✦ Free Beta · macOS · No cloud

Design shadow boards
from a photo.

Point your camera at your tools. Dark Shadow AI turns the photo into a 3D-printable shadow board in five steps — all on your Mac, completely offline.

Download for Mac See how it works

macOS 12 Ventura or later · Apple Silicon & Intel

Dark Shadow AI — Step 3: Detect Tools
Step 1
Import Photo
📷
Step 2
Align Corners
📐
Step 3 · Active
Detect Tools
🔍
In action

See what Dark Shadow AI can do.

Dark Shadow AI screenshot 1

Tool detection on a Milwaukee Phillips screwdriver

Dark Shadow AI traces the exact outline of each tool from a single overhead photo. The contour is smooth, accurate, and ready to become a pocket.

Dark Shadow AI screenshot 2

Refined outline ready for export

After detection, the board preview shows the pocket silhouette at scale. Customize your layout by adding finger holes for easy tool removal, dog bone connectors to snap multiple boards together, and gap fill blocks to support oddly-shaped tools. Then export straight to your slicer.

Dark Shadow AI dual-color STL export

Dual-color export — press-fit inserts in a second color

Dark Shadow AI exports two STL files: the board with pockets cut through, and a matching set of solid tool inserts. Print the inserts in an accent color and press them into the board for a professional two-tone shadow effect — no glue, no hardware, just a perfect friction fit.

Features

Everything you need.
Nothing you don't.

Dark Shadow AI is purpose-built for one job: turning tool photos into print-ready shadow boards. No subscription, no account, no internet.

🤖

AI Vision detection

MobileSAM traces your tools with sub-millimetre accuracy. Runs entirely on your Mac — no cloud, no privacy trade-off.

📐

Perspective correction

Align four corner handles to the paper and the app removes lens distortion, giving true mm-per-pixel scale.

🎨

Dual-color export

Export two interlocking STL files — a board and matching inserts. Print the inserts in an accent color for a professional two-tone finish.

🔗

Dog bone joining

Snap multiple boards together edge-to-edge with interlocking tab connectors. Scales to fit your printer with a single slider.

✦

Multiple detection methods

Choose from Segment X1, Threshold, Canny Edges, or AI Vision. Each method shines in different lighting conditions.

📦

Slicer-ready STL output

Every export is a watertight mesh — open straight in PrusaSlicer, Bambu Studio, or any standard slicer.

How it works

Five steps from photo
to shadow board.

No CAD software. No measuring. Just a photo on a sheet of paper.

1

Import a photo

Lay your tools on A4 or US Letter paper and photograph them from directly above. Drag the image onto Dark Shadow AI or click Open Photo.

2

Align the paper corners

Drag four handles to the exact corners of the paper. This corrects perspective distortion and sets the real-world scale used by every measurement.

3

Detect your tools

Click Add Tool for each item. The app traces the outline automatically. Switch detection methods, adjust the smooth slider, and repeat for every tool.

4

Arrange the board

Drag tools on the canvas, add finger holes for easy removal, set pocket depth, and optionally enable dog-bone connectors for multi-board setups.

5

Export and print

Export a single-color STL or two dual-color STLs. Watertight, sliceable, ready to print.

🔒

Your photos stay on your Mac.

Dark Shadow AI never uploads your images. All detection, AI processing, and mesh generation runs locally. The only optional network request is a one-time download of the AI Vision model weights (~40 MB) on first use — after that it works completely offline.

Dark Shadow AI

Ready to build your shadow board?

Free during beta — no account, no subscription required.

🍎

macOS

12 Ventura or later · Apple Silicon & Intel

Download DMG
  1. Open the downloaded .dmg file
  2. Drag Dark Shadow AI to Applications
  3. Right-click the app → Open
  4. Click Open in the security dialog
🪟

Windows

Windows 10 or later · 64-bit

Download ZIP
  1. Extract the downloaded .zip file
  2. Open the DarkShadow folder
  3. Double-click DarkShadow.exe
  4. If SmartScreen appears, click More info → Run anyway
🐧

Linux

Ubuntu 22.04+ · Debian · Fedora · 64-bit

Download ZIP
  1. Extract the downloaded .zip file
  2. Open a terminal in the folder
  3. Run chmod +x DarkShadow
  4. Run ./DarkShadow

~630 MB download · All AI processing runs locally · No account required

Share Your Feedback

Help us improve Dark Shadow AI — tell us what's working and what isn't.

Thank you for visiting — downloads are coming soon!