Curve quality exercise
Deliverable: The same profile built twice — once carelessly and once with minimum control points — with curvature graphs compared and the surface quality difference shown.
Course
Rhino 3D
NURBS modelling for shapes parametric CAD handles badly — clean curves, continuous surfaces and watertight solids, with Grasshopper for anything repetitive.
- Duration: 2 months
- Classroom · Online live
- Level: intermediate
What you will be able to do
- Build clean NURBS curves with the fewest control points needed
- Create surfaces and judge their continuity properly
- Produce watertight solids suitable for manufacture or printing
- Model organic and free-form shapes parametric CAD struggles with
- Automate repetitive geometry with Grasshopper
- Export clean geometry for CAM, printing or rendering
Who this course is for
- Product, jewellery and industrial design students and professionals
- Architects modelling complex geometry
- CAD users needing free-form surfacing
- Basic 3D experience in any package is helpful
Syllabus
6 modules · 2 months
Module 1. Curves first
- NURBS curves, degree and control points
- Why fewer control points produce better surfaces
- Curvature graph and reading a curve honestly
- Curve continuity — G0, G1, G2
Module 2. Surfaces
- Loft, sweep, revolve and network surfaces
- Surface continuity and matching
- Trimming, splitting and the trouble trims cause
- Analysis — zebra, curvature, draft
Module 3. Solids and booleans
- Building watertight closed solids
- Boolean operations and why they fail
- Filleting, and what to do when a fillet refuses
- Repairing bad geometry
Module 4. Free-form and organic modelling
- SubD modelling and converting to NURBS
- Blending organic and precise geometry
- Modelling from reference images and scans
- Deformation tools
Module 5. Grasshopper basics
- Components, wires and data flow
- Parametric repetition — patterns, arrays, gradients
- Driving geometry from numbers
- When Grasshopper saves time and when it wastes it
Module 6. Output
- Mesh settings and STL for printing
- STEP and IGES for CAM and other CAD
- Checking a model is watertight before sending it
- Rendering for presentation
Tools and technologies you will use
- Rhino 3D
- Grasshopper
- Curvature and continuity analysis tools
- STL and STEP export
Projects you will build
Continuous surface model
Deliverable: A free-form object whose surfaces hold curvature continuity across every boundary, verified with zebra analysis rather than by eye.
Watertight solid for manufacture
Deliverable: A closed, watertight model exported as STL and verified in a mesh checker with zero naked edges, ready to print.
Grasshopper definition
Deliverable: A parametric pattern driven by numeric inputs, demonstrated producing at least three different valid outputs from the same definition.
Where this course can take you
- Product Designer
- Jewellery CAD Designer
- Industrial Designer
- 3D Modeller
- Design Engineer
Duration, modes and fees
- Duration
- 2 months
- Delivery modes
- Classroom · Online live
- Fees
- Share your details for the current fee
- Fees vary by batch and delivery mode. Ask about the combined fee if you take this with the Matrix or Jewellery Design programme.
Placement assistance
Every student gets placement assistance — that is what 100% placement assistance means. It is support for all, not a job for all. We do not promise a specific salary, a specific number of interviews, or placement at any named company, and you should be wary of anyone who does.
What is included
- A place in the monthly placement drive, held every third Saturday
- The readiness programme every second Saturday — mock interviews and preparation
- CV review against the specific roles you are targeting
- Portfolio review, so your project work is presented the way a reviewer will read it
- Access to the vacancy pool employers send directly to the Samyak network
- Guidance on which roles realistically fit your background and which do not
- A place in the next drive, with coaching, if you are not selected in this one
What is not included
- Any guarantee of a job, an interview, or a particular salary
- Placement at a named or partner company
- Applying to jobs on your behalf
- Support before you have completed the course and its project work
- Visa, relocation or overseas placement assistance
Bad curves make bad surfaces
Everything in NURBS modelling follows from the curve, and this is where most self-taught users go wrong permanently.
A profile drawn with thirty control points looks identical to one drawn with six until you build a surface from it and put a reflection across it. Then the waviness appears, and no amount of later smoothing removes it — the fault is in the curve, three steps back.
So the first module is curves alone, with the curvature graph on, and the first project makes you build the same profile both ways and compare.
Judge continuity with analysis, not with eyes
Two surfaces can meet touching, meet smoothly, or meet with matching curvature.
On a shaded viewport all three look fine. Under a zebra analysis the difference is unmistakable, and on a polished metal object the difference is what a customer sees. The surfacing project is graded on the analysis, because eyes are not reliable here and reflections are.
Watertight, or it will not print
A model with a gap you cannot see will fail on a printer or in CAM.
Naked edges, tiny slivers left by a trim, surfaces that nearly meet — the output module covers checking properly before sending a file, because discovering it at the machine costs a day and sometimes material.
Where Grasshopper belongs
Last, and only for repetition with variation.
A pattern of stones at graduating sizes, a facade of changing panels, a range of sizes from one definition — that is where it saves real hours. For a single shape, modelling directly is faster, and the module says so rather than pretending everything should be parametric.
Questions
Rhino 3D — frequently asked questions
How is Rhino different from SolidWorks?
SolidWorks is parametric and history-based — excellent for engineered parts with a feature tree. Rhino is direct NURBS modelling with no history by default, which makes free-form and organic shapes far easier and engineering changes slightly harder. Product and jewellery designers usually prefer Rhino; machine designers usually prefer SolidWorks.
Why does the course spend a whole module on curves?
Because every surface is built from curves, and a bad curve makes a bad surface that no amount of later work rescues. A profile drawn with thirty control points produces a surface with visible waviness under a reflection. Fewer, better-placed points is the single highest-leverage habit in NURBS modelling.
Do I need Grasshopper?
Not for most work, and it is deliberately last. It earns its place when geometry repeats with variation — a pattern of stones at graduating sizes, a façade with changing panels. For a one-off shape it is slower than modelling directly, and the module is honest about that boundary.
Is Rhino used for jewellery specifically?
Very widely, usually with Matrix or similar plugins on top. This course teaches the Rhino underneath, which is what makes those plugins comprehensible rather than magical. Jewellery students typically take this alongside or before the Matrix course.
Enquire about Rhino 3D
Three details is all we need. A course advisor will call you back.
Related courses
- Matrix Jewellery CAD
The jewellery-specific CAD workflow — builders, gem tools, pavé and rendering — used properly, so the model that leaves your screen can actually be cast and set.
- Jewellery Design
Jewellery design taken to manufacture — sketching, CAD modelling, stone setting and casting constraints — with the metal weight and costing a workshop will hold you to.
- SolidWorks
Parametric 3D modelling taught around design intent, so a model survives the change request — assemblies, sheet metal and drawings that update themselves.
- 3ds Max
Architectural visualisation taught around light and camera, because a correctly modelled room still looks wrong until the lighting and the lens are right.
Next step
Talk to a course advisor
Tell us what you want to learn and we will help you pick the right course, batch and mode.