To make an engraving effect online, open Artfkt’s free browser demo, apply the Engraving effect to your image, and lower Spacing until the lines are fine enough for the subject. Engraving turns tones into curved parallel lines whose weight follows the light and shadow, like the portrait on a banknote. Change the Ink and Paper colors, add a frame, then export a PNG.

The example above uses the built-in marble bust from Artfkt’s 3D model library, so you can reproduce it exactly. The same steps work on your own photo.

What makes a good engraving source?

Strong, directional light. Engraving draws thick lines in shadows and thin lines in highlights, so a flatly lit face gives you even stripes with little shape. Choose a photo with clear light from one side, or light a 3D model that way. Plain backgrounds help, because the effect engraves everything it sees.

Left: a white marble bust lit from the left on cream. Right: the same bust as fine green engraved lines inside a green frame with a small title.

Left: the lit 3D bust before any effect. Right: the finished engraving, with green ink, a frame border and a label.

Set up the portrait

  1. Open the Artfkt demo and remove the sample image and effect, or choose Use your own image to start from a photo.
  2. Select Document, choose the Instagram Portrait — 1080 × 1350 canvas preset, turn Transparent off and set the background to #F1EBDD.
  3. To follow this example exactly, choose Add → 3D Model and pick Bust, a CC0 model from Poly Haven. Set Scale to 430%, Y position to 40 and Rotation Y to −25°.
  4. Under Lighting, make the Key light strong and low from the side: intensity 3.4, azimuth −70°, elevation 35°. Lower Fill to 0.35, Rim to 1.2 and Ambient to 0.12. Deep shadow on one side of the face gives the lines something to describe.

Apply Engraving and set the line spacing

Select the layer, open FX → Drawing and choose Engraving. It has four controls:

  • Spacing sets the distance between lines. This matters most.
  • Curvature bends the line families so they wrap around forms.
  • Detail lets local contours, like eyes and lips, redirect the lines.
  • Mix blends the result with the original image.

The defaults, Spacing 0.011, Curvature 0.65 and Detail 0.3, draw bold stripes. They suit a large graphic but lose a face at this size. For a banknote portrait, set Spacing 0.005, Curvature 0.8 and Detail 0.55.

Close-up of the bust's face in two engravings. Left: thick widely spaced black stripes that hide the features. Right: fine close lines that describe the eye, nose and mouth.

The same crop of the face. Left: default Spacing 0.011, Curvature 0.65, Detail 0.3. Right: Spacing 0.005, Curvature 0.8, Detail 0.55.

Finer spacing needs more pixels to show. If you plan a small social image, check the export at its real size. Very fine lines can blur together when a platform scales the image down.

How do I make it look like money?

Three choices do most of the work:

  • Ink color. In Engraving’s settings, set Ink to a deep banknote green such as #1F4A3A, and Paper to match the background, #F1EBDD.
  • A frame. Add Frame Border from the Collage collection to the Document. This example uses Thickness 2.5% and border color #1F4A3A.
  • Small, wide-spaced type. Add a text layer in Inter Semi Bold · 600, 34 px, letter spacing 6 px, in the same green. Keep it outside the engraving so it stays crisp.

Avoid currency details such as denominations, seals or real bank names. The look comes from line work, color and framing, not imitation.

Can I use the result for laser engraving?

Not directly. Artfkt makes a decorative image. The export is a PNG of the look, not a calibrated grayscale map or vector paths for a laser cutter. If your goal is a physical engraving, use your machine’s own software or a dedicated laser-preparation tool, and treat Artfkt’s output as a visual reference.

Export the engraving

Open Export and choose PNG. Demo exports include a small Artfkt watermark by default; turn it off for free in Settings → Export Settings → Include Artfkt watermark. The PNG is flat. In the browser demo, rebuild the layers to make changes. The desktop app saves the project so you can change the words or swap the subject later.

What the desktop app adds

Artfkt for Mac and Windows adds saved projects, Full Export with templates and previews, material and lighting presets for 3D models, and the full collection library to combine with an engraving. It runs on Apple Silicon Macs with macOS 13 or later and 64-bit Windows 10 (22H2) or Windows 11 PCs.

How these examples were made

Every image was exported from the Artfkt browser demo in Chrome on a Mac on 4 November 2026. The subject is the Bust model in Artfkt’s library, by Rico Cilliers on Poly Haven under CC0. The label uses Inter, bundled under the SIL Open Font License. The comparison images place unedited exports side by side at reduced size; the detail is a crop of the face.