Photonic3D is a control server for DLP resin 3D printers with a web-based user interface. It has been designed to run well on a Raspberry Pi, but is cross-platform and the install distribution will also run on Linux, Windows, and MacOS.
The server is capable of printing a variety of formats, including:
- .cws files created by Creation Workshop
- STL files, which Photonic3D will slice incrementally at times when the CPU would generally be inactive(exposure and gcode execution)
- Zip of PNG images, which Photonic3D will scan recursively and print based on alphanumeric ordering (meaning both zero-padded and non-padded numbered PNG files will work correctly)
- Single GIF, JPEG, or PNG image, which Photonic3D will extrude and optionally print a 3D relief
- Block of text, which Photonic3D will extrude using a system or user uploaded font
- SVG file, which Photonic3D will extrude and optionally print a 3D relief
If you have a brand new dedicated Raspberry Pi, there is a flashable Jessie Lite based image that you can use to quickly get started. Download the Raspberry Pi system image and then take a look at the image install docs at photonic3d.com for the installation instructions.
If you have an existing Raspberry Pi, follow the Linux install instructions below.

Photonic3D can run .cws scene files saved from Creation Workshop which contain PNG files. When printed, these files will obey the GCode and imaging commands inside of the files instead of the slicing profiles configured within Photonic3D. This process is
depicted in this YouTube video.
If you are experienced with Linux, you can quickly install Photonic3D with the following commands:
Latest stable:
sudo wget https://github.com/area515/Creation-Workshop-Host/raw/master/host/bin/start.sh
sudo chmod 777 start.sh
sudo ./start.sh
Latest development:
sudo wget https://github.com/WesGilster/Creation-Workshop-Host/raw/master/host/bin/start.sh
sudo chmod 777 start.sh
sudo ./start.sh WesGilster
Latest Kudo3D Fork (or other forks named Photonic3D):
sudo wget https://github.com/Kudo3D/Photonic3D/raw/master/host/bin/start.sh
sudo chmod 777 start.sh
sudo ./start.sh Kudo3D/Photonic3D
Photonic3D will be installed into /opt/cwh and an init script will be added to /etc/init.d to launch the server on boot.
start.bat.There are also a number of tools designed to run on your client desktop that are bundled with the installation.
The browseprinter tool will help you find the Photonic3D server on your network, in case you have it installed a machine with a dynamic IP address and you don't know what what is.
* Linux: Run sudo browseprinter.sh at the command line
* Windows: Run browseprinter.bat
$ claude mcp add Photonic3D \
-- python -m otcore.mcp_server <graph>