Build a head and read what it is

WhereThe top bar: the row of words that begins File, Edit.

DoDownload p4-01-start.blend from Files above and open it. Then choose File > Save As and save it under the name below, in a folder of yours. Open an exercise file and keep the start file safe (P0-07) shows how.

Typemy-head.blend

You should seeThe 3D view is empty: a dark grid with no object in it. The Outliner, the list at the top right of the window, is empty too, and the title bar, the strip above File and Edit, begins my-head. The first picture is the 3D view and the second is the title bar.

It worked whenThe title bar, the strip above File and Edit, begins my-head.

WhereThe sidebar, at the right of the 3D view. Press N with the pointer over the 3D view if it is shut. The strip of tabs at the right edge of the sidebar holds the CAD/CAM tab. The section bar is the small word buttons at the top of that tab.

DoClick the CAD/CAM tab, then click Gems in the section bar.

You should seeThe Gems panel. At its top is a picture of a stone and four lines beside it, and under them the Size, mm box holds the chips, small buttons that each hold one stocked size. These are the settings of the next stone you make: nothing is made yet. The picture names the parts of the window this page uses.

It worked whenThe Gems panel shows a picture of a stone and, under it, Size, mm.

WhereThe Gems panel, the box Size, mm.

DoClick the tab 3.1 to 12 (marked 1 in the picture), then click the chip 5.0 (marked 2).

You should seeThe chip is lit, and the lines beside the stone’s picture read Round, 5.0 mm, the add-on’s own estimate of the weight in carats (about, not a dealer’s figure), and Depth. A Round 5.00 is a round stone 5.00 mm across, and a chip is a stocked size, one a dealer sells. A head is built for a stone, so the stone comes first. Nothing is made yet.

It worked whenThe chip 5.0 is lit.

WhereThe Gems panel, the large button Create at Cursor, under the chips.

DoPress Create at Cursor.

You should seeA round stone where the red and green lines cross, which is where the 3D cursor stands. It is selected, so it has an orange outline, and its name at the top left of the 3D view is CJ_Gem_Round_5.00x5.00. Its flat table stands 0.81 mm above the grid and its point, the culet, 2.25 mm below it.

It worked whenThe name at the top left of the 3D view ends CJ_Gem_Round_5.00x5.00.

WhereThe section bar, Setting, then the Head Builder panel.

DoClick Setting in the section bar. With the stone selected, read the top of the panel.

You should seeThe panel opens with the line “1 stone selected.” at its top. Under it are three pictures: a row of choices for the claws, the shape of the seat rail, and the numbers Claw, Over the table and Depth. Scroll the sidebar down to the button that reads Make 1 Head: the picture shows it, with the numbers above it. The head is made in Setting, and the stone in Gems: the stone is a loose part, and a head is the metal that holds it. A grey note under the button, about a basket, belongs to another tool: ignore it.

It worked whenThe button reads Make 1 Head.

WhereThe Head Builder panel, the button Make 1 Head.

DoLeave every number as it is, and press Make 1 Head.

You should seeFour claws round the stone, tall and upright, each of one thickness from its foot to its rounded tip. From above you would see only the stone and its claws; from the side, below the stone, two rings of metal show: the rails, which tie the claws together. Step 10 hides the stone to show them and names them. The thin dotted lines and small squares in the picture are not part of the head: ignore them. No small marks stand on the head yet: they are handles, which show on a head once you click it, and the next page, Drag a number on the model (P4-02), uses them.

It worked whenFour claws stand round the stone.

WhereThe Head Builder panel, the three fields under the pictures. Scroll the sidebar up if they are out of view.

DoRead Claw, Over the table and Depth, and the sentence under them.

You should seeClaw reads 0.9 mm: the claw’s diameter, its thickness. Over the table reads 2 mm: the claw’s height over the table, how far the claw tips stand above the stone’s flat top, which the bench keeps at 2.00. Depth reads 0 mm, and 0 means “from the stone”: the sentence under them says the foot plane, the flat the claws end on, stands 3.02 under the girdle’s lower edge, and goes on to say it leaves room for a coloured stone cut 25 % deeper than the ideal. The numbers are the add-on’s starting numbers, and they are the bench’s.

It worked whenClaw reads 0.9 mm, Over the table 2 mm and Depth 0 mm.

WhereThe Head Builder panel. Scroll the sidebar down, under the buttons Make Real and Prototype.

DoScroll down and read the lines under the buttons.

You should seeThe panel’s own lines about this head. The second begins “Seen from the top only the stone and the claws show”: every rail stands inside the girdle line, so no rail shows from above, and the stone rests on the seat rail’s inner edge. The line above it reads “Claws pass through the girdle by 0.25 mm, uncut: the setter cuts them”: that 0.25 is the bite, how far a claw reaches over the girdle, and its field is Nudge (P4-02 drags it). The head checks itself each time a number changes, and says it here.

It worked whenA line begins “Seen from the top only the stone and the claws show”.

WhereThe 3D view: move the pointer over it.

DoLook at the picture. To see it so, click the blue Z ball of the gizmo, at the top right of the 3D view, then press Home or choose View > Frame All.

You should seeFrom above you see only the stone and its four claws. The two rails are under the stone, inside its outline. This is the rule of the bench for a head: nothing but the stone and the claws is seen from above. A ring of metal that showed outside the stone, from here, would be wrong.

It worked whenYou see the stone and four claws, and no metal ring round the stone.

WhereThe section bar, Gems, then the Gems panel: the wide button with an eye, under the two Lift buttons.

DoClick Gems in the section bar, press Hide the Gem, look, then press Show the Gem.

You should seeThe stone goes and the head stays, with what it held: two rings of metal inside the claws, the upper one the seat rail, the stone’s seat, and the lower the second rail. Both rails are structural metal: they tie the claws together. The second rail steadies the claws below the seat rail. Press Show the Gem to bring the stone back. The small picture shows the button.

It worked whenThe button reads Hide the Gem again and the stone shows.

WhereThe section bar, Setting, then the Head Builder panel, the field Claw. Click the middle of the field once.

DoClick the middle of Claw once, type 1.2 and press Enter.

You should seeThe claws grow thicker at once, because the head is live. The two pictures show the head before and after. Type 0.9 and press Enter to put the bench’s number back. For a Round 5.00, 0.90 is the claw to keep.

It worked whenClaw reads 0.9 mm again, after you type it back.

WhereThe 3D view: move the pointer over it.

DoPress Ctrl+S.

You should seeBlender writes your copy at once, with no question, because the file already has a name. An asterisk, *, in the title bar marks changes that are not saved, and it goes now. Save your work and get it back (P0-12) says more about saving.

It worked whenThe title bar begins my-head and carries no asterisk.