palm tree island

thingiverse

This is a highly realistic and intricately detailed palm tree situated on a tiny, charming island that seems almost too small to hold such a majestic sight. The tree appears to be in motion, its segments bending and lengthening as if it's alive, with about 7 distinct sections visible in the image. The base and leaves of the tree are meticulously crafted using Blender, demonstrating exceptional skill and attention to detail. To achieve optimal results when printing this design, I highly recommend utilizing supports for the top piece, as I encountered difficulties with face geometry during its creation and Cura failed to detect the need for additional support structures in that area. Despite this setback, the final product still turns out beautifully. One notable technique used here is the implementation of a color change, which allows for striking visual effects by altering the color mid-print when printing the top piece of the island. This process is known as a "color z-change," and it brings out the colors in a truly captivating manner. However, I did encounter a challenge while assembling this design: the top joint of the island proved to be fragile and broke during assembly, necessitating the use of superglue to secure the first segment in place. This was not a major setback, but it does highlight the importance of being cautious when handling the pieces. The tree segments themselves are borrowed from an open-source model available on Thingiverse (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:584405), with all source files for this project accessible through a GitHub repository (https://github.com/esromneb/massive-octo-3D-print-adventure/tree/master/island).