAW output of the AI generated Depth Map consists mostly of white and gray shades, with very little to no black. There's no fall off at the edges, resulting in raised edges with visible white UV ink build up. Pure white with no fall off also results in "flat" top surfaces, an example in the pictures below:

The "correct" way

Adjusting the brightness, black & white levels, applying a slight blur around the

Depth Map Adjuster Overview

Click to Download the file & Open with any browser (right click, open with)

Getting Started – Button and Filter overview

Choose File

• What it does: Load your grayscale image into the app.
• How to use it: Click the button and select a standard format like .PNG or .JPG from your computer.

Invert (Positive / Negative)

• What it does: Flips the colors of your image perfectly in reverse. Black becomes white; white becomes black.
• Height Controls (Z-Axis)

Brightness

• What it does: Lightens or darkens the entire image equally.
• How to use it: Use this to uniformly shift your entire model up or down on the Z-axis.

Contrast

• What it does: Pushes light grays lighter and dark grays darker.
• How to use it: This steepens or flattens the transition slopes of your geometry. Increase contrast for sharper, steeper drops between high and low areas.

Black Level (Floor)

• What it does: Defines absolute black.
• How to use it: If your background isn't purely black, your printer might print a thin, unwanted base layer. Slide this up to force the darkest grays to become pitch black, ensuring your physical floor drops all the way down to zero.

White Level (Ceiling)

• What it does: Defines absolute white.
• How to use it: This caps the maximum height of your print. Lowering this slider dims the brightest whites, effectively shaving down the highest peaks of your physical model so it doesn't print too tall.

Gamma (Curve)

• What it does: Bulks up or thins out the mid-tones without changing the absolute floor or ceiling.
• How to use it: If your overall shape looks right but feels a bit too "thin" or "fat" in the middle layers, sliding the Gamma curve adjusts the slope volume while keeping your base and peak exactly where they are.

Posterize (Steps)

• What it does: Reduces smooth gradients into hard, distinct bands of gray.
• How to use it: Use this to force the file into a specific number of topographical, terraced steps. This ensures clean, measurable layer heights when UV printing, rather than asking the machine to print a perfectly smooth ramp.

Sharpen (Edges)

• What it does: Increases contrast specifically along the edges of micro-details.
• How to use it: If your organic textures (like scales, bone pores, or rough skin) are blending together too much, sliding this up forces those tiny details to "pop" around the edges of your print.

Global Blur

• What it does: Slightly blurs the entire image.
• How to use it: Use this to melt away digital pixelation or "noise." This prevents harsh, jagged stepping artifacts from appearing on what should be a smooth physical slope.

Note: These tools only affect the outer rim of your model, leaving the center highly detailed.

Edge Darken (Taper)

• What it does: Applies a dark vignette around the border of the canvas.
• How to use it: If your model hits the edge of the canvas abruptly, it will print as a harsh 90-degree cliff wall. This slider forces the outer geometry to smoothly slope and taper down into the baseplate, as discussed earlier in this tutorial (The football example)

Edge Blur (Smooth Rim)

• What it does: Heavily blurs the border of the depth-map while keeping the center sharp.
• How to use it: Combine this with Edge Darken to ensure the outer rim slopes down smoothly, eliminating any sharp transition lines on the outer edges.

Individual Reset Icons

• What it does: Snaps a single slider back to its default value.
• How to use it: Click the small circular arrow next to any number box if you went too far

with an adjustment and just want to reset that specific setting without losing the rest of your work.

Reset All (Red Button)

• What it does: The panic button.
• How to use it: Click this to return every single slider, number box, and checkbox in the app back to factory zero.

Export Map

• What it does: Saves your final image.
• How to use it: Once your levels are perfectly dialed in, click this to immediately download a high-quality .PNG file of your new depth map directly to your computer, ready to be sent to your slicing software.

Any questions or comments – please reach out to me via Facebook!