Coral Reef Bookends and Fish Inserts

IMPORTANT!:
If you decide not to read anything I said, here is what is important to know before printing:

1. If the amount of files is overwhelming and you want to look at everything at once, download 'CompleteCoralReefObjects.3mf'
2. Look at all the images because I put in some instructions and labels for what files I included
3. This is built with plastic glue, there are no pegs or any set locations to put things in
4. The fish are AMS only, unless you want to print them as one color and then paint them later, I would love to see that (Use the .3mf files for the fish, as they should be painted in the slicer)

My Story:

This is my submission for the Color Your World Polymaker home decor challenge. When I found out about this challenge I went to the Polymaker website to inspire myself of what kind of things I could make. I was instantly captivated by the neon filament that Polymaker offers and I instantly thought of coral reefs and fish, because coral reefs are beautiful and fluorescent, I thought I could work with multiple colors and filament to make something really amazing. Although I didn't have the budget to buy filament from Polymaker I tried my best to use what I had. To me, spring holds significance because even though coral reefs have two seasons, spring is actually when the water starts getting warmer and marine life really starts to flourish, it is also my last quarter at college before the school year ends and it is really meaningful to me to work on something that signifies change and getting ready for the warmer weather.

What is this?

My submission includes bookends that mimic a coral reef as well as fish inserts that go between the books. I made 13 unique corals and where applicable, I also made a smaller version of those with some things changed to make it easier to print (I didn't just downscale it, I fixed the models in some places so it could print in a smaller scale :-)). The printing process should be pretty straightforward because I really wanted to make this modular, so the coral reef bookends are constructed with plastic glue and an eye for coral reef design. I hope I can make a video at some point to show how to print and assemble this, but for now it is up to you to print the corals you would like to include in your bookend. I also labeled which files are the most basic and necessary to create the bookend and which ones you can choose to print.

I made a royal blue tang and a clown fish insert to go between the books so that it looks like fish are swimming between the books from one coral reef bookend to the other. The 'strip' file needs to be printed along with the fish, this is just a flat strip that is meant to be bent at the score line and then glued onto the fish.

The Process:

My creative journey started as briefly mentioned, feeling inspired by Polymaker's neon filaments and the meaning of spring when it comes to marine life. First, I started by sketching how I wanted the bookends to look, my final design is actually pretty similar to what I ended up making for this challenge. I then went into blender and started working on the project, starting off with modeling the stone and the sand. Then, what followed was making all of the unique corals I thought could work with 3D printing, so most of them have a flat base and are relatively straightforward to print. After I made all of my assets I started working on making them easily printable, I had a lot of trouble with the staghorn coral because the spikey parts were getting too thin and harder to print, so I had to go back and make those wider so that the supports would be easier to take off and the model wouldn't break along with it. This was a big back and forth process, I would go and print the next object that I fixed and it was trial and error. The next major hurdle I faced was making the fish, at first I just modeled the fish and then I printed it with AMS by painting the colors I wanted in the slicer. However, there was so much color bleed because the slicer sliced the model in such a way that the colors from the layers under the last ones would show through. So I had to go back into blender and cut my fish so that each color was a different object so that I would paint the objects in the slicer instead of a surface level painting in the slicer. This was also a lot of trial and error, and it honestly drove me nuts. I tried to bring the stl into fusion to cut it but it didn't work so I just had to do it in blender.

Reflection:

Overall, I had so much fun with this challenge, it challenged me technically and it also challenged me with how I bring my designs into life. Entering this challenge was also very significant to me because it is the first time I have ever done something like this, I was always too scared that my creations were not good enough to submit and I finally got the courage to enter. Now I realize that I really just have to get myself into things or I will never realize how fun it is to 3D model and print.