HexBall

A parametric, print-in-place hex chainmail ball for Blender. Tiles are lofted hex plates joined by tilted hooks, so the whole ball prints as one flexible piece. Every dimension is a parameter, and built-in checks flag settings that won't print.

Use it as a Blender add-on

1. Zip the hexball_addon folder (blender_manifest.toml at the top of the zip).
2. In Blender 4.2+: Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions > Install from Disk.
3. In the 3D viewport, open the sidebar (N) and pick the HexBall tab.

Pick a size, set the colours, press Build. The Standard ball ships prebuilt, so the first build is instant. Paint mode lets you click tiles to colour them. Export writes a zip holding an .stl and a colour-carrying .3mf (enable the 3MF Import/Export add-on for the latter).

Use it headless

blender -b -P hexball_generator.py

Writes hexball.blend, hexball.stl and hexball.3mf to the output directory.

Layout

• hexball_addon/generator.py: the geometry.
• hexball_addon/checks.py: printability checks.
• hexball_addon/__init__.py: the sidebar panel.
• hexball_addon/profiles/: slicer profiles embedded in the 3MF export.
• make_prebuilt.py: regenerates the cached Standard build after changing defaults.

Generated .blend, .stl and .3mf files are not tracked.