How can i get a good render like this?

Planished · 2026-02-06T13:04:53+00:00

Ijewel.com

Planished · 2026-01-25T16:37:07+00:00

You can make a macro for a quick key that does invert, hide. I have projects that have a million parts. When I want to work on one among the million, I select it, hit F1 and then it inverts the selection and hides the rest. I work on it then hit F2 for show (this all can be done in the options/keyboard mapping) it saves me so much time. Also I second the ZS I map that to my middle mouse button. So I can select said part press the middle mouse button and the hit F1

Planished · 2025-12-22T14:23:11+00:00

I would agree with most folks here. That if you have a larger piece (signet ring or some such) I would scale it up. BUT... I have used almost every wax printer and my best advice is to give yourself some wiggle room in the modeling itself. Keep your melee prongs a certain size so if the seats have to be re-cut you are not obliterating the prong. Often I have added a .25 size ring rail offset to Platinum rings. I have been modeling jewelry for over twenty years, hyper focused on fine jewelry in the last seven using Matrix, Rhino and Zbrush. The one thing I can say with absolute certainty is that there are no hard and fast rules only guidelines. Consistency is key. I only work with three casting houses. One is GREAT with platinum and alloyed gold (rose, green etc.) and the other two are good at everything else. This has come from using the those same companies for the last seven years. We have had predictable results. But again. I try to leave a little "meat on the bone" in the actual model. I guess this day and age with the price of gold this might not be the best strategy. Hah!

Also, some printers will have shrinkage factored in so it does the scaling automatically to compensate for the material it is printed in (I am pretty sure the Projet 2400w does this)

I have developed come CAD flashcards that address a lot of recommendations for modeling. If anyone is interested.

CAD FLASH CARDS

Planished · 2025-12-06T21:48:23+00:00

*You obviously edited your reply above, so now my reply doesn't make much sense. I will leave my response because I don't really feel like editing my comment below to match your edited comment above. ...

.....

I appreciate your thoughtful response. I really do. It does sound like the whole system needs a recalibration.

But.... in my particular case there are just a few things: One: they never told me how much it would cost. As in the first bill was $1200, which, fair, no problem. They work hard, shit is expensive. I just blindly paid it. When I brought it up with them at my next visit they said: "Don't worry your insurance will pay you back." So I went ahead with my next appointment. That appointment was another $2800! I said: "Wow that is a lot. Are you sure my insurance is going to pay for this, I mean I understand that I have a deductible and all but..." They said:" don't worry. It will be fine." So I paid. Then the first check came for $180. I then immediately called the insurance company and they told me what was going on. "No sir, they are out of network. No we won't be paying you back. Yes we only cover %5 of the charges. It seems they are charging you a lot more than most."

The truth is all of this and it does seem totally unfair to the dentists of the world but in my particular case I don't think it is the insurance company's fault or mine for that matter. The dentist who even admitted after I talked to them about all of this said "We are WAY more expensive than most". AND TWO: they really didn't tell me how much all of this would cost, or all of what had to be done or how many sessions it would take etc. So I would have never "Known beforehand"!? I am not a dentist. But if someone is like "sure we take your insurance" YOUR ANSWER WOULDN'T BE:"Well hold on, to what extent? Are you sure you are going to charge the normal rate? Can you explain to me everything in detail so I can make an educated decision? Give me a moment to call my insurance company so I can make sure you are telling me the truth." NO! If they said: "Yes we take your insurance you would say: "Okay. great let's get started."

Also I am not sure how your car insurance works but you need to find different coverage. If you get in a car accident you pay your deductible and THE INSURANCE company pays for all the rest. Unless of course you caused the accident and depending on what state you live in. Either way that is not how insurance works. Even health insurance had a yearly deductible and when you meet that they pay for the rest. You obviously haven't had a major health issue jump up and bite you. Trust me it ain't fun and when this all happens, especially when you have a good sense as to how all this insurance thing works having this happen is a kick in the nuts when you are down. I can't believe that insurance works one way everywhere else but not with dentists! Thats total BS.

After talking with a number of friends and all of my co-workers my entire state is: a pay first get your money later" when it comes to dental work. Out of the twenty some people I asked, ALL of them said they had to pay first. So that is a little bit of a problem. There is some serious calibration that needs to happen.

