Guides
Rendering jewellery and products from CAD
26 guides, each answering one question — how to render a particular piece, what the studio does on its own, which file to export, how to get stones, gold and backdrops right. Every one is written from what the studio actually does.
How much of rendering from CAD can you automate?
How much of rendering from CAD can be automated in the browser today: one-click material setup, export packs that shoot four angles at once, a metal range from one file. And what still needs a person.
Rendering jewellery, by type
How to render a ring from a CAD file
A step-by-step guide to rendering a ring from a 3DM, STEP or STL file in your browser: finding the stones, choosing a karat, picking a pose, and exporting a listing pack. Nothing uploaded.
How to render a bracelet or bangle from a CAD file
Rendering bracelets and bangles from a CAD file in your browser: why they lie flat, how to handle links and clasps as parts, which camera reads the whole piece, and what to export.
How to render earrings from a CAD file
Rendering earrings from a CAD file in your browser: showing them as a pair, handling posts, hooks and drops, poses for studs versus dangles, and exporting matched images.
How to render a necklace or chain from a CAD file
Rendering necklaces and chains from CAD in your browser: why a chain is many parts, how to keep it fast, which pose and camera show its length, and how to shoot the pendant separately.
How to render a pendant from a CAD file
Rendering a pendant from a CAD file in your browser: orienting it as it hangs, treating the bail as a part, choosing the Tipped pose for a stone, and exporting the close-up a listing needs.
Workflow and automation
How much of rendering from CAD can you automate?
How much of rendering from CAD can be automated in the browser today: one-click material setup, export packs that shoot four angles at once, a metal range from one file. And what still needs a person.
Rendering a whole collection so the images match
How to render a range of jewellery from CAD so the images match: fix the Look, pose and pack once, keep the camera the same, and shoot every file the same way. Practical steps for a catalogue.
Rhino or MatrixGold to a listing, in five minutes
The fastest workflow from a Rhino or MatrixGold ring to listing images: save the 3DM, drop it in, place the stones from the file, one-click materials, one Look, one pack. Timed steps, nothing uploaded.
Exporting an STL in parts
An STL has no parts, but the studio splits one wherever the geometry is disconnected. How to export from Rhino, MatrixGold, SolidWorks and Fusion 360 so the stones arrive as their own parts: what to select, what must not be unioned, the mesh setting that matters, and how to check the result.
Getting the diamonds in: STL, STEP and 3DM, step by step
A step-by-step tutorial for each file you might have. Export an STL in parts from Rhino or MatrixGold; load an STL and place its stones automatically from the 3DM; load a STEP and let the studio find the stones — and what to do when a stone's name is wrong and it renders as metal.
What the studio does automatically
How the studio finds the stones
What happens when you press Auto Jewelry Setup: how parts are recognised as stones by name, by size relative to the piece, and by shape; why 'emerald' means a cut, not a colour; and when the file's own labels win.
How non-jewellery parts get their materials
For anything that is not jewellery, the studio dresses each part from its name: glass for windows, rubber for tyres, leather for seats, chrome for grilles. How the rules work, what the category default is, and how to name parts so it lands.
How a single STL becomes separate parts
What the studio does to a mesh file the moment it opens: drops facet normals, welds duplicated vertices at a tolerance that scales with the model, rebuilds smooth shading, and splits disconnected shells back into parts you can dress separately.
What a Look sets, and what it leaves alone
A Look is the studio's largest single automation: one tile sets the lighting environment and its intensity, the backdrop, the floor treatment, the pose, the lean and the camera angle together. What each of the eleven does, and what it does not touch.
How the piece is centred, grounded and framed
What happens to a model's position on load: centred on its footprint, its base placed on the floor, the camera fitted to its size. Why changing the pose re-grounds it, why the zoom range is set from the model, and what the F key does.
Export packs: what one press renders
The four export packs: Store listing (four angles at 2K), Social square (hero and close-up at 2048²), Metal range (every gold and platinum), Print (hero and back at 4K). What each renders, how the contact sheet labels it, and what a pack does not change.
Choosing between options
STEP, STL or 3DM — which should you export for rendering?
Which CAD format to export for rendering jewellery: STEP keeps exact curves, 3DM carries stone positions, STL is a faceted mesh with the stones usually gone. A side-by-side with a clear recommendation.
Rendering vs photographing jewellery
When to render jewellery from CAD and when to photograph the real piece: cost per image, consistency across a range, pre-launch listings, and the things a render cannot show. An honest comparison.
Which pose for a ring: flat lay, upright, tipped or leaning?
The four ring poses in Rendermio and when each is right: Upright for the hero, Tipped to open the stone, Leaning for a three-quarter, Flat lay for the catalogue. With the camera to pair each with.
Getting the render right
How the diamonds are rendered: Traced, Sparkle and Crystal
The three stone renderers in Rendermio: Traced follows light through real facets with dispersion, Sparkle is fast stylised brilliance, Crystal is physically transparent. Which to use for hero shots, pavé and coloured stones.
Getting gold right: colours and karats in a render
How gold is rendered in Rendermio: three colours and five karats, each measured rather than guessed, plus platinum, palladium and silver. Why 14K and 18K look different, and how to render every finish at once.
Choosing a backdrop and Look for jewellery
Which backdrop and Look to use for jewellery renders: pure white for listings, paper sweeps for a photographic feel, studio pools for a hero, velvet for dark drama. When a mirror floor helps and when a shadow does.
Putting the stones back into an STL
Why an STL ring has no diamonds and how to put them back in your browser: pick a cut, click each seat, let the studio size the stone to the prongs — or place every stone at once from the design's 3DM.
Ring size
Ring size chart: US, UK, EU and millimetres
Ring size conversion chart: US sizes 3–13 with inner diameter and circumference in mm, EU (ISO) and UK/AUS letters, computed from the standards rather than copied. Plus three ways to measure a finger at home and why charts disagree.
How to measure your ring size at home
Measure a ring size at home with a ring you own, a strip of paper, or a sizer; read it in mm, US, UK or EU; and avoid the mistakes — cold hands, the knuckle, wide bands — that put people half a size out.
Ring size inside the CAD file
For designers: a ring's size is the inner diameter in the file. STEP and 3DM carry units; STL carries none, so the size is whatever the exporter assumed. How to check a file's size, grade one design across sizes, and what changes when you do.