Rendering jewellery, by type
How to render a ring from a CAD file
A ring is the piece Rendermio was built around, and it is the easiest to get right: the studio finds the stones, makes the rest gold, and the four poses cover every way a ring is photographed. Here is the whole path from file to listing, in the order the studio takes it.
1. Bring in the file — 3DM if you have it
Drop the file into the studio. For a ring the format matters more than for anything else, because of the stones: a Rhino or MatrixGold .3dm usually records where every stone sits even when no stone mesh was saved, and the studio can read those positions. A STEP keeps the exact curves of the band. An STL has usually lost the stones entirely, and they will need putting back — which is a minute's work, covered below.
Tell the studio it is a ring if it does not already know. That is what turns on the stone-finding pass and opens the Stones step.
2. One click: Auto Jewelry Setup
In the Metal & materials step, Auto Jewelry Setup finds the stones, makes every other part gold, and switches the lighting to the Pro Jewelry environment. For most rings that is the render, and the rest of this guide is adjustment.
If a part was misread — a prong taken for a stone, a small stone taken for metal — drag it between Diamonds and Metal in the parts list. Click any part in the viewport to target only that one.
3. The metal
Yellow, rose or white gold, then the karat: 10K, 14K, 18K, 22K or 24K, each with its own measured colour, so a 14K rose sits visibly beside an 18K. Platinum, palladium, sterling silver and a matte gold are there too. The metal-range export pack renders the same ring in every gold and platinum from one file, which is how a listing with six finishes gets six matching photographs.
4. The stones
Each stone can be tuned on its own in the diamond console — brightness, fire, sparkle depth, facet count — or all of them together. The Traced renderer follows light through the stone's real facets; it is the one to use for a hero shot. If the ring came in as an STL with no stones, pick a cut in the Stones step and click each seat; the studio measures the prongs around the click and sizes the stone to fit.
5. Pose and camera
Four poses: Upright is the classic hero shot; Tipped leans the ring toward the camera so the stone opens up; Leaning sits between upright and flat; Flat lay lays it down and looks into the band, which is the catalogue-page look. The Catalog ¾ camera is the safe default, Hero ¾ is tighter and lower, and Close-up frames the setting.
6. Export the listing
Choose a Look — Catalog for white, Hero or Showcase for a studio pool, Velvet for a dark one — and export. The Store listing pack gives you catalogue, front, side and top at 2K in one go; the Social square pack gives a hero and a close-up at 2048². A turntable video is a camera move and a duration away. 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
Which file format is best for rendering a ring?
3DM, because it can carry the stone positions; STEP next, for exact curves; STL last, because it has usually lost the stones and flattened the curves. All three render — the difference is how much you have to put back.
How do I make the stone look real?
Use the Traced renderer, which follows light through the stone's actual facet geometry with dispersion, and switch the gem lighting to Gallery if you want more contrast in the facets. Then tune fire and sparkle depth on the stone itself. Sparkle textures are what make renders look fake; tracing is what avoids them.
Can I show the same ring in every gold?
Yes — the Metal range export pack renders the catalogue view in every gold and platinum from one file, so the finishes match exactly.
Free · runs in your browser · your file is never uploaded