The Best Bas Relief Software in 2026: Photo to Relief, Compared

The best bas relief software depends on what happens after the relief. For custom coins and plaques that a customer must approve, Relief Studio (ours) covers the whole order. Inside a full CNC workflow, Carveco and Vectric Aspire are the established suites. For high-precision exports on credits, DepthCarve. For quick cloud results, SculptOK or Bas-Relief.AI. For offline depth maps on one payment, DepthGen Pro (ours).

Every tool below turns an image into a bas-relief, but they stop at different points: some hand you a depth map, some a mesh, some a finished file plus a customer's sign-off. Prices and features come from each product's own page, checked October 1 and 2, 2026. Depthue makes Relief Studio and DepthGen Pro; they are labeled as ours.

The short list

1. Relief Studio: best for custom coin and plaque orders

Relief Studio is a browser workspace built around a commission rather than a single image. A customer photo becomes an editable relief on a round coin or rectangular plaque sized in millimeters. Names and dates are added as lettering drawn by code, so changing a date never regenerates the portrait. The customer approves a private 3D proof of one saved revision, and the export is a production package: watertight STL, OBJ, 16-bit grayscale PNG, Float32 depth and the recipe.

• Price: $49 every 30 days with 30 cloud depth jobs. A free account starts with 5 cloud jobs and no card. Local AI, editing and exports use no cloud jobs.
• Strengths: exact lettering, versioned approvals, templates for repeat orders, local-first processing.
• Limits: coins and rectangular plaques only, a 384 sample height field, no toolpaths or machine control.

2. Carveco: best inside a CNC suite

Carveco is CNC design and machining software with AI image-to-relief and text-to-relief. Its FAQ says the generation methods, Fidelity and Forge, are identical across Maker, Maker Plus and Pro. Maker and Maker Plus are limited to 2,000 x 2,000 points and Pro supports 4,000 x 4,000, and Maker Plus and Pro add sculpting and finishing tools.

• Price: Carveco announced Maker at $17.50 a month in its June 2025 pricing post. Check the current price on its site.
• Strengths: relief generation and toolpaths in one program.
• Limits: a full CAD/CAM suite to learn; customer approval is outside its listed scope.

3. Vectric Aspire: best for established CNC shops

Aspire is Vectric's 3D design and toolpath software. Its product page says it can convert 2D color and black-and-white images (BMP, JPG, TIF, GIF) into 3D component textures, and it imports STL models. It lists no AI image-to-relief feature, so photo portraits usually start as a depth map made elsewhere.

• Price: not shown on the product page we checked.
• Strengths: mature relief modeling, combining components, and production toolpaths.
• Limits: a large purchase for occasional relief work; photo-to-depth is not built in.

4. DepthCarve: best for precision exports on credits

DepthCarve is a browser bas relief generator with previews, shaping and manufacturing checks. Paid exports include raw float EXR, true 16-bit PNG and a watertight STL, and the Production plan adds a parameter manifest and API calls.

• Price: a free tier with one production credit and three previews a day; one-time packs of $12 for 30 jobs and $39 for 150; Workshop at $29 a month for 250 jobs and Production at $99 a month for 1,500.
• Strengths: high-precision output, flexible packs, an API.
• Limits: you upload the image; lettering and customer approval are not listed.

5. SculptOK: best one-click cloud reliefs

SculptOK makes depth maps and bas reliefs in the cloud, with background removal and HD restoration.

• Price: a 100-credit free trial with no card, then Pro at $19, Master at $35 and Ultimate at $75 a month, about 17 percent less billed yearly. Pro lists 400 credits, about 20 HD downloads. Unused credits carry over.
• Strengths: fast results with little setup.
• Limits: credits per result, and every image is uploaded. See SculptOK alternatives for a closer comparison.

6. Bas-Relief.AI: best for prompt-driven reliefs

Bas-Relief.AI generates reliefs from prompts and images, with STL relief, SVG vector and PNG depth exports.

• Price: pay as you go with a $9 minimum top-up and no subscription. It lists up to three free generations a week.
• Strengths: no monthly commitment, vector output for linocut-style work.
• Limits: per-generation cost is not listed on the pricing page.

7. Tripo relief generator: best quick free relief

Tripo, a larger AI 3D platform, offers a relief generator with adjustable relief and STL and OBJ output. When we checked on October 1, basic generation was advertised as free without an account.

• Strengths: free and fast for a one-off.
• Limits: a general tool; no physical sizing workflow, lettering or approvals are listed.

8. DepthGen Pro: best offline, one payment

DepthGen Pro is Depthue's desktop depth map generator for Windows and macOS. It runs Depth Anything V2, V3 (Windows) and Lotus 2 offline, has a photometric relief engine for photographs of coins and medals, a height brush, and exports 8 and 16-bit PNG, EXR, STL and OBJ, with batch processing.

• Price: $39.99 once, lifetime licence. The Windows and macOS editions are sold separately, each with its own licence.
• Strengths: private, offline, unlimited use, batches.
• Limits: a depth tool, not an order workflow: no lettering or customer proofs.

9. Depthue depth map generator: best free start

The free depth map generator runs Depth Anything V2 in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and it exports PNG and a relief STL.

How to choose

1. Do customers approve the design? If yes, choose a tool that ties approval to the exact file. Relief Studio does this for reliefs; flat engraving has its own tools.
2. Where do toolpaths come from? If you live in Carveco or Aspire already, generate there or import a depth map into it.
3. How often? A few reliefs a year fit free tiers and credits. Weekly orders fit a subscription or a one-time desktop app.
4. Does the photo leave your computer? Cloud tools upload it. DepthGen Pro and the free generator do not, and Relief Studio uploads only for cloud jobs, cloud saves and proofs.
5. What file does your machine need? Grayscale PNG for laser relief engraving, STL or a height map for CNC, STL for printing.