Hi Suzanne, that simplified version will probably print a bit easier.

> I'm not sure the desktop printers are good for jewellery at all?

They definitely can be, it's just that there are certain kinds of designs that are not a good fit depending on the particular mechanism of the printer. The less expensive printers work by laying down a little stream of melted plastic and designs with too tiny details like narrow little slivery areas can just not fit with that mechanism just because the smallest little blob of plastic may be larger than your little detail.

Things that are more like larger blocks of text or overall broader shapes kind of are a better fit - a kind of photo reproduction can be not such a good fit though, unless you make it pretty heavily stylized like you're moving more towards.

For a photo pendant something more like a locket type thing would be kind of a better fit where you would put in an actual photo inside the printed piece rather than trying to 3D print the photo itself as well.

Jewelry can actually be a really good use of these machines, it just takes some experience working with them a bit to get used to what types of things you would kind of like to avoid.

It's not like it will hurt anything to try a shape that doesn't work well, it's just that little fine details may just not get reproduced and may look rather blobby.

Some of the more expensive machines use different processes which can generate finer resolution also.

- Michael

Hi Suzanne,

Your project reminded me of a software that I saw at an exhibition long ago which I thought was pretty cool, the software converts photographs into height maps according to the shades in the photograph then the file can be output to a 3d printer to be printed, it doesn't look like much at first but when you backlight the piece that's when the magic happens, here's an example on the software companies site http://www.ransen.com/phototomesh/Lithophane-STL-Files.htm

They're called Lithophanes, apparently it's an old art that used to hand carved in porcelain.

-

Thanks for the tip Danny.
I had a go with the demo & it seems pretty straightforward. It's certainly something I'll bear in mind as a possible application to use with jewellery. All I need now is a printer to try it on. I'm right in thinking that I can't import it into MOI to edit or, put another way, I couldn't figure out how to do it!

Thanks again for the tip.

Hi Suzanne,

you should give ZSurf a try, to archive that task.

http://www.kf12.com/blogs/techno/2007/08/zsurf/

Regards
Stefan

Some links to previous ZSurf discussions on the forum here:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=3825.2

And yeah that could probably 3D print better since the details are more of a kind of rolling shape rather than individual tiny sharp protrusions.

- Michael

Hi Suzanne

I use Moi3d for Jewellery design as part of the manufacturing and sales process.

Currently the two companies I use to print, print with solidscape wax printing technology that prints to .025mm

The UP printer has I think best resolution of .15mm this will not print your small items with very much detail .

for example the 5mm ring will only print approx 33 layers so you will lose the sharp corners and have very jaggy curves on the lettering and the inside and outside curves.

to print small items or jewellery you need a printer with a much higher print resolution. Hi resolution resin printers can print to .01mm on the z layer which is 500 layers for your ring giving an almost smooth surface.

This all comes at a cost of course , the printer below costs approx $23,000 New Zealand dollars and from there the sky is the limit for large production printers.

http://3dprintingsystems.com/products/3d-printers/kevvox-3d-printers-overview/

Your pendant looks great but I would move the hole further in from the edge , if you intend putting a ring through it.


cheers
shayne

Taking the 3D printer out of the equation for the moment, I'm beginning to think that a simple ring with a name would be a good way to introduce MOI to a class. I've been playing around with one of the original ring tutorials I did on your resources page and thought...Why not keep it simple? Adding the name however is not so simple. I've tried Boolean difference and I think the cookie cutter tutorial using offset/inset is another possibility (or a simple pendant or signet ring might work better). I'm going to write it up using Fabien's "3D Modelling in MOI as inspiration, but restrict it to the tools needed for the task. Learn by doing! There is also another tutorial looking at lighting and how to recreate different materials which I'll partly include as it provides an opportunity to teach lighting: Key, fills etc. Also looking at different materials can be a door to open discussion/research on the eco footprint of one ring over another. Sustainability is now part of the curriculum.
I was mentored by a leading Goldsmith when I wrote a vocational course on introducing students to jewellery making techniques. He kept reining my ideas in and said keep it clean and simple and I think that applies here too. I will line it up with AusVELS and post it if there are any teachers out there who are interested. In the meantime I'm off to network with some product design teachers tomorrow who will be looking at the UP Mini printer. I'm curious to see what CAD software they are promoting to go with it. I've uploaded some screenshots of my REALLY SIMPLE ring, and yes, I do know if I print the one I've uploaded the A will be minus it's centre. I did get around that by separating the letters & not taking the A all the way through. All good fun!

Hi Suzanne
Another option is to use flow so the name sits above the surface

Although flow can be tricky to orientate correctly.

cheers
shayne

Hi Suzanne, a ring project like you're showing is a great idea for an introductory project - a kind of personalized touch is good I think.

