Article originally published on the Novedge Blog
Rhino is a very flexible application and is gradually penetrating different professional areas, from industrial design to architecture and jewelry design. Each specific domain can significantly benefit from Rhino’s features, but requires specific commands and libraries that are usually not provided by Robert McNeel and Associates. What McNeel delivers is a powerful software platform on top of which third parties, such as TechJewel, can build vertical plugins. One of the most successful plugins is RhinoJewel, formerly known as TechGems. It’s a product that has evolved over the years to provide a complete set of commands, templates, and features to jewelry designers. I interviewed the company’s founder and CEO, Alejandro Antich Martínez, or simply Alex Antich, to learn more about the exciting world of Rhino plugins.
The Interview
Alex, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your company?
Jewelry came natural to me as my father was a goldsmith with a jewelry store and workshops
Hello Franco, and thanks for the interview. I was born into a family of jewelers and ever since I was a boy I have had two great passions: jewelry and technology.
Jewelry came naturally to me, as my father was a goldsmith with a jewelry store and workshops on one of Barcelona’s main shopping streets. At a young age, I started a long apprenticeship as a goldsmith – first with my father and later for a number of the leading jewelry manufacturers in Spain. I graduated from jewelry school in 1991 and studied gemology at the University of Barcelona.
My passion for computers and technology dates back to the early 80s when home PCs became increasingly common. From the moment I laid eyes on my first computer, I started thinking about how we could use this technology to design and manufacture jewelry. I developed the first gem libraries for 3D software in 1994. I founded my current company, Techjewel, in 1999 as a training center and consultancy for new technologies applied to jewelry design and manufacturing. In 2000, Techjewel launched TechGems, a jewelry design plugin for Rhino, which evolved throughout the years and, in its current version, is called Rhinojewel 5.0. Techjewel also runs a training facility for 3D jewelry design using Rhinojewel and a Solidscape service bureau called Protojewel.
Can you explain the main reasons your customers like to extend their Rhino with a plugin such as RhinoJewel?
RhinoJewel adds to Rhino a comprehensive set of jewelry-specific tools
Rhino is a fantastic CAD software that is, in many ways, very complete. The art of jewelry making, however, requires specialist knowledge that cannot be improvised and mastery of ancient techniques that have developed over centuries and have only recently (the last 15-20 years) begun to converge with the so-called CAD-CAM revolution. RhinoJewel adds to Rhino a comprehensive set of jewelry-specific tools, focused on real-world applications and developed by a team of jewelry professionals with a proven track record of working or consulting for the leading jewelry houses worldwide. While numerous Rhino tools are ideal for designing jewelry as-is, many jewelry techniques and design strategies require custom tools that can significantly speed up and simplify the modeling process. Rhinojewel offers not only parametric jewelry builders but, most importantly, specific tools developed for jewelry professionals that empower creativity. Every Rhinojewel tool is a synthesis of proven jewelry techniques and the latest CAD-CAM technologies.
What are the reasons for the growing success of Rhino and Rhino’s plugins in the jewelry design industry?
the McNeel & Associates business culture which has always been open to collaboration
Rhino is at the same time extremely powerful, flexible, precise, and very well priced. It is also continuously evolving and interfacing with the most exciting innovations in this field. It has proven itself to be the ideal CAD engine for building sector-specific plugins like RhinoJewel. Even at a worldwide level, the jewelry industry is a closely knit community, and the great majority of users end up using what works best. Beyond its technical superiority, part of Rhino’s success is also owed to the McNeel & Associates business culture, which has always been open to collaborating with professionals from a wide range of industries to develop specialist plugins.
T-Splines gets a lot of attention from jewelry designers. Does this signal a limitation of the current technology, or a mature market able to explore new solutions?
the jewelry industry will always welcome new technologies that can reduce costs and empower creativity
Both. Today’s technology has far fewer limits than what we used ten years ago, but it is surely very limited compared to what we will use in ten years! The jewelry industry will always welcome new technologies that can reduce costs and empower creativity. T-Splines is an excellent example because it makes it much easier to model organic shapes and works within Rhino, the industry standard for jewelry modeling. At Techjewel, we have been working with Matt Sederberg, CEO of T-Splines, to develop a Rhinojewel version of T-Splines that integrates with our existing tools to deliver creative results suitable for jewelry applications.
Rapid prototyping is another technology that jewelry designers have embraced. What is the level of use and the potential for future evolution?
the use of CAD applied to jewelry design would not be fully exploited without Rapid Prototyping
Of course, the use of CAD applied to jewelry design would not be fully exploited without Rapid Prototyping. This technology has been improving steadily and has now reached a stage where, with proper training, it is stable, easy to use, and relatively affordable. 3D printers like Solidscape and other rapid prototyping solutions have long found their way into the manufacturing processes of leading jewelry companies around the world, and every day more are being adopted by smaller independent workshops, either directly or through service bureaus. The best Rapid Prototyping solutions for jewelry make it possible to translate the many advantages available in the virtual space of CAD into the real world: cost reduction, shorter time-to-market, high precision, and the ability to generate complex and creative designs that would otherwise be too difficult or impossible to achieve. In the future, the performance of Rapid Prototyping systems for jewelry applications will continue to improve, and prices will gradually reach a level that will make direct ownership of this technology possible for anyone interested.
The Rhino platform offers a growing list of options for end-users, from several rendering alternatives to visual programming tools such as Grasshopper. What is your company’s approach to these kinds of tools and technologies?
our first duty is to screen any new tool, software or technology that comes to market and to check its potential for jewelry applications
From the beginning, TechJewel has focused on advancing the use of new technologies in the design and manufacturing of jewelry. In light of this, our first duty is to screen any new tool, software, or technology that comes to market and assess its potential for jewelry applications. Sometimes, as with photorealistic rendering engines, we need to choose the best option among numerous offerings. Other times, we monitor a new technology until it is stable enough to be adopted within our industry. Wherever possible, we work to enhance and integrate new solutions into our software, RhinoJewel, to make them more relevant to jewelers’ needs and easier to learn within a single, unified interface.
TechJewel is a Spanish company with deep European roots and important ambitions for the US market. What are the major problems you face when entering the American market, and what is your strategy?
we are launching a RhinoJewel Academy program of 101 Video Tutorials
It is always easier to do well close to home. People are easier to contact, and the main jewelry trade fairs throughout Europe are all reachable within a couple of hours’ flight. In Europe, we meet face-to-face with our many resellers and clients and provide extensive training either at our facilities in Barcelona or at the clients’ premises.
All this is harder and more expensive to do in the American market, and in the equally important markets in the Far East. So far, we have relied on a network of distributors like yourselves. However, to further support our clients and resellers, we are launching a RhinoJewel Academy program of 101 Video Tutorials that can take users from beginner to highly proficient advanced levels. This self-paced educational material is the result of over 15 years of experience teaching CAD for jewelry design and draws on real-life professional jewelry projects. Students in remote areas will be able to learn on their own and access online help whenever they need to, either from us or from an international network of RhinoJewel Academy Instructors.
The full RhinoJewel Academy program will be made available through our resellers, but we are also gradually adding 40 of the 101 Video Tutorials to our YouTube channel, free of charge. The YouTube videos will cover all the material from Levels 1 to 3, plus samples of tutorials from Levels 4 to 10.
I want to thank Alex for taking the time to answer my questions.