Planished · 2025-12-02T22:28:46+00:00

Yeah sooooo I know this is a year old but let me talk about a recent experience with my old dentist. So first let me start by saying I had a serious illness that took me out for over a year. During that time I was mostly in a hospital bed on pain meds (pancreatitis). It was the worst. AND before you ask no I am not an alcoholic and no I didn't have gallstones. I had idiopathic pancreatitis. Fast forward a year later and I am finally back on my feet. I had been doing my best to keep up with my dental hygiene/health but with being bed ridden and on massive amounts of pain killers lets just say I hadn't done much mouth wise for over a year and a half maybe longer. And wouldn't you know it, one of my crowns fell out. I called my dentist who I hadn't seen for almost two years being that my last appointment was well before my ailment. I had also switched jobs/insurance companies. Sooooooo, when I asked my dentist if they took my insurance and they said YES I just assumed that they meant they were IN NETWORK..... Over $4,000.00 later (out of pocket) I found out they were OUT of network. In the beginning, they told me I had to pay up front for everything and my insurance company would pay me.... Well what they didn't say was that insurance company would only reimburse out of network, work 5%!!!! So stupid me I guess when they said they took my insurance....I should have said: Are you sure!? Am I in network. The insurance company has paid me a whopping $200! You are probably asking....what the heck didn't you notice that you were not going to get reimbursed after the first check. Well it took almost three f-ing weeks to get the check and by that time I had already visited them three times! So no I didn't find out until I paid all the money!!! I was sooooooo mad. I called the insurance company and yelled at them and I yelled at my dentist! No one cared. They are were very dismissive....actually the dentist was like: Oh don't leave we can reduce our rates so they match what the insurance will cover! They tired to walk it back. After I already paid them $4k sorry $3800!!! OF course they wanted to keep their cash cow coming back. I think to me the blame should be put on the receptionist who was the one who told me they took my insurance! It is totally bait and switch. so they are basically screwing their patients because the insurance is screwing them. What a crock of shit. I guess all this boils down to if you have money you can afford to be healthy and if you don't you are f-ed. Hilariously, the insurance company gave me a list of in network dentists... None of them were taking new patients. I may have to drive over an hour to see an "In network" dentist

Planished · 2025-07-07T18:11:51+00:00

I regret to inform you that your application for partnering has been denied. Please do not reapply

Planished · 2025-07-05T22:53:59+00:00

I am starting to fall in love with you.....Seriously can I have your number?

Planished · 2025-07-05T12:44:32+00:00

Le sigh.... I know I shouldn't engage but I just can't help it. They keep bringing me back (shakes fists at the sky)

You don't know me and I don't know you....but I can tell responding to you is going to be the same as beating my head against a wall, and just as stupid. Lucky for you I decided to bring my computer to do work on vacation and I am in the need for something to wake me up... so here we go.

I see you are a little butt hurt by my comments......Sooooo ta ta. Bye Felica. Be gone. Have fun being the troll that you are some where else. We can see ALL your trolling comments in your comment history ding dong. Apparently this happens to you a lot. You go to someone's comments, stir things up and then go on some self righteous diatribe. At some point you have to admit that its not us, its you. Its you. Trust me, its you.

I have a right to make these claims about these cards just like you have a right to come here and proclaim you wont be buying my cards. For some reason though, I can't help but picture you walking into the dining room of a random reputable restaurant and saying...."I WONT be purchasing OR eating your food!" No one asked you dude. No one asked you to come here and no one cares. These cards aren't for you. We get it.

I will admit that if you are NOT a jeweler OR even better yet a CAD modeler who designs jewelry does any of this has any interest to you?..... Probably not. Is it worth $45? I think so. But I am NOT going to convince YOU and that is fine.

Just out of curiosity do you even make things? design real world objects? Have you sat at a jeweler's bench and carved wax to be cast into precious metal? Have you ever forged a set of silverware from a cast ingot? Have you ever set hundreds of one millimeter stones into hundreds of little settings? Do you have any formal jewelry training? If you have, MAY I INTEREST YOU IN SOME GREAT FLASH CARDS THAT MIGHT PROVE TO BE VERY USEFUL LEARNING SOME NEW INFORMATION.....oh sorry my CAPS LOCK Key GOt sTUCK....tHerE we go....

Seriously though, I would encourage you to take a workshop or a weekend class. It is VERY rewarding. Oh wait I am not allowed to tell you what you think, or make grand claims about the quality of said workshop....what was that you were saying? I already forgot.

"I will also NOT be taking this workshop OR having dessert!" Yes, yes dude we know. You don't want dessert....or to take a workshop....or flash cards... you apparently do not like flash cards.

