cool design, but doesn’t it tend to be too weightily on the finger? probably personal taste.
as far as tutorial goes the most interesting to me would be the optimal thickness. i’ve had trouble with things being too thin to print and or cast properly properly. I’ve done my fair share of casting from wax but have yet to follow through from a print because of this issue. What’s a good thickness for the print so that the various mold-making stages go well? Judging from the pic of your cast your ring shank is a lot thicker than a direct carved wax would generally be. Am I right about that? Is that because you’re beefing it up just to make sure the print behaves itself and turns out? thanks
generaly the absolute minium is 0.5mm as much thinner the metal wont flow into those areas well. however you can get round this by adding casting sprews or veigns to alow the metal into those areas. however again thats realy thin metal wise and would only be good for small details rather than structure.
as for mould making stages and such that realy depends on the piece but i generaly add 7-10% extra to the cast to compensate for shrinkage and polishing. a good ring shank thickness is 1-2mm D Section easiest way is to look at jewellery you already own and such.
as for the rhino ring. it is a fairly tall piece but not too bulky as its hollowed inside which reduces the weight and prevents the metal retracting/collapsing as it cools after casting. if i remember that ring was only about 3mm at its thickest point.
the general rule of thumb with zbrush jewellery i find is if you make it thicker and make the detail more prenounced it will come out better. you can alwase take away in the metal afterwards. hope that helps
I’d be interested in knowing the results myself. But I don’t think that ZBrush’s renderer can handle it. Think making clear stones look like clear stones* requires raytracing that has special code that allows it to break into spectrum light. The best thing I could think of to make it look less like glass in ZBrush would maybe be to foilback it with the silver foil material some how. Would look like a rhinestone, but that would probably look better than looking like clear glass. But I think if you’re really trying to go for hyper realism for this kind of stuff, you probably have to stick to an external renderer.
*(Being generic since most people unfortunately only think of diamonds due to the propaganda.)
thanks for the info. The next thing I try to make i’m going to sprue myself and take to the local caster. That way if it doesn’t fill I’ll have the record of where the metal froze and be able to troubleshoot. Casting through shapeways all they would tell me is it didn’t work. Which could just as much be how they choose to gate and vent it as how thick my piece was. I’m thinking some blind gates prebuilt into the model.
heres a little ditty i started today … although its not finished it does look promising… still need to work where im going to put the stones and if im going to enamal the C…
I’d look for a company that specializes in the area you’re looking to have something machined in rather than a generalist company. Especially for something like jewelry. The company I used the one time I’ve done it apparently looks over the model and tells you if they think there’s going to be any issues so you can make changes.
As far as venting and gating goes, I believe that’s only used in sand casting, which is pretty rare to be used for jewelry casting these days. I’ve never had to worry about that stuff before. What I was always told would stop castings was stuff being too thin or coming off at sharp angles that the metal can’t turn. Angle issues, and some size issues, can be solved by strategically placed sprues. But if it’s too thin (I’ve always been told never to make anything thinner than .75mm except pave prongs) because it either won’t cast or it may not consistently cast.
Tadar the most complex piece ive done so far finished. all done in zbursh including the settings. made and manufactured into reality. it is black rhodium plated with around 40+ black emeralds and 2 saphires on a double ring.
Absolutely amazing work here!!!
This is something i’m currently trying to get into, so thank you for your helpful tips and advice
Can’t wait to see more from you!
Really amazing work. Im a jeweller myself and trying to work more and more with zbrush. I would be really
interested to see how you make your settings. At the moment i make the ring in zbrush and settings by hand.
Which CAD/CAM do you use? I have ZBrush and am just getting started with 3D CAD, I have been in the jewelry business for 40 years. I presently hand carve everything, but the time has come for me to get some relief and let the machines take over a lot of the work load. It’s very easy to put many hours into hand carving, this is time I need to free up to do other things. Well, just thought I would touch base with you, love your website and wish you the best of luck in your endeavours.
well thing have changed alot over the past few months, ive been headhunted by one of the jewellery industry leaders in signet rings called Dexter Seal Rings (shameless plug alert)
with all the moving and getting used to my new job i havnt had much time to post or keep up togther with all the happenings. however in my evenings i have produced this design which ive submitted for a jewellery comp. let me know what you guys think:D
best of all ive been able to talk to one of my jewellery producers who will be printing the model for me so more images to come
…in a ring design. I have seen it in other decorative contexts, like wall reliefs and other architectural detail. I think this is a real accomplishment and a whole direction that could make your portfolio super-competitive and unique.
Wow yes you have been busy, listen that ring is great and you use ZBrush for everything? Do you know of an easy way to get a basic shape of a skull in ZBrush?
hi guys.
things are progressing along nicly. i have recently started experimenting with zbrushes BPR rendering. im astonished how quickly it works compared to 3dmax. i can make renders of better quality faster. below are some of my inital experiments. I will be doing some more tutorail videos soon one will detail how i do these. so watch this space.
will mention the stone isnt perfect yet but its getting there, still made in BPR.
Sweet, tutorial would be great. Still have yet to really figure rendering settings out at all in ZBrush, figuring out which ones would help specifically for jewelry would really help with at least starting to figure it out. Mainly what I’d be using it for anyway.
Keep up the nice work
Absolutely amazing work here!!!
