Posted: July 25th, 2010 | Author: Dougie Kinnear | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: .stl files, boolean functions, CAD, cuff links, design, jewellery, Rapid prototyping, Rhino | Comments Off
I received my
Rhino book the other day and have been going through it doing some of the tutorial elements in it. It’s really interesting learning how to construct surfaces rather than forming everything from the pre-defined solids available or simply extruding curves into solid shapes them modifying the solids.
In my
previous post I uploaded a render of a pair of cufflinks designed using Rhino and though it would be interesting to see how much they would cost to be rapid prototyped in various materials so I set about saving the model as a
.stl file so I could upload it to
Shapeways and get some prices. To my severe dismay it appeared that my computer went into a state of shock because it couldn’t cope without slowing down to less than snails pace. It eventually gave a .stl file of over 150MB! The largest file that can be uploaded to Shapeways is 64MB.
After doing some research I discovered that when you do boolean functions on models, like boolean difference, it complicates the mesh formation for the object resulting in more triangles (this is how I understand it, I might be talking rubbish) so the file is larger. On the brake disk you’ll see lots of holes, the result of loads of boolean differences so this overly complicated the mesh formation (I think) and basically made the .stl file size huge, and unusable. I’m hoping that by learning new surface making skills I can make more complicated surfaces but in a simpler way which will hopefully keep file sizes down.
To finish, you might notice my new blog banner, while messing about I decided to make a new banner and came up with these cufflinks as well as a banner.
*Edit – I decided I didn’t like the banner and put up another.
Posted: July 19th, 2010 | Author: Dougie Kinnear | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: CAD, cuff links, design, jewellery, Rhino | Comments Off
Another render inspired by brake disks, this time a pair of cufflinks
Posted: April 23rd, 2009 | Author: Dougie Kinnear | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Adam Smith college Fife, commission, cuff links, Kofi Annan | Comments Off
Finally finished the cuff links last Monday and handed them over to the client, The Adam Smith College, Fife.
The college commissioned the cuff links as a gift for Kofi Annan who was in Kirkcaldy giving this years Adam Smith lecture. Now while it’s absolutely fantastic that I was asked to make the cuff links and I’d have been more than happy at that, the college then asked me to present them to Kofi as well! It all went well, the food at the dinner after the lecture was fantastic and I met some interesting people.
The full event, including a rear shot of me, is available on Adam Smith TV and I believe that the text of the lecture is also going to be available on the Adam Smith college web site.
Posted: April 11th, 2009 | Author: Dougie Kinnear | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: casting, commission, cuff links, jewellery | Comments Off
More pictures showing the cuff link development. The second link is taking longer to shape because I have to get it looking like the twin of the first.
The second cuff link, on the left below, is getting close to being just right. It just needs a bit more filing to size and shape around the top section before I emery the surfaces.
And below are the two cuff links looking just about the same apart from some surface finishing. After that it’s time to add some details like leaves, a hint of a stem and some surface texturing.
Edit – I’ve just finished putting a texture on the cuff link surfaces, leaves next but that’ll have to wait, I think I’m having a day out today.
Posted: April 11th, 2009 | Author: Dougie Kinnear | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: casting, commission, cuff links, jewellery | Comments Off
I’m in the process of making a pair of thistle cuff links for a commission. I’m making the main body from cast silver and did the (cuttlefish) castings this morning. I did 3 in total and will work with the two most similar pieces (pictured, with a 1p coin). I think they turned out quite well considering the level of randomness when casting with cuttlefish. Lots of filing and shaping ahead of me today while listening to the football. I’ll post more images as they develop.
