Summary

This model is a sphere with a fractal groove map placed on it. The bottom of the ball is flat, allowing for easier printing and posing on a desk or shelf. The model was created with Mandelbulb 3D (more information below). Happy printing!

Print Settings

Supports:

Yes

                                            <p class="detail-setting resolution"><strong>Resolution: </strong>                     <div><p>0.1 - 0.2mm</p></div></p>                                                                                <p class="detail-setting infill"><strong>Infill: </strong>                     <div><p>~20%</p></div></p>                                                        <br>                        <p class="detail-setting notes"><strong>Notes: </strong>                    </p><div><p>Make sure supports are enabled for the entire structure, not just touching the buildplate, as the deep grooves on the upper half of the ball need support as well. Also, the finer the resolution the better this model will turn out. The pictured sphere took around 20 hours with 0.1mm resolution scaled to 125%.</p></div>

How I Designed This

This model was created with Mandelbulb 3D, a free fractal rendering program. The fractal is created within Mandelbulb 3D, then sliced into hundreds of individual frames--much like how an MRI machine works. Fiji ImageJ is used to assemble these slices into a usable .obj file, and I then cleaned up and smoothed the model with Meshmixer. This process is rather tedious and difficult, but it creates very unique and interesting art.

dIFS Fractal Maze Ball