Choosing filament for HueForge: what TD means and why guaranteed TD matters

HueForge turns an ordinary photo into a depth-mapped print. It does it with filament painting and backlit lithophanes with layered colors, and it does it with layer swaps alone — no AMS or MMU required. If you have been curious about it, HueForge Software is available in four license tiers on our store.

But the software is only half the equation. The other half is the filament, and the number that decides everything is Transmission Distance (TD).

What TD actually means

Every color of filament passes a certain amount of light. In HueForge's terminology, Transmission Distance describes the thickness at which a color's light transmission drops to a defined threshold — in practice, it tells you how "deep" a layer of that color reads in a HueForge model. Thin layers of a low-TD color block light quickly; thick layers of a high-TD color keep passing it. HueForge builds the image by stacking these behaviors layer by layer, so the TD values you feed it are the model's entire idea of what your filament will do.

Why TD variance ruins prints

HueForge assumes your filament behaves the way its TD number says. If a spool's actual transmission drifts from spool to spool, the model's prediction drifts with it: the same file prints lighter or darker depending on which spool was on the machine. For lithophane work with layered colors, that variance shows up exactly where you do not want it — in the fine detail.

This is the problem Chrominal was built to solve. Per the Chrominal PLA listing, Chrominal is the official HueForge filament brand, developed to Steve's specifications — Steve being the creator of HueForge — and its listing states it is the first filament line with guaranteed TD and color consistency, with a stated TD variance under 10%.

How to choose filament for HueForge

Three things matter more than any single number:

• Consistency beats the exact value. A filament whose TD is stable spool to spool will match the model every time. A filament with a "better" TD number that wanders will not.
• Print a test strip. Whatever the spec says, a short calibration strip in HueForge tells you how that specific spool reads on your printer.
• Match the TD range to the image. High-contrast images want colors spread across a TD range; subtle portraits want colors clustered closely together.

Where to get both halves

The software: HueForge Software — Personal $24, Limited Commercial $60, Professional Commercial $120, and Lifetime Professional $350, as listed on the product page as of November 2026. Our store carries HueForge software alongside HueForge's own shop.

The filament: Chrominal PLA, the official HueForge filament brand, $39.99 per spool as listed on the product page as of November 2026. The HueForge product page also states a standing bundle as of November 2026: any HueForge license purchase takes 10% off Chrominal or A3DP GF ABS, applied automatically in the cart.

Get the software, pick a guaranteed-TD spool, and the model will do what it promises on the first try instead of the fifth.

Sources

• HueForge Software product page, advanced3dprinting.com/products/hueforge — software description (filament painting, backlit lithophanes, layer swaps without AMS/MMU), license tiers and prices, and the 10% Chrominal/GF-ABS bundle terms.
• Chrominal PLA product page, advanced3dprinting.com/products/a3dp-hueforge-chrominal-pla-filament-1 — official HueForge filament brand, developed to Steve's specifications, guaranteed TD and color consistency, TD variance under 10%, price.