About this project
Parametric SDF Desk Snail Companion & Cable Holder
A soft, sculpted desk companion that doubles as a charging-cable holder. The body and spiral shell are built from smoothly blended signed distance fields, with crisp dark accents for the eyes and smile.
Overview
- Soft body — the foot, tail, neck, head and cheeks are one SDF union (
Snail_Soft_Body, 3.8 mm blend), joined to the eye stalks and shell with a tighter 2.2 mm blend so the stalks and shell crease stay defined. - Logarithmic spiral shell — a single sphere repeated along a spiral (
Shell_Whorl_Repeat), shrinking byshellGrowthevery 45°, around a central hub so the shell closes into one solid with no internal voids. - Crisp accents — pupils and the smile dimple sit outside the blend, so they keep sharp edges and the
pupilColoraccent. - Cable slot — a horizontal bore across the top of the shell with flared entries and a narrower snap-in throat that holds a USB/charging cord. Set
cableDiato your cable, or turnenableCableSlotoff for a plain figurine. - Flat base — a cut plane trims the foot flush at Z = 0, so it prints without supports under the body.
Key Configurator Parameters
| Variable | Default | Range | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
overallScale |
1.0 | 0.7 – 1.6 | Uniform scale for the whole snail |
shellRadius |
13 mm | 10 – 17 mm | Outer radius of the spiral shell |
shellGrowth |
0.88 | 0.82 – 0.92 | Shell size factor per 45° of spiral |
shellCount |
24 | 18 – 30 | Spheres along the spiral |
footLength |
18 mm | 14 – 24 mm | Half-length of the foot |
footWidth |
7.5 mm | 5.5 – 10 mm | Half-width of the foot |
headSize |
6.2 mm | 4.5 – 8 mm | Head radius (also scales neck, cheeks, eyes) |
stalkLength |
7.5 mm | 4.5 – 11 mm | Eye stalk length |
stalkSplay |
22° | 8° – 38° | Outward splay of the eye stalks |
stalkForward |
14° | 0° – 28° | Forward tilt of the eye stalks |
enableCableSlot |
on | on / off | Cut the cable holder into the shell |
cableDia |
4.2 mm | 3 – 6.5 mm | Cable bore diameter (shown when the slot is on) |
bodyColor |
#E89954 | color | Body and shell |
pupilColor |
#111318 | color | Pupils, smile and cable-slot accent |
The configurator also shows the approximate overall length (~42 mm at defaults).
3D Printing Notes
- Orientation: Prints upright directly on the flat $Z = 0\text{ mm}$ foot base.
- Layer Height:
0.16 mmor0.20 mmrecommended for smooth spiral whorls and eye stalks. - Infill:
10–15%gyroid or grid infill with3perimeters.
UpdatedOct 28, 2026
Version14
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