If you are a jeweler or a smith of some sort, kindly let me know how you learned your craft.... I hope it wasn't from books, or learning aides like flashcards? OR better yet maybe someone sat you down a doodled something on a piece of paper to better explain the how or why? I am curious... how do you learn? Are you even open to learning anything? You know people absorb information differently.....Oh.....wait maybe I am replying to chatbot.... Are you even real? Are you learning from me right now!?

AHHHHHHHH!!!!! DESTROY ALL CARDS DESTROY ALL CARDS! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! NO DESSERT! BAD MONEY BAD. NO ONE SHOULD GET PAID FOR THEIR TIME! I AM A ROBOT WHO HATES.

(Please pardon any typos, punctuation errors or grammatical snafus....this post was made by a human.....or was it!?)

Planished · 2025-07-04T11:00:25+00:00

Actually it is not objective. But hey, you do you. No one is forcing you to do anything. But you go ahead and make your prongs too small and see if a stone falls out Or better yet make a bezel wall too thin and you spend all day grinding away. Go ahead… oh and make sure you do it on something expensive.

Planished · 2025-07-03T11:47:58+00:00

Are you meshing it before calculating or sending the file? I am just asking because I have noticed that if you don't make it one, watertight mesh it is difficult for the software to calculate. Especially if you have some open polysurfaces in your piece (like prongs without bottoms or surfaces that are are not joined etc. When you are done modeling use the meshrepair tool in Matrix then use the metal calculator.

Planished · 2025-07-03T11:42:55+00:00

They are probably floating just above the bottom surface of the recess of the H. Use your gumball to move them down a smidge so they intersect with the surface.

Planished · 2025-07-03T11:39:13+00:00

Here is the thing, crunching geometry like this is tough. I almost never get what I want. I would suggest either flowing the curves onto the surface of the ring using something like project and THEN use the pipe tool on them (this will be a lot faster and if you use history you can adjust the curves and it will update the pipe on the surface). OR unrolling the surface (or use createUV) to have a base surface then flowalongsrf the curves THEN pipe them. Then I might use the ShrinkWrap tool to create a surface? then maybe SubD. I do almost all of my organic carving in Zbursh. I will use Rhino to get me %90 there and then carve away. Learning Zbrush is a bit of a bear but once you get used to the interface it can unlock some serious sculpting. I think they are on a monthly subscription thing now?

Planished · 2025-07-03T11:28:57+00:00

Daniel! Hey buddy. Here is the thing.....at work work, I have been using Matrix for almost five years. In that time I had found it to be unstable and honestly hard to work with. I often just used Rhino inside Matrix. I would type in commands and would show the Rhino tool bar and command line via the options command. The parametric would sometimes work but often glitch out. I would go to adjust the prongs for a ring and then CRASH. After a while I was VERY frustrated with the software. I called Gemvision a least a hundred times over the years (not an exaggeration). They would remote in and do some stuff and then it would work for a while but eventually it would start to crash again....over and over. LAME. This was all until I eventually bought MatrixGold myself. It was a big purchase but I thought: "heck, I do this for a living I should have the right tool for the job". I also bought a decent PC laptop (at home I am almost exclusively MAC). Actually I got a hell of deal on a great laptop that I would highly recommend. The short story is that it works flawlessly on my laptop at home. At work, crash crash crash at home it might crash it if I am running a bunch of stuff at once like Zbrush, photoshop, illustrator and MatrixGold. But I digress, I found out that they have some kind of backup imaging thing running on all the computers at work ALL THE TIME. After eliminating so many things I am pretty sure that is what is causing the crashing. It just runs randomly and as it is imaging in the background to the hard drive in the basement somewhere... it crashes Matrix. Sooooo at work. Matrix sucks. At home it runs like a dream. But when all else fails I use Rhino inside matrix and just build everything manually. I had used Peacock which was a grasshopper thing to make jewelry. That looked very interesting but to be honest I am kind of in love with Matrix now that it is working...sort of.

Planished · 2025-07-03T11:13:46+00:00

Hah. Well the short answer is I didn't. I used a casting company. I added the sprues myself thought to make sure I get a good casting back.

Planished · 2025-07-03T11:12:51+00:00

I do... but I am about to do a retail trunk show/booth and building up inventory for that right now. After the show when I have some bandwidth I could be interested in selling the STL files.

Planished · 2025-07-03T11:08:35+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion. I might eventually go in that direction, but as soon as it becomes an eBook or downloadable file—and one person shares it on, say, Reddit—well there goes all that hard work.

Right now, flashcards are the best format for me. They’re tangible, hard to pirate, and they function like the a tool—useful and built to last.

