Jewellery Rendering & CAD Guides
Straight answers to the questions jewellery brands, manufacturers and online sellers ask before they commission CAD design or 3D rendering — what things cost, what the files are, and how to brief a studio.
What Is Jewelry Rendering?
A photorealistic image produced from a 3D CAD model rather than a photograph of a finished piece.
What jewelry rendering is, how the CAD-to-render pipeline works, and when a photorealistic render is the better choice over photography.
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Jewelry Rendering Cost: What You Are Paying For and What Moves the Price
Rendering starts at $20 per design for 12 images, 3 product videos and a rotation video; the Etsy Combo is $30.
What 3D jewelry rendering costs per design, what moves the price (stones, metals, angles, lifestyle scenes, revisions) and how to brief for a fixed quote.
Read the guide →Jewelry CAD Design Cost Explained
CAD design starts at $10 per design and the price moves with design complexity.
What drives jewelry CAD design cost, why quotes vary so widely, and how to brief a project for an accurate, fixed price.
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Etsy Jewelry Image Requirements: Specs, Crops and How to Meet Them
What Etsy asks of listing images, taken from Etsy’s own help pages, and how a render meets it.
Etsy's official listing photo specs for jewelry — 2000 px, 635 px first-image minimum, 1 MB, file types, thumbnail crop — and how renders meet each one.
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Amazon Jewelry Image Requirements: Main Image Rules, Sizes and Renders
Amazon’s image rules, including the 85% frame-fill requirement, taken from Amazon’s own help pages.
Amazon's jewelry image rules — pure white main image, 85% frame fill, 1000–1600 px for zoom, formats, what is banned — and whether renders are allowed.
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STL vs 3DM for Jewelry CAD Files
STL is a mesh for printing and casting; 3DM is the editable surface file. They are not interchangeable.
STL vs 3DM explained for jewelry — mesh vs NURBS, what each format keeps or loses, and which file to send for rendering or production.
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How to Prepare a Jewelry Sketch for CAD Design
Two views, measurements in millimetres, stone sizes and the metal are enough for a first CAD draft.
What a CAD designer needs from your sketch or reference — views, measurements, stone sizes, metal, finish, file types — so the first draft is right in 2 days.
Read the guide →Jewelry Video Specs for Etsy, Amazon, Shopify and Instagram
Etsy, Amazon, Shopify and Instagram each set their own length, size and ratio limits, listed from their own pages.
Official video limits for Etsy listings, Amazon product pages, Shopify and Instagram Reels — length, size, resolution, aspect ratio — from one 360° render.
Read the guide →How to Choose a Jewelry Rendering Studio: Ten Questions to Ask Before You Send a File
Ten questions - files, ownership, revisions, pricing, NDA, metal-tone set, specs, turnaround, bulk, delivery - and what a good answer looks like.
A neutral ten-question checklist for comparing jewelry rendering and CAD studios: files, revisions, pricing, NDA, specs, turnaround, bulk runs and delivery.
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Why your jewellery renders look flat
Flat jewellery renders are almost never a lighting problem. A real job: an eternity band whose CAD had to be rebuilt before it could be lit, and what changed.
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Common questions
- What do these guides cover?
- Eight guides written for buyers rather than for designers: what jewellery rendering is, what rendering and CAD design cost, what Etsy and Amazon require of listing images, the difference between STL and 3DM files, how to prepare a sketch for CAD, and video specifications for jewellery.
- What does jewellery CAD design and rendering cost?
- CAD design starts at $10 per design and 3D rendering at $20, with an Etsy Combo at $30 and animation from $50. The cost guides explain what moves those figures - stone count, pave and filigree work, extra angles, lifestyle scenes and revisions.
- Which file does my caster need, STL or 3DM?
- They are not interchangeable: one is a mesh and one is a surface file, and exporting the wrong way loses detail the caster needs. The STL vs 3DM guide sets out which one to send and what gets lost.
- What do Etsy and Amazon require of jewellery listing images?
- Each marketplace sets its own size, background and framing rules, and they are not the same. The Etsy and Amazon guides set out each one's current requirements separately.
- Do I need a CAD file before you can render anything?
- No. A sketch, a photograph or a reference image is enough - the CAD model is built first, from $10, and the renders come from that model.