Drop a variable TTF font, an SVG, or a bitmap to begin
Generates a matrix + counter-matrix pair from the current source. Used for inkless relief prints on letterpress presses or hand-operated embossing pliers.
The Fabricator App helps designers — especially students of the Type Design course in FBAUP's MDGPE master's in Graphic Design and Editorial Projects — get their typeface designs 3D-printed at the school's Digital Fabrication Lab quickly, whether on FDM, SLA, or CNC routers. It is built for those with no prior 3D-editing experience. The Fabricator's default options ensure that every glyph in a typeface lands at the same typographic measurements, so once printed the sorts can be composed, locked-up, and printed seamlessly alongside traditional metal and wood type in FBAUP's Letterpress Printmaking Workshop using its presses and the rest of the workshop's letterpress material.
Designed by Pedro Amado, FBAUP/i2ADS, within the context of the Type Design course of the MDGPE master program at FBAUP, and the Ligatures SIG from the i2ADS. Coded by Gemini Pro 3.1 and Claude Code Opus 4.7. Version 9.2.1, May 2026. More information and code available at GitHub.
Drop a font to see your 3D letterpress sorts here
High-contrast black-and-white images give the cleanest result. Move the Threshold slider until the Binarized preview shows your artwork as solid black on white, then accept.