Ring Design

Software / Tools / Machines

• Ring Measurement Tool

• Onshape

• Blender

• Textures (Various)

• OptiX Denoiser

• 3D Printer

• Metal CNC Router (Planned)

 

The Process

The goal was to design and 3D print a graduation ring. To further edit and cut out the design in metal, a Metal CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machine will be used. I wanted to create a visually appealing and personal representation of a ring. The ring will have a real proof-of-concept model that should fit me adequately. Moreover, it should be made with a parametric based 3D design paradigm. For this, I used Onshape and learned how to use it. 

 

Firstly, I needed to decide on a design. After some research and deciding that I wanted to engrave letters on its front, I decided upon my final design and thickness. This is when I also measured my adequate ring size in order to start designing it. I later figured out that I needed to upsize the ring, since a wider and thicker band meant that a bigger size needed to be used to compensate for additional friction.

 

I completed my design on Onshape, where I ended up creating several versions. After seeing how parametric based modelling can easily allow you to remove/simplify features, I made three main versions of my ring that had increasing complexity, for this reason.

 

Lastly, I moved on to the animation.  I chose to use blender for my photorealistic compositing, textures, and animation. Once again, I wanted to create an advertisement for my ring. With the ring as a main focus and smooth and futuristic key point movements. As such, I used various tools blender provides as well as some external texture resources. Emphasized by the fact I used the Cycles rendering engine, a ray-tracing renderer, the final render carried a lot of noise that disrupted the photorealism. I used OptiX noise reduction to combat this.

 

Enjoyment

As my first time trying Onshape, I very much enjoyed using the software. While I have used Fusion360 with some proficiency, Onshape provided a unique layout and the web-based nature made it very convenient to use. I enjoyed learning Onshape from the ground up and creating a design that I am pleased with and that matches the graduation ring theme. Including the various variations, each of which serves a purpose. I equally loved learning more about how rings are designed, such as how concavity is strategically used to make it more comfortable and how band thickness impacts the size.

 

Lessons learned 

The absolute benefit of parametric design that Onshape and other software like Fusion 360 provided became clear throughout this entire design and continuous small changes on each iteration. I used to dismiss its features, but now I see its significance and great power in industry standard design. Overall, this project taught me a lot about how rings work in the background — features that are often dismissed to consumers such as the impact of band size and proportions — as well as their design reasoning. 

 

What I would change if I started over 

If I could start over, the project from the beginning and I kept the graduation theme. I would keep my overall design very similar, but I would try to add designs around the side of the ring. Such as little patterns of symbols alluding to the high school it was designed for. However, if I did not keep the graduation theme of the ring. I would attempt to create a much more complex and challenging ring. Such as a female ring, which often features much more complex features and curvature than unisex comparatives.