Flexi Koi (koinobori)

This is my first (okay, actually 7th) attempt at creating a flexi animal. It's a Koi, styled in the design of a koinobori which is sort of like a windsock, decorated like a koi. It's a traditional decoration for Childrens' Day (kodomonohi, May 5th).

Information about koinobori: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koinobori

The hinges come from Articulated Anything! by Nerys.

I've included a "blank" version of the model (v0.4), and one with details (v0.7). The detailed version doesn't really scale well. I think I'll do a version that is a bit less complicated -- but I really like how it looks in a designer.

Print Settings

Printer Brand:

Prusa

Printer:

i3 MK3 MMU 2

Rafts:

No

Supports:

No

Resolution:

.20

Infill:

10

How I Designed This

SketchUp Pro

This took a lot more time and failing to finish than I was expecting. I learned a great deal about creating complex solids in SketchUp. Lots of sighs (maybe some tears).

First I tried to stitch 3 objects together; a solid core extruded from a plane, the top details, and bottom details. Then add in the hinges. Bad idea.

Nothing wanted to stick together properly.

The hinges come from Articulated Anything! by Nerys.

Eventually I had to deconstruct the hinges a bit to ease the joining process, SketchUp's inference of where to create edges and planes (or not) was... sub-optimal.

I did the same with the top and bottom. Created one top section, and pushed in the parts I wanted to be recessed, then flipped and reversed to create a bottom. Then connected the dots:

Prefection! Kind of.

Three levels of surfaces look great, but don't scale well. I'm going to try reducing the complexity of the faces but keep it looking like a koinobori.

Category: Animals