Polar Bear with Seal (Automata) - Optimized

This is one of those prints that makes anyone appreciate how capable modern 3D printers really are. In less than seven hours you get a fully mechanical automata - no screws, no glue, no tools. Everything prints, snaps together, and just works. It is part toy, part sculpture, and part proof of what well-designed printed mechanisms can do.

The teasing seal and the frustrated polar bear create a small looping story that works both as a desk toy and as a piece of interactive art. It is also a perfect demo print - something you can hand to someone and say, "this came entirely off the printer."

Amao Chan created this model, and if you enjoy this piece, their portfolio is well worth a look - they share many other thoughtful and cleverly engineered interactive works:  https://amaochan.work/

Update 2026-02-25:
Some users may notice that the bear’s arm does not always fall back down at the end of the cycle. This is typically caused by friction in the shoulder joint. The updated 3MF ("v. 2") increases the arm’s infill, adding weight so it drops more reliably without needing a rubber band. Geometry unchanged - only infill adjusted.

Why I Made The Remix

While printing the original STLs, I found that the workflow could be streamlined a bit. The original design is extremely clever and already well adapted for 3D printing, but the recommended settings - and default PrusaSlicer profiles - tend to generate unnecessary supports and required a bunch of post-processing.

So this is purely a quality-of-life pass focused on:

• Organizing parts by color for smoother printing sessions

• Reducing unnecessary supports

• Improving overhang handling

• Adding mass (infill) to the arm (avoiding the workaround of a rubber band to bring it down)

• Making the slicing process more repeatable

I print mostly at 0.15 mm when detail matters. The slightly finer layer height helps with steeper angles and smoother surface transitions. Dynamic layer height allows faster printing in low-detail regions, and combined with 15% Support Cubic infill, keeps print times reasonable.

In short, this is a workflow-oriented optimization. If it saves you some cleanup or setup time, then it has done its job.

The filaments I used for these photos: 

• Color A: Flashforge PLA White

• Color B: add:north PLA Galaxy Glitz

• Color C: add:north PLA Aurora Green

• Color D: add:north E-PLA Black

• Color E: The Filament PLA HS Quantum Purple

• Color F: The Filament PLA HS Moss Green

Total filament use ~130 grams
Total print time ~6.5 hours 

Assembly video by Amao: