Sierpinski pyramide - without the need of support

thingiverse

This design features Sierpinski pyramids that can be printed without support structures. Each pyramid depth contains 5 sub-pyramids, while the central-upper one is supported by a non-fractal upside-down pyramid of the same size. This allows for easy printing and visually appealing results (see image). Light-shade effects in real-world settings practically hide these supporting pyramids. The C code provided can be used to generate various versions of this design. To use the design, simply print it without any further adjustments. An example file, sierpinski_what_is_seen_on_thepic.stl, demonstrates printing without a support base. However, some printer drivers may individually print the smallest triangles on the base, making removal difficult and potentially breaking smaller pyramids. The generator program has been modified to add a support base with one unit of the smallest-pyramid height (seen in sierpinski??mm_d?.stl files). The Sierpinski pyramid is an excellent demonstration of STL format, as facelets consist mainly of triangles (excluding the base), which STL encodes. A C code is included with pre-compiled Linux and Windows binaries (in a *.zip file) for creating arbitrary Sierpinski pyramids. This also teaches recursive algorithms. For more information on usage, see the command line options ./sierpinski --help (on Linux) or sierpinski.exe --help (on Windows). The Windows binary was compiled on a Linux machine using the 32-bit version of MinGW cross-compiler and should work on all Win* systems. By default, the sierpinski.c code outputs to standard output, which can be extensive due to numerous pyramids and triangles. Redirect the output to a file or use the -o option for better control. Lastly, what is your printer's smallest size-to-2^depth ratio for nice printing?