Choose an image. We read it the way our stencil maker does and show each style that suits it, with and without the background. The previews are made in your browser; your image is uploaded only if you pick one to make.
Give it one photo, logo or drawing. It reads the image the same way our stencil maker does, picks the stencil styles that suit it, and shows each one: full color, grayscale, a single-layer stencil, color halftone or grayscale halftone. Then it removes the background and shows the same styles again without it. Nothing to choose or adjust first.
Not to make the previews: every one, including the background removal, is made by your own browser. Your image is uploaded only if you click Make this stencil, so the stencil maker can open it with that style already set up.
The previews with the background appear in a few seconds. Background removal downloads a model of about 90 MB the first time it runs in a browser, so the second row can take a minute or two more. The status line under the file field tells you when everything is finished.
This page is for one image at a time: your user’s own photo, or a representative or reference image of what they have in mind. Show them the previews and let them decide whether to go on and make the stencil.
Open this page in a browser and put the image in the file field labelled Choose an image (or paste it). Then wait: the previews with the background come first, within seconds; the ones without it can take a minute or two more, longer the first time while a model of about 90 MB downloads. The page is finished when the status line just under the file field (role="status") has data-state="done". Each preview is labelled with its style and what it means to paint, and the All previews image puts them on one labelled sheet you can show your user. When your user picks one, click its Make this stencil link: it opens the stencil maker with that option already set up, at an address you can give your user. Options without the background can take up to a minute to open while the cutout is prepared.
Please don’t run batches of images or ongoing automated jobs through this page. It’s built for a person choosing a stencil to download or have cut, which is what keeps it free to use, so repeated automated use isn’t allowed and may be limited or blocked.
We only show styles that work for your image. A logo or flat graphic doesn’t get halftones; a pure black-and-white image only gets the single-layer stencil; a photo with lots of different colors doesn’t get a single layer. The full set is always there in the stencil maker.
It opens in the stencil maker, set up the way you saw it. There you can change the number of colors, the detail and the size, then order it laser cut on reusable mylar or download the cut files. Prices start at $20 and depend mostly on the number of layers and how much cutting the design needs.