Rendering jewellery, by type
How to render a bracelet or bangle from a CAD file
A bracelet is the piece that does not stand up. Where a ring is photographed upright, a bracelet is laid down or shown as a loop, and a link bracelet arrives as dozens of parts rather than three. The studio handles both — but the choices are different from a ring's, and this is where they differ.
Tell the studio it is a bracelet
Set the category to Bracelet in the Model step. It keeps the jewellery treatment — the stone-finding pass and the gold defaults — and it is what the studio's guesses about materials are based on. The ring poses still apply, which sounds odd until you use them: a bracelet at Flat lay is the standard catalogue shot, and a bangle Upright shows its profile.
Links and clasps arrive as parts
A link bracelet exported as separate bodies comes in as one part per link, which is more than you want to dress by hand. Auto Jewelry Setup dresses them all at once. If the file was a single STL, the studio splits it wherever links do not touch — a chain whose links are physically interlocked will stay as one part, which for rendering is fine.
The clasp is worth a look on its own: it is often a different alloy or finish in the real piece, and clicking it in the viewport lets you give it one.
- Many parts: use Auto Jewelry Setup rather than dressing each
- Interlocked links stay one part — that renders correctly
- Click the clasp to give it its own finish
The pose is Flat lay, the camera is Top
A bracelet's shape is read from above. Flat lay pose with the Top camera shows the whole loop; the Flat Lay Look sets both, with paper lighting to match. For a bangle, Upright with the Side camera gives the profile view that shows its thickness. The Catalog ¾ camera at Leaning gives a three-quarter view that works for both.
Bracelets are long, and a long object at a three-quarter angle can fall out of frame. Re-frame (F) fits it; the zoom slider pulls in on a detail afterwards.
Stones on a tennis bracelet
A tennis or line bracelet is forty small stones in a row. From a 3DM, the studio places them from the file's stone positions in one click. From an STL they are usually gone, and placing forty by hand is real work — export the 3DM if there is any way to, or export the stones as separate bodies so they arrive as parts. For pavé at this scale, the Sparkle renderer is faster and at catalogue size indistinguishable from Traced.
What to export
The Store listing pack's top view is the one that matters for a bracelet, and the side view shows depth. A turntable video on a Flat lay bracelet spins it like a plate, which reads well; on a bangle Upright, the Orbit move circling the camera keeps the highlights still on the metal. Everything here happens on your own machine: the file is converted and rendered in the browser through your GPU and is never uploaded, so an unreleased design stays unreleased.
Questions
Why does my chain bracelet come in as one part?
The links are physically interlocked, so the mesh is one connected shell and the studio has nothing to split on. That is fine for rendering — every link takes the same metal, which is what you want. Export the clasp as a separate body if you need it in a different finish.
What camera angle for a bracelet?
Top, at the Flat lay pose, for the catalogue shot that shows the whole loop; Side at Upright for a bangle's profile. The Flat Lay Look sets pose, camera and lighting together.
Can it render a tennis bracelet's stones?
Yes. From a 3DM they are placed from the file in one click. From an STL they will need placing, and forty by hand is slow — export the 3DM or export the stones as separate bodies.
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