Hi, Manufacturer from New Zealand. I was wondering if you all think
JewelCad is the best CAD software or not?
Thanks
Peter
I think it would be misleading to call ANY CAD program the “best”.
Each has its own set of features, none will do everyhing you demand
it to do. Although the better ones do come close. Some have a
gentler learning curve, some are more flexible, some include better
rendering software. Whichever of the better ones you choose, you
must spend the time to learn the program, and it will call for a
considerable allocation of timeTop programs today, for jewelry
modeling, include Jewelcad as you mentioned, Matrix
(www.gemvision.com, which is what I use and love), Rhino
(www.rhino3d.com), Caligari’s JewelSpace, FormZ and SolidWorks. My
suggestion would be to join a newsgroup of users of the software to
get a feel of what can be done here, or a join a group like
JewelryDealersNetwork.com which has an active CAD population that
uses a variety of software. This world is changing rapidly and I
feel this explosion of usage will have the greatest impact on how
jewelry is presented, manufacturedand sold of any process in our
lifetime. There is nothing quite so impressive to a customer as to
see “their” design come to life before their eyes in 3D.
Wayne Emery
Jewelry Design Studio
Check out Rhino3d it’s great for jewelry design. The learning curve
isn’t to high and it’s about the least expensive modeler I’ve seen
for the power it has. You can find info at http://www.rhino3d.com
Look in the gallery there is a section of jewelry that has been
designed by users.
I’ve been using it for about 8 months now and have yet to use a
fraction of what it’s capable of. I hope it helps.
Guy…
Peter, It really depends on the type of designs you are putting
together. There are a few great software packages available with
prices ranging from about $800 US to $10,000 US.
I have been using a great program which gives you great freedom
particularly if you do free-form designs, it’s called JewelSpace by
the Caligari corporation. I have found it is very easy to learn, in
comparison to the many out there. I found also that it is very
intuitive and loaded with lots of great tools. They have been
working with a few sevice bureaus that have produced great rapid
prototyping results if this is your goal. Jewelspace is new to
jewelry design but there TrueSpace products have been around for many
years. I would highly suggest checking it out. You can see samples
of the software and even download a tial version at their website.
Take a look. www.jewelspace.net www.caligari.com
Kevin
Hasko Jewelers
hasko@pobox.com
I would agree with Kevin F about JewelSpace from Caligari - I am not
a user yet - just a trial version user, but their demo at Tucson was
terrific and it does seem more jewelry oriented than the others I’ve
used (Rhino only, which isn’t hard to use or anything, its just that
JewelSpace has preconstructed jewelry related objects for you to
use).
Ivy in Oakland - wishing for some real spring!
I have been teaching rapid prototyping at a LA university for over 4
years now. I have both art (jewelry/sculpture) and engineering
students in the same classroom. For school I stay away from the
prefab jewelry software because, I feel if you know how to build
things from scratch you are not as limited in your ability to
create.I got my masters under Al Pine. He taught us that a
craftsperson was as good as their tool. The first thing we did was to
learn how to make tools so that we would have no limitations. I apply
this concept to cad software since I see it as a tool. For the
professional that has a time constriction the Jewelcad and Matrix
programs are great. But I think that someone who wants to go beyond,
needs to know how to build things from the ground up. I teach Rhino
and Solidworks at school. These programs cross over from art to
engineering and back. I know that both Jewlcad and Matrix has the
facilities for complete construction and I would advise anyone to
explore those possibilities as well when using the programs. Sue
Ivy and all, In the search for the best Jewelry CAD program, be sure
to take a look at Gemvision’s Matrix…it uses “builders” to builda
huge variety of jewelry parts and pieces, allowing the designer to
not only choose from a wide variety of basic heads,bezels, stones,
etc., but to modify them just by selecting parameters from a
drop-down menu. The variations are endlessThe rendering program
Flamingo is built seamlessly into Matrix and porovides the best and
most realistic rendering in the marketplace, bar none. See it at
www.gemvision.com. I don’t get paid for these plugs, just a happy
user…
Wayne Emery
Jewelry Design Studio
I have tried a few CAD softwares in the past including JewelCAD. I
bought my first JewelCAD license in 1998. Since then I didn’t stop
using this software, today I am in charge of a French jewelry design
office & manufacturing in Guangzhou - China. In my web site I show
some images of our designs all done using JewelCAD.
http://www.chez.com/pacificsun
Philippe