ZBrushCentral

Mouse Jeweller's Work Bench

ZBrush Artworks
#21

This is really great work, jewelry has been tickling my fance for sometime… I just have a problem with wax producing agents and casting agents in Namibia and sources in South Africa are slow…

Keep them coming…

#22

…od ZBrush! :+1:
And bravo for the tuts video :sunglasses:

#23

Fantastic use of ZBrush - :+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:

Great Work - very inspiring

Did you print and cast it by yourself ???

#24

Thank you for the Top Row Posting… I am honoured.I will do the best to keep up the pace

@yoogy@ alas I don’t own a printing machine. I usea UK based company called protowax. As for casting, I have done some, thoughmore often now I get protowax to cast it in silver so that it arrives in onepiece, as the waxes are very fragile, so if you want to avoid the disappointmentof the waxes arriving broken. pay a little extra and get it cast.

Then we take a vulcanized rubber mould of the silver cast, and using a wax injector we can make copies to cast a run. So printingonly needs to happen once as a master, and the rest is cast from that.

#25

Nice work! and thanks for the videos. Really like your shadow box techniques.

#26

wow…love this stuff…would love to get one of these made from you some day! :slight_smile:

#27

I WANT THE AC RING!!!

AWESOMEENSSEESESSESES…

really great work…i’m looking forward to more of it…

#28

Hello C4th, thank you for sharing, and of course you realy deserve top row!!!
Can you post the litlle tutorial you talked about? I woul love to take a try to this. My wife is studiing joullery and it will be a great help for her.

Thank you in advance.:roll_eyes:

#29

Ok as promised this is a short tutorial on how I set uppieces and export for printing. It is important to note that while I’ve donethis a few times I’m not an expert as every time I do these I learn somethingabout the models or the programs I use…. But this is the most up-to-date methodI use

BEFORE YOU START

You will need the following:-

Zbrush print exporter - http://www.pixologic.com/zbrush/downloadcenter/zplugins/
Zbrush Decimation Master – (ifyou don’t have it already)
MiniMagics 2.0 – This is a FREE STLreader

Ok here goes:-

  1. make a model ¬_¬
  2. SAVE IT
  3. merge visible sub tools together
  4. SAVE IT SEPRATLY
  5. Optional- hollow out the object a little. This is done to reduce the metal cost and it helps prevent a casting problem that some times occurs when metal cools at different rates and collapses inside its self. (I’m not sure exactly why but this is something my dad insists I do and as he’s a jeweller with 30+ years experience I don’t question the wisdom)
  6. SAVE IT!!!!
  7. Load up decimation master. You don’t need to worry about UV or borders as its only geometry we care about.
  8. pre-process current
  9. WAIT – normally when I do these I’m decimating from 3-12 mil and it takes a while (few minutes). Even if it looks like its crashed it probably hasn’t just wait till you can rotate the piece again.
  10. Slide the % of decimation slider down till the piece is decimated to around 350-380k poly so that way when it’s exported the model comes out at around 16MB. It doesn’t have to be an exact number. This is just what I do…
  11. Decimate current
  12. SAVE IT SEPRATLY – usually file name +DECIMATED
  13. if you want to do high gloss renders outside of zbrush this is the time to export an .obj
  14. load up 3d print exporter
  15. update size ratios and switch it to MM
  16. Chose the size – handy tip is to have a ruler to look at to choose your size as its one thing to look at it on screen. Another in reality.
  17. Press STL binary. Tell it where to save and you’re done in zbrush.
  18. fire up Minimagics
  19. Now this is where you find out any potential problems with your model. The things you need to pay attention are:-
  • Volume – from this you can work out how much metal your piece will take up. The formulas for which I will put up when I have double checked them with the governor
  • Diagnostics – this is the bit that makes me happy or cry.
  • i. Inv.normals – generally a bad thing but if your carefulwith your sculpting you shouldn’t have a problem if you do have them they generallyshow up in red so you can locate them and fix the problem back in zbrush
  • Bad edges – less of these the better usually caused bycollapsed geometry or rats nests … it is important to note that good printerswill generally be able to fix these with their in-house software, but they willlikely charge you for fixing it.
  • Shells – these don’t really matter as a shell is basicallyin zbrush terms a sub tool or separate geometry. Again its something theprinters will deal with and probably won’t charge for in my experience.
  • Should you want to measure parts of a model there is a measurements section, which I’m sure you can work out how to use. Normally checking thicknesses isn’t necessary unless your concerned about thin parts of the model… again looking at a ruler is the best way to check the values your given. The printer I use prints to a resolution of 0.016mm or 16microns but don’t think you can make a leaf 16microns thin… I generally like a min thickness of 0.4mm and even that’s pushing it if your going to have it sent you though the post.
    • If you can have your printer cast the model for you before sending DO IT. That way it will arrive in one piece. Ok guys it’s a lot to take in but I think I’ve covered themain points. I will do another tutorial to show how I use 3Dmax to do stonesettings.

    Hope this helps

    Yours
    Morgan Morey
    Mouse Jeweller1 copy.jpg2 copy.jpg3 copy.jpg4# copy.jpg

    #30

    That is awesome information…many thanks!:+1:

    #31

    Thank you for sharing. Sorry if you’ve covered this or it sounds like a noob question, but how do you hollow out models?

    #32

    its not a noob question

    i just use claybuild up brush on Zsub on the merged model. for some more complex models where i have to subtract through many layers of geometry ill use mask and move tool though seprate subtools.

    #33

    Wow, the Leopard Ring video is awesome. I can’t imagine any jeweler being without Zbrush, I mean, if they are still sitting there hand carving wax blanks then they’re idiots.

    Well deserved Top Row!

    :+1:

    #34

    Well certainty for more detailed pieces. But occasionallyit’s easier to work by hand especially on simple one-offs. First piece of jewellery I own is a hand made one, made by my own hand in this case. Its fairly beasty. Maybe ill attach a photo when I get a chance

    #35

    THX a lot for Information and Tutorial - :slight_smile:
    and congrats to Top Row :+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:

    really cool work - you´ve done

    This is a real cool different way to make Jewelry

    I think i`ll try Protowax for my next printing and casting
    and the rest of finishing - i ll do by my self -
    because my professional is Goldsmith. :smiley:

    #36

    you gunna be at IJL?

    #37

    It is an amazing tutorial, I never knew about MM, looks like it is a good software.
    I usually work with Rhino and now I´m learning Tsplines for Rhino and Solidworks.
    I realy liked the ZBrush to Solidworks webnar they didi in TSpline last week.

    Thank you again.

    #38

    Whats IJL ???

    #39

    international jewellery london… its a trade show in the uk

    #40

    Cool Hint - THX

    i never heard before…

    Her is a older Peace of Jewelry…

    Its done by Hand - Carving Paua-nut and Silver/Gold and Olivin

    Old School Handmade :smiley:

    But i will see whats possibilities can made with Sculptris/ZB and Rpt.

    []Elvenqueen.jpg