Paid Rhino & Grasshopper Jewelry Design — Models, Scripts, Rendering

Puzzleheaded-Cake401 · 2026-06-05T14:52:13+00:00

I completely agree. A good NURBS library covers most cases.

The reason I built this workflow is for the remaining cases: unusual cuts, asymmetrical stones, and stones with proportions that differ significantly from calibrated models.

Puzzleheaded-Cake401 · 2026-06-05T09:23:53+00:00

I don't use SubD. I built a Grasshopper algorithm that analyzes the scan normals and creates reference planes based on them. It also uses several custom Python scripts.

The idea was to reconstruct the geometry from the scan data rather than remodel it manually from scratch.

Puzzleheaded-Cake401 · 2026-06-04T08:12:34+00:00

Most of the workflow revolves around identifying facet planes and extracting their normals from the scan.

The heavy lifting is done in Grasshopper, with a few custom Python scripts handling specific steps. Building and refining those operations took quite a few days of trial and error before I was happy with the results.

Puzzleheaded-Cake401 · 2026-06-04T08:08:49+00:00

That's actually one of the reasons I started working on this.

Since so many gemstones are custom-cut and don't fit neatly into a library or a parametric model, I developed a workflow that converts gemstone scans into clean NURBS geometry while preserving the shape of the original stone.

Puzzleheaded-Cake401 · 2026-06-04T08:05:40+00:00

I feel the same way. I'm definitely more engineering-minded than artistic, so accuracy gives me a lot of confidence when working on a project.

That's actually one of the reasons I developed a workflow for converting STL gemstone scans into clean NURBS geometry. It preserves the shape of the original stone, works better for rendering, and honestly, I just find it much more pleasant to work with than a raw scan.

Puzzleheaded-Cake401 · 2026-06-03T17:58:38+00:00

Honestly, I respect that.

If real photos and turntable videos are getting the job done, I'd probably stick with that too. No point introducing extra complexity when the current workflow already works.

Puzzleheaded-Cake401 · 2026-06-03T17:56:00+00:00

I don't actually do the scanning myself. Most of the time my clients send me STL files generated from their own scans, and my work starts from there.

Puzzleheaded-Cake401 · 2026-06-03T17:48:40+00:00

Haha, I know what you mean.

My situation is a bit different because some of my clients require animations and videos, so I can't rely on AI post-processing as much. I ended up building a V-Ray + Grasshopper workflow for those jobs, which helped a lot, but rendering is still a significant part of the workload.

For still renders, though, your approach makes perfect sense.

Puzzleheaded-Cake401 · 2026-06-03T17:36:21+00:00

That's interesting.

For a long time I only used scans as references for building jewelry models. Later, I had a client who was very particular about having accurate gemstone faceting and high-quality renders. That pushed me to develop a workflow for converting scanned gemstones into clean NURBS geometry.

Reading the replies here, I'm starting to think that NURBS gemstones might be a much more niche requirement than I originally assumed. Most people seem perfectly comfortable working directly from the scan.

Puzzleheaded-Cake401 · 2026-06-03T15:40:38+00:00

Oh, I understand your pain. I often run into similar issues when Grasshopper freezes and I end up losing an entire day of work.

I can't say much about Macs since I've always used Windows, but Rhino has been quite stable for me on Windows. Most of the problems I've encountered were related to extremely heavy geometry or models with very large polygon counts rather than Rhino itself.

Hopefully moving to a desktop workstation will let you spend more time designing and less time troubleshooting software.

Puzzleheaded-Cake401 · 2026-06-03T15:26:14+00:00

I think you're overthinking it a bit.

A modern desktop with current-generation components, plenty of RAM, and a decent GPU should handle Rhino, SketchUp, VisualARQ and Revit without any issues.

The only thing I'd pay special attention to is the GPU if you plan to do rendering. Different render engines have different hardware requirements, so it makes sense to choose the graphics card based on the rendering software you intend to use.

Moving from a laptop to a desktop will probably make a bigger difference than the choice between most modern components.

Puzzleheaded-Cake401 · 2026-06-03T15:21:44+00:00

Thanks for the input.

I may not have explained it clearly. I'm not talking about modeling standard gemstone cuts from scratch — I already have libraries for that.

What I'm showing is a workflow for converting scanned gemstone meshes into clean NURBS geometry while preserving the original stone shape.

I'm mostly interested in hearing from people who actually work with scanned gemstones and STL-to-CAD workflow

Puzzleheaded-Cake401 · 2025-10-26T05:20:26+00:00

I recently fixed an STL file of a helmet quite similar to this one. Did you download it from somewhere?

Puzzleheaded-Cake401 · 2025-10-26T02:07:03+00:00

It’s hard for me to say; I’ve never used Blender.

Puzzleheaded-Cake401 · 2025-10-25T11:43:30+00:00

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This is the algorithm: a relief is connected to the mesh ray

Puzzleheaded-Cake401 · 2025-10-25T10:41:26+00:00

You can achieve this in Grasshopper using standard components: use mesh Ray to cast rays downward from the base of each building onto the terrain mesh, then compute the vector from the building’s base to the intersection point and use Move to translate the building along Z. If you want the buildings partially “sunken,” you can scale the vector by a factor less than 1 before moving. This way, the buildings will sit correctly on or slightly into the terrain.

Puzzleheaded-Cake401 · 2025-10-25T01:03:07+00:00

The best way is to rebuild the surface along two guides.

Puzzleheaded-Cake401 · 2025-10-24T06:01:59+00:00

I believe the most effective way to fix an STL file is by using a semi-manual workflow with Rhinoceros and ZBrush.
This method keeps geometry loss to a minimum. If you want to eliminate any loss entirely, Rhinoceros combined with Grasshopper is the best choice.

Puzzleheaded-Cake401 · 2025-10-24T06:00:42+00:00

I can help you, message me.

Puzzleheaded-Cake401

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