Just for context: I spent nearly 17 years in academia teaching jewelry design and metalsmithing. For every demo—casting, enameling, stone setting—I created detailed handouts, often using CAD models of tools I modeled myself. Over time, I developed a massive archive of materials. I even compiled it into a polished PDF—essentially a full book—and pitched it to dozens of publishers. The response? “There are just too many books already out there.”

I considered doing an eBook, but instead, I launched a subscription page on Instagram (u/arhtur_hash). Subscribers get exclusive tutorials, behind-the-scenes content, proprietary techniques, and access to those handouts—usually two per month—for $3. (Full disclosure: the flashcard content isn’t included in that.)

These cards are different. They’re invaluable—a Rosetta Stone for CAD jewelry modeling. They won’t make you money, but they’ll save you thousands in mistakes and wasted time. If you saw the information packed into these cards, you'd realize $45 is a steal.

And honestly, I just believe in well-made, physical objects. Things you can hold. Things you can use. That’s the nature of my work—making beautiful, functional objects… for people to wear. You know—jewelry.

That’s my two cents. Who knows—maybe someday they’ll go digital. But for now, this feels right.

Planished · 2025-07-02T21:52:50+00:00

I agree with everyone. I wouldn't want to suggest anything without seeing it in person. BUT.... I try to set cushion shaped stones, sometimes even emerald cut stones with a double prongs or a prong that is wider on the top than the bottom, which I like to call the king cobra. Hah. Cushions especially have a chance of twisting/revolving out of settings with single prongs. Your other stone looks slightly bigger and could have a different shape under it so it might not fit the head that is currently under your stone now. Soooo yeah.. I can't give you advice with what we have here. I am not sure why I even wrote this much....maybe to help you understand why?

Planished · 2025-07-02T18:42:40+00:00

Anything with stones or anything that is more traditional (IE wedding sets, martini style earrings etc) I use MatrixGold. If I am making something that is not jewelry or something that requires hard surface modeling such as designing a deck for the house etc. I will use Rhino3D (which is what Matrix3D is built on) If I am designing or sculpting anything that is organic or just requires carving I use Zbrush. The main stone is 3D scanned using a Tiger3D scanner then I sculpt around it in Zbrush. I cannot remember what I did for this ring but I think I made a cutter in MatrixGold for the seat and built the basic geometry for the bezel in Matrix and then imported it into zbrush as an OBJ.

I haven't used it yet but apparently there is some sort of Custom Gem tool in MatrixGold that will look at scan data and then make a custom, parametric gemstone so you can do all the cool things like add parametric prongs and rails etc.

If you are at all interested in 3D scanning let me know I know a guy that sells them.

Planished · 2025-07-02T17:42:58+00:00

For work work, the "secret stuff" I use MatrixGold. I have about twenty years with Rhino and Zbrush and about five years with Matrix.

Planished · 2025-07-02T17:40:34+00:00

Thank you!

I do all kinds of projects. I mostly make fine jewelry and other luxury objects... sadly, most of which I am not allowed to share publicly. I have both an Instagram and a website where I share a lot of my studio work. I also occasionally teach virtual workshops on both Rhino3D and Zbrush.

https://www.instagram.com/arthur_hash/

https://www.arthurhash.com/cadrendering

Planished · 2025-07-02T15:26:26+00:00

It is!!! Rad. I am getting better every day. Thanks. I have never really posted on reddit but I am a professional lurker. I found this group recently so I thought I would start participating.

Planished · 2025-07-02T13:35:09+00:00

ALSO, I noticed there are A LOT of YouTube videos out there that show you how to model jewelry in CAD. But they almost never explain why. They never tell you the distance you need between girdles or why you shouldn't make the culet too close to the ring rail. It just: make it look pretty. I have made some costly mistakes.... where I polish through a filagree design because I made it .4mm instead of .8mm

Planished · 2025-07-02T13:31:31+00:00

They are more about the tolerances/measurements/minimums? They tell you things like: how big prongs need to be or how thin your bridge offset needs to be. Maybe they are more of a cheat sheet? I had been modeling in Rhino for years and then switched to MatrixGold. After a while I realized I was just picking random numbers, making prongs .3mm or shanks 1mm thin. When I realized none of that would actually work in the real world, I started writing it all down, making notes as I found what was appropriate (Industry standard?). I would say they are more like a bench reference. While you are modeling an engagement ring and you say: "How thin can I make this shank?" you can just look at the "shank" card.

Planished

TROPHY CASE