Copying on surface in perspective view

Rhino Rhino for Windows
1

I have been a jeweler and lapidary since 1977. I have been playing with 3D software since about 1995. I recently designed and then built my dream studio using a somewhat primitive software Design CAD 3D.

As I was planning on slowly closing down a diamond tool company the we own and go back to my lapidary and jewelry full time for the remainder of my days on the planet I decided I needed something to aid me in my jewelry design.

I did some major research on the net and found every Jewelry design software lacking and leaving a lot to be desired and very limited. I then found Rhino 3D, having played with Maya just for giggles I saw instantly that Rhino 3D was just the thing I was looking for. I downloaded the trial version of Rhino3D version 4 (with twenty five saves).

Once I had the software I spent the time to build the basis of a gold box that had been floating around in my head for years. I have posted an image of this box. I did everything in this image with about ten saves, once I saw what could be done with Rhino 3D I purchased it and Brazil.

As my business kept me so busy and the fact that my old graphics computer was very lacking when it came to rendering I have not spent much time with this software until recently. I just bought a super hot rod graphics machine with a SSD for the boot drive, so needless to say everything is now done almost instantly. This said and the fact that I am designing a Ruby ring for my daughter (five designs she picks) I have encountered what is probably a very easy to overcome problem. In the image I have added of this ring you can see that I am doing some granulation work around the diamond shape.

I know that when I did the box in the trial version I had no problem in placing the stone pieces on the sides and the top of the box. I now cannot figure out just how I was doing this. I am wanting to do quite a bit of granulation (the little ball design) work on this design. I put the first balls in place by cheating a bit and don’t really like what I did. It took my quite awhile to get the single ball in the second row in place and I know for a fact that there has to be a simple way to do what I am trying to do.

I tried onsurf to place the first ball with a bit of luck but could not get it to drop right where I wanted it to. Is there a way I can copy this first ball in place and apply the rest in perspective view to the surface of the ring shank?

Any comments regarding this will be most appreciated and I thank you all in advance.

All my best … Danny

box.jpg800×600 110 KB
lela ring.jpg800×600 77.3 KB

2

Hi Lopacki- OrientOnSrf may be the thing here.

-Pascal

3

Thank you Pascal just got back to the computer, I will go try it out and let you know the results.

All my best … Danny

4

Tried OrientOnSurf with not much luck did get a bit done … Have to love these learning curves!!

All my best … Danny

5

Assuming the balls are spheres try creating a curve/line along which the centers of the balls will lie. If you want the curve/line to be a constant distance two surfaces use OffsetSrf to create offset copies of the surfaces and the Intersect the offset surfaces. Use the radius of the balls for the offset amounts if the balls are to be exactly tangent to the surfaces; a smaller offset if they are intersect the surfaces. If the balls are to be evenly spaced use Divide to create points at the desired centers of the balls.

6

David,
Just read this I will go play around with what you have said and see if I can’t get it to work. I will let you know the results.

Thanks you for this information.

All my best … Danny

7

Pascal,
As I have not been using my Rhino much with the old computer I had forgotten how to use OrientOnSurf properly. Once I figured it out again it worked perfectly as you can see in this image. Thank you for this information.

All my best … Danny

lela1.jpg800×600 102 KB