Co-extrusion filament is great and all but how many times have you gone to use it and forgotten which colour ends up where and been disappointed by the results of “I guess I'm just wingin' it”. That's how I ended up with a blue demon when I was hoping for a red one…

The flower compass is also a great choice for an under 30 minute test print when you get a brand new filament and don't know what to print. Go ahead and print something that will save you time in the future and is visually appealing enough to actually keep around as a general filament sample.

So let the filament flower compass point you in the right direction and ease your co-extrusion worries. The large leaf will act as your “north star” and point towards the back of the plate so you have an easy cue to remember the direction. The leaves for all the designs have been set to a “hollow” hexagon pattern (without any shell layers). This just cuts some time and waste and allows the flowers to be strung up in a hanging garland or keychain if desired. The middle nub of the flower is higher and rounded to show the full spectrum of colours around the plate. Both profiles are setup the same way, with the flower separated into parts and different settings are applied to them in the object menu. This also means that if you want to test multiple filaments on one plate, just clone the single flower provided and update it to have the desired filament colour (the other settings will stay). In that case though, I would recommend “print by object” to save time as it will then finish each flower separately.

1. Profile #1: This is where you will see the most variation. The middle of the petals have been set to have different top surface patterns. See photos for info. This can help to make choices for flat layers on prints for a decorative effect. I think Hilbert Curve has won me over so far but the colour blocking of concentric looks neat and probably would look great with the right design. I suggest learning how to add a “height range modifier" if you are not familiar, because then you can insert a fun top layer wherever, without it having to always be the “real” top layer. The middle nub has been set to a fuzzy skin for this one, just because I'd never printed anything with it yet.
2. Profile #2: This test originates from when I chose 0 degree infill for my facedown Gollumtine sign and the part I wanted to be orange turned out very pink instead (with the Bambu Dual orange/pink). I wanted to check if infill direction alone would result in different colours, but I think the results are mixed. Granted I have only checked 6 versions, but it seems to really depend on the filament and lighting. The silk ones do actually appear almost holographic with this combination of angles, so that's something! The middle nub on this flower is not fuzzy to supply contrast between the two.

I always love reviews and feedback so let me know your thoughts if you try it!