turn your best memories into plotter art
RSTR redraws any picture as hatched line art.
Made in your browser, ready to print, share, or hand to a pen plotter.
- free & open source
- your photos never leave your device
- everything you make is yours to keep
what's a plotter?
A pen plotter is a machine that draws by moving a real pen across paper along vector paths. It can't color in shapes the way software does. If you want a colored square, you have to draw a bunch of lines neatly next to each other — or with some spacing in between to create different shades. That technique is called hatching, and it's probably as old as drawing itself.
RSTR reimagines hatching for pen plotters: it splits your image into regions of similar tone and fills each one with lines — denser where the image is dark, sparser where it's light. The result is an image rebuilt entirely from straight lines.
Curious about plotter art? Have a look at the plotter art project on d17e.dev.
everything you make is yours
Whatever you create with RSTR belongs to you: personal projects, gifts, client work, prints or plots you sell. Commercial use included, no strings attached. All processing happens in your browser.
The tool itself is in the open, too: the source code is on GitHub, licensed under the GPL.
how it works
- 1
drop an image or video
Any photo or video works. It never leaves your browser. All the processing happens right on your machine.
- 2
shape the lines
RSTR splits your image into regions and redraws them as lines. Play with colors, angles, spacing and density. Or roll the dice until something clicks.
- 3
take it home
Save a PNG to share or print, or export a layered SVG that a pen plotter can draw with real ink on real paper.
don't own a plotter?
No problem — I can plot yours for you. Make something in the studio, then hit ⚡ order this plot to have it drawn with real pens on real paper and shipped to your door.
#madewithrstr
A few of my own: plots from photos, run through RSTR and drawn with real pens on real paper.
More plots and works in progress over at d17e.dev/projects/rstr.
your turn
Made something with RSTR — plotted, printed, or straight off the screen? Share it and tag it #madewithrstr so others can find it. A community gallery will grow right here, so show off your work!
the story
RSTR started as a sketch for the Genuary '24 prompt “In the style of Vera Molnár (1924–2023)” — and never really stopped. It grew from a single experiment into the studio it is today; the original version still lives on if you're feeling nostalgic.
It's made by me, David Vandenbogaerde (or d17e for short), a software engineer and artist living in Amsterdam 🇳🇱. Ever since I owned a plotter,
I've been experimenting with novel ways to turn images into plotter art.
Which is why RSTR exists. I hope you like it.