Okay, so I’ve been wanting to get into 3D modeling for a while, and I finally took the plunge. I decided to try and model something from David Yurman, you know, the jewelry brand? Their stuff has these cool cable designs, so I thought it’d be a good challenge. Here’s how it went down.
First, I needed some good reference images. I spent like an hour just browsing the David Yurman website and saving pictures of different bracelets and rings. I wanted to get a good sense of the shapes and how the cables twist together.
Finding References
- Started by Googling “David Yurman cable bracelet”.
- Looked at images, saved a bunch. Different angles are key!
- Found some close-ups, which were super helpful.
Next, I opened up my modeling software (I’m using Blender, by the way – it’s free!). I started with a simple cylinder, because most of the jewelry pieces are kinda cylindrical, right?
Then came the tricky part – the cable texture. Man, this took me a while to figure out. I tried a few different techniques, watched some YouTube tutorials (seriously, YouTube is a lifesaver), and finally landed on using a combination of modifiers. I think I used a “screw” modifier and then a “twist” modifier, or something like that. It was a lot of trial and error, tweaking settings until it looked kinda right.
The Modeling Process
- Imported my reference images into Blender. So much easier to model when you have something to look at!
- Created a basic cylinder shape.
- Used a bunch of modifiers to get that cable effect. Lots of messing around here!
- Added some extra details, like the little end caps on the bracelets.
I spent a good few evenings on this, just slowly shaping and refining the model. I kept comparing it to my reference images, making tiny adjustments. It’s amazing how much detail goes into these things!
After I was happy with the basic shape, I started playing with materials. I wanted to get that shiny, metallic look. Blender has a bunch of built-in materials, so I experimented with those until I found something that looked like silver or gold. The lighting is important! What good are realistic materials if they’re displayed poorly?
Material and Finish
- Experimented with different metal materials.
- Adjusted the lighting to make it look realistic.
- Considered adding some imperfections, like tiny scratches, to make it look more “real”.
Finally, I rendered the model – that’s basically like taking a high-quality photo of it. And… it actually looked pretty good! I mean, it’s not perfect, but for a first attempt, I’m pretty proud of it. I still have a lot to learn, but this was a fun project, and I definitely feel like I leveled up my modeling skills.
It’s not an exact replica, the real thing is so detailed and perfect. Now that I’ve made it, I can see where the real thing is great, and where my model is flawed. That’s okay though, it’s all a learning experience.