- Michael

Hi Shayne,

A quick question...Do I need the new V3 to do that or can I achieve it with V2? Really showing my "novice "status here! I'd love to be able to do that without rotating every letter.

Thanks for the tip, it gives me hope of light at the end of my current tunnel!

Suzanne

Hi Suzanne - the Flow deformation tool is new for v3, it's not in v2.

- Michael

Hi Suzanne
The V3 is available to download as a full copy 1 month trial

A good ring project is from 1 of jesse's tutorials (thank you jesse) , briefly

You use the oval profile (dark purple) on the top and do a 2 rail sweep down the blue and pink , while in sweep command pick the scaling rail (dark red )

It is worth extruding the centre circle to see what the ring will look like when the centre is removed (at this stage you can turn the points on the red line and move them to change the shape)

select the created blob and boolean difference out the centre circle or cylinder if you are using it as above

Make sure the Aqua profiles follow inside the edge and booleandiff the edges off with the aqua profiles and delete the extra (this gives a flat edge to the band)

Lastly add the solid letter to the top with text

send to printer :)



Have fun , this can take a few goes to get the sequence right , note when drawing this all the profiles must touch

cheers
shayne

Hi Shane, the 30-day trial version is still for v2 currently, or v2.52 on the Mac which does actually have Flow in it there.

I won't have a 30-day trial version of v3 until v3 is all finalized and released.

- Michael

Thanks, I'll certainly use that file. I did Jesse's tutorial but that was ages ago so I'll revisit it as well. I've downloaded V3 and am now tying to conquer flow!

Suzanne

Since my PD on the UP printer I've been playing around with the free offerings on AutoDesk that were recommended for teachers. I actually didn't find much of use and really can't see how someone who hasn't had much experience with CAD, like a Visual Arts or Vis Com teacher could navigate through it. Having said that, I bet the students could!
I did mention MOI and it was only a Visual Communication teacher who picked up on it. Mind you, word of mouth is a powerful thing. On that note, if you go to: thelaundrycollection.blogspot.com I've written a post about MOI.

Suzanne

Hi Suzanne
Flow can be frustrating, If the text flows sideways or in reverse, you may have to rotate the text planar surface 90-180 deg or even end to end or pick opposite ends for the flow surface and target surface.

I use it all the time and it still only goes perfect 1/2 the time

If you don't know already, to form your planar surface the unwrapcurve command is great for generating a line thats the length of a curve off your ring surface or edge (also off the curve on the outer ring surface)

shayne

Hi shayne, see here for a description of where you need to pick on each surface to control the placement and rotation from one surface to the other:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=5853.2

You may be doing something like clicking right at the corner point where it becomes ambiguous which side you are actually aligning with. You don't want to pick directly on the corner, you want to be a little ways inwards from it so that there is one distinct edge that your pick is closest to.

- Michael

Hi Shayne,

I'm really feeling that Novice description of me at the moment! I've checked all the links and seen the screencast but what appears to be straight forward really has me stumped! Feeling how little I now at the moment! I now have V3 Beta but I just can't figure out what I'm doing wrong with the flow command. I feel like I've missed something really obvious? Some examples of my attempts:

Hi Suzanne, can you please post the 3DM model file for any one of those screenshots that you are showing? Then I'll do a screencast using your specific file showing what you need to do.

One thing is that when you start out you want to have only the things being deformed to be selected, so only your letters should be selected to start with, not the base plane yet. Then when you start Flow you will pick the base plane under the next as the base surface (the base plane should not be selected before this stage or else it will be taken as an object to be deformed), and then you'll do a pick on the target surface. The location of these picks is important for controlling how one surface maps to the other, I will show you for your particular case where you would want to click on each one.

Also one other tip is that maybe you're running into some problems where some construction geometry like some curves used to build things are getting picked instead of the surfaces getting picked. If you have a bunch of curves in those same general areas you may need to hide those so they don't get in your way when you go to pick the surfaces.

Anyway, if you can please post any 3DM model files of those things, then I will be able to answer your question by showing you what to do using your particular model.

- Michael

:) see I told you it can be frustrating

Some of your flow surfaces are too short

you need to draw your ring, a flat one is easiest put the profile at the bottom and sweep so the ends are there

select an outside edge and use unwrapcurve this gives you the exact length of the surface you need to make, take that line and offset with cap ends ticked, the width of the band say 6mm

then use planar to create a surface and delete the edge, this is your flow surface that is the same surface area as the outside of the ring.

create your text onto the centre of the planar surface

to flow select the text , then select just under it on the surface, finally select the corresponding spot on the ring

if the text flows inside the ring surface hit flip on the flow command before done

If you lower the text so it sits 1/2 way through the surface it sits on it will flow 1/2 in 1/2 out of the ring

Good luck

shayne