About 10 or so years ago several people in the jewelry industry were prophesizing that computer design was the wave of the future and that if I didn’t get on board and learn Computer Assisted Design (CAD), I’d be left choking in the dust. I quickly went out and bought Rhino which was and continues to be the 3-D program of choice for jewelry. Somehow I had the idea that a program that shared the name with an animal I loved would be sweet and cuddly. HA!
I had decent, basic Photoshop and Illustrator skills, but quickly decided that the reason the program was named Rhino was because it was a BEAST! I put it back on the shelf where it sat for about the next decade (where that edition went from being a Rhinoceros to a total dinosaur), while I merrily continued designing by hand. Then, about a year and a half ago I was doing a lot of freelance design work for a company that wanted me to learn CAD. I was actually sent to a 4 day intensive class just outside of Whitefish, Montana taught by Lauren Pipkorn, a very talented, award winning jewelry designer from New York. Despite lots of brain-bending work I had a great time and came away with tons of inspiration about how to better my design life with the program.
Six months later I went to another 4 day intensive level 2 Rhino class taught by Lauren – this time in Sarasota, Florida. If you have to go and break your brain, you might as well do it somewhere nice, right?!
Now I have really come to love the beast, Rhino, and use it as I would any other jewelry tool – sometimes it is great for a project and can save me time as well as money, and sometimes it’s still best to do it the old fashioned way. I honestly never thought I would “get it”. But with lots of tries and mistakes, and especially a great teacher (that I call frequently and pester with questions!) I now think of the program as “air sculpture” – similar to air guitar, but without the arm waving.
Here are images of the new Aroc Urtu basket ring that I created in Rhino:
This image below is a computer rendering of the ring to see how it would look in real life – I can then make the changes I need without wasting time, metal and headaches:
And…. TA DAH… here are a few of the finished rings!
“Do one thing every day that scares you.” Eleanor Roosevelt
Have you had to learn or do something that scared you to death, but you came away loving it? I’d love to hear about it!
very nice !
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