Seashell Ring

This project is created as a course assignment at the California State University, Long Beach; taught by Behnaz Farahi: DESN 551: Materials, Tools, and Techniques of Prototype.

I decided to make a seashell ring using 3d scanning to capture the texture and details of the seashell, and 3d model it into a piece of jewelry.

• Seashell
• Stand
• A good light source
• Laptop(Windows is prefered)
• iPad(Not necessary if you can figure out everything on laptop)
• Midhourney(Discord)

Softwares: Scaniverse(iPhone 13 pro), Meshmixer(Windows), Solidworks(Windows), Nomad(iPad)

I stuck the bottom of the seashell on the stand and put it on the floor. I had all the lights in my room turned on to make sure the object can be scanned successfully.

To use Scaniverse, you need an iPhone 13 or higher version that has the function to scan 3d objects. There are other 3d scanning apps you can use too, but I used Scanniverse and the result turned out pretty good. Make sure you export with the highest quality to obj. file to keep all the color and texture of the seashell.

I used the Select tool in Meshmixer to select the unneeded parts and delete them, or directly select the seashell and reverse select to delete the other part. Then I used the Analysis tool and use Inspector to fix the surface and make the seashell into a solid object.

I used the Revolved Extrude to make the ring part. For this step, make sure you have the right size of the ring to fit your fingers.

I looked up Midjourney for inspiration for seashell rings. The concepts are amazing and after multiple times of refining, the result turned out to be the last image which is the direction I want to go for.

I played with the ring and tried to mix the two parts in Meshmixer. I tried my best to fix the edges to make them look like one piece, however, I couldn't find a way to hide the texture of the seashell and sculpt it at the same time. Also when I tried to combine the two pieces the texture is gone. So I decided to use Nomad on iPad to sculpt. I fixed the connected edges of the seashell and ring to make them look like one piece. Then I used the draw tool to make the seashell pattern and painted the whole ring as how I wanted. By the way I got the inspiration from Midjourney on Discord.

Make sure you export the file as Obj. to have all the colors and patterns. I printed it with a material called polyJet, which allowed me to print it with color. The result turned out pretty good except it can not print metal color. So I painted the ring part with gold paint and applied a layer of clear coat to make it shiny like jewelry. I also printed a bigger size as a bracelet for fun. I am happy with the final result.