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"It appears that my choice of the word "animation" {in reference to Rhinoceros software} as a word to describe the general ability to create graphics images was a poor choice. A better description may have been "nurbs-based 3D graphics software."
As a small studio, any investment in software represents a very large investment. We selected SolidWorks at a cost of $5000 over Rhinoceros with a cost of under $1000. Before my software investment, I used demo versions of Rhinoceros, SolidWorks, SolidEdge, Pro-E, Cimagrafi, TurboCad, SDRC I-DEAS, Jewel CAD, FormZ, and Truespace. I also interviewed other users who have been successful using CAD/CAM for Jewelry. At the AGTA/MJSA Show in Tucson, we attended every event related to CAD/CAM and interviewed everyone even remotely connected to CAD/CAM in jewlerymaking. We searched the web, read the major jewelry design magazines, and visited the web sites of all the major CAD/CAM suppliers. At one point, I considered purchasing both Rhino and SolidWorks.
GemVision's Digital Goldsmith makes a great case for Rhinoceros. Digital Goldsmith uses Rhino as a solid model engine. In a demo presented at the AGTA/MJSA Show by Jeff High, President of GemVision, he pointed out how their wrapper for Rhino combined with their parts library made it usable by the jewelry design community. The cost of Digital Goldsmith was greater than $9000. Clearly, if Rhino is as easy to use as suggested below, then GemVision would not be able to charge a price that is ten times greater than the cost of Rhinoceros. While I was not able to use GemVision's product, Digital Goldsmith Matrix, the demo from the author was very impressive. I asked GemVision for a demo copy, and I would have spent much more time on it in our article if I had received a copy to try out before meeting the deadline.
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The reality is that CAD/CAM is currently not fully accepted by the jewelry community. No product has a real lead over any other product. What we tried to do with our article that was published in the July, 2001 issue of Lapidary Journal was to present a success story, provide some education, and give a real history of our experience within this very new technology."
Sincerely,
Stephen and Nancy Attaway
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