Hi guys, I am a jewelry designer based in Ireland and Spain.Also a goldsmith. Never done any modeling. I always do my designs first on wax and then cast then. I would like to know how to have my designs ( i do then on paper) 3d and ready to print. Many thanks, Jess Marrero
well, find 3d modeling program of your choice (my is blender), learn basic modeling techniques (everything what is needed is on web) and within 1-2 weeks you should be able to model any ring that your hearth (or client) desire. Or you can cooperate with someone who already know these stuff.
These tutorials Blender 3D Design Course by Neal Hirsig of Tufts University are great. I went through some of them for the 2.5x version and they are clear, well presented and to the point. If you went through them all (as I hope to do at some point) I think you would have a great knowledge of Blender. And even if you only make a start you'll soon be able to create stuff and upload to Shapeways.
dont know about book but i started here http://cgcookie.com/blender/category/getting-started/ and for ring modeling chceck this guy on youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/mikhailrachinskiy
Rhino 3d or Zbrush are 2 great programs. Just design whatever you want and make sure you export to .stl or .obj. There are other file formats to export as before you upload to shapeways, but those are the common ones.