Wish you a bubbly New Year!

It's amazing how fast 2011 went by. It was an year with lot's of exciting changes. The customer response has been overwhelming in the last year. I am proud to have been a part in the life of so many newly weds and recently engaged clients by creating their custom rings that will stay with them for many years to come.

I finally made my Nodeform business a full time gig in 2011. It has been so much fun the last couple month working for myself. In September I went on a 6 month leave from my day job as an Architect to try to concentrate on really kicking this into the next gear. It took a while but the Holiday season finally paid off . I think it could be possible to be doing what I love and be able to support myself.  Tax season will show me if I am right or just an illusionist.

RAW52 #26 & #30 gold and silver Bubble rings rendered in Brazil for Rhino
Modeled in Tsplines and Rhino. Freeform bubbles.

I learned a lot of new thinks and developed my skills. The Ring a Week (RAW) challenge was a great experience in trying to learn 3D modeling software. I did not make 52 designs in the end but it still helped me coming back to it from time to time and try something new. I will continue in the next year developing this a bit further and eventually even incorporate it into my ring production and custom designs.

3D print in stainless steel of RAW26/52 model. Printed by Shapeways.

3D print in stainless steel and Frosted Ultra Detail of RAW26/52 model. Printed by Shapeways.

I also started playing with rendering software in the last couple days. It's could be a nice way to be able to post new designs and material options without actually having to produce them in expensive precious metals and gem stones. This could keep my money, usually tied up in inventory stock, in my pockets until I actually get a order in. Well, I have to get better with the software until I can produce convince able images of how the finished piece will look.

RAW52/31 Palladium Bubble ring with Diamond rendered in Brazil for Rhino

RAW52/33 Gold Bubble ring with Diamond rendered in Brazil for Rhino

RAW52/32 Silver Bubble ring with Sapphire rendered in Brazil for Rhino

To see all my submissions for this challenge go to Flickr.

With that  I thank all of my friends, fans and clients for your interest and support in my adventures. I wish you all a Happy New Year! Enjoy some bubbly treat tonight to celebrate New Eears Eve.


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RAW52 #25 & #29 Wavy Ring

I recently got a few of my latest RAW submissions printed in different materials. I send this wavy ring design off to Ponoko and Shapeways to test service and printing quality.

Wave ring printed in Stainless Steel

I have to say I am way more impressed by Shapeways. Their material choices are greater and the prints came out cleaner. Their Frosted Ultra Detail prints are impressively detailed with only very fine printing lines. I still have to try casting one of those in silver to see how they burn out in the lost wax process.

3D prints of RAW25/52 model in Stainless Steel, Black Detail and White Detail plastic and Frosted Ultra Detail. Printed by Shapeways.

 The stainless steel rings are always great with an interesting texture. It took 2 weeks to get models delivered from Ponoko and 3 weeks from Shapeways. Ponoko has trouble with printing lot's of my designs as they seem to small for them. Not an issue with Shapeways, especially the ultra detail material allows very thin parts in the model. Uploading models and organizing it for printing is easier on Shapeways.  So I guess I stay with Shapeways.

A couple shots of the stainless steel print.

The model was done using T-splines for Rhino 4. The smooth wave was laid out flat and then bend into a ring shape.  I also tried lofting curves and 2 rail sweeps directly in Rhino without t-splines but it got some wonky areas. The edges are sharper with this approach seen in the images below.

Rhino4 render image

I did start playing with a trial version of Brazil for Rhino to render some designs more realistically looking. I am still a bit confused with all those settings that need to get adjusted to get an image. Easy to spend hours on this.

Rendering in Brazil with gold material settings