How many rounds of CAD revisions are normally included?

Most workshops include one or two rounds of changes within the original quote, covering adjustments to proportions, claw style or band width. Further rounds, or changes that go beyond refinement into a substantially different design, are often charged as additional design time, so it's worth clarifying the scope before work starts.

Can I see my design from every angle before approving it?

You should ask for this if it isn't offered automatically. A proper CAD approval pack typically includes top, side and three-quarter views, plus a render of the ring on a hand or finger, so you can judge proportion in context rather than from a single flattering angle.

Does a CAD render show the actual carat weight of my stones?

It shows the millimetre dimensions the stones are modelled at, which is what determines the visible size, but carat weight itself depends on the stone's depth and cut as well as its diameter. Ask for the millimetre measurements alongside the carat figure so you're judging the size you'll actually see, not just a number.

What happens if I'm not happy with the ring after CAD approval?

Once a CAD is approved and the piece is cast, changes become harder and more expensive — reworking a shank or setting after casting means additional fabrication, not a quick tweak. Minor adjustments like sizing are usually straightforward; structural changes to the design at that stage are treated as a new piece of work.

What is CAD jewellery design — and what am I actually approving?

CAD stands for computer-aided design, and in bespoke jewellery it means a 3D digital model of your ring, pendant or other piece, built to exact millimetre measurements from the brief you've agreed with your designer. It sits between the sketch or concept stage and the physical making of the piece, and for most workshops it is the point at which you formally sign off the design before metal, stones or a maker's time are committed.

Understanding what that screen image can and can't tell you matters more than it might seem, because CAD approval is usually treated as final. Once you've signed off, the workshop moves to casting or fabrication, and changes from that point onward cost more in time and money than they would have at the design stage.

What a CAD render actually shows

A CAD model is built to the real dimensions the piece will be made at — band width, ring size, stone diameters, claw height, metal thickness — all specified to a tenth of a millimetre or finer. This is its real value: it lets a jeweller confirm that a design brief translates into something structurally sound and correctly proportioned before any material is cut, printed or cast.

Good CAD packages typically give you several views: a top-down view, a side profile, a three-quarter angle, and often a "hand render" showing the piece on a finger or against skin tone, which helps with scale in a way a flat top-down image doesn't. Some workshops also provide a short rotating video of the model rather than static stills, which makes it easier to judge how claws, gallery and profile sit together in three dimensions rather than guessing from separate angles.

The model is also, underneath the pretty render, an engineering document. It confirms claw count and placement, the height of the setting off the finger, the thickness of the shank at its narrowest point, and whether the stones as specified will physically fit the design. This is where structural problems — a shank too thin to be durable, a setting too low to protect the stone from knocks — get caught before they become a piece of jewellery.

Where CAD renders can mislead you

The render is not a photograph of the finished piece, and treating it as one is the most common mistake people make at this stage. CAD rendering software is designed to show a design clearly, not to replicate how metal and stones behave under real light, and there are a few consistent gaps worth knowing about.

Renders tend to look sharper and more defined than a finished, polished piece. Edges that appear crisp on screen soften slightly once a piece is hand-finished and polished; this is normal and not a sign the workshop has departed from the design. Metal colour is also an approximation — white gold, platinum and white gold with rhodium plating can look very similar in a render despite having genuinely different tones in person, and yellow and rose gold renders vary between software packages in ways that don't always match the alloy's actual colour.

Diamonds and coloured stones are the biggest gap. CAD software renders a generic, idealised gemstone — it cannot show you the actual sparkle, fire or colour of the specific stone that will be set in your piece, because that depends on the stone's real cut quality, clarity and how it interacts with light, none of which a digital model simulates convincingly. A CAD render of a diamond will typically look cleaner and more brilliant than a real stone of moderate quality, so don't judge sparkle from the screen — judge it from the certificate and, ideally, from viewing the actual stone.

Lighting is artificial and controlled in a way a room or daylight isn't, which is why renders often look more polished and evenly lit than the finished piece will in normal life. And scale can be deceptive on a screen with no reference object, which is one reason hand renders and stated millimetre dimensions matter more than they might seem to.

What to check before you approve

Because approval is treated as a firm commitment, it's worth working through a short list deliberately rather than reacting to the overall look of the image.

Finger or hand coverage. For a ring, check how much of the finger the design occupies, particularly on an eternity band, a wide statement piece or anything with a low gallery that might catch on gloves or clothing. Ask for the ring shown on a hand rather than judging scale from a top-down view alone.

Profile height. This is how high the setting sits above the finger — a practical consideration as much as an aesthetic one. A higher profile shows more of a stone but catches more on daily activities; a lower profile is more secure day-to-day but shows less of the stone from the side. Ask your designer to point out the profile height in millimetres if it isn't stated.

Claw count and style. More claws generally means more security for a stone but a slightly heavier visual footprint; fewer claws shows more of the stone but with marginally more setting risk over years of wear. Check the claw count matches what you discussed and imagine how it will look from the top, not just the angled render.

Band width and shank thickness. Confirm these against your original brief in millimetres, not by eye — a band that looks fine in a render can read as noticeably chunkier or slighter in person, especially against your knuckle size, which the render doesn't account for.

Stone dimensions, not just carat weight. Ask for the millimetre diameter of any stones alongside the carat figure. Two stones of the same carat weight can have visibly different diameters depending on how deep they're cut, so the millimetre measurement is what actually predicts how large the stone will look on the hand.

If anything looks off, this is the stage to say so — a round of revisions is standard practice at most workshops, and it is far cheaper and faster to adjust a digital model than to rework a cast or fabricated piece.

Render versus finished piece: what changes

Even with an accurate CAD approved, expect a few honest differences between the model and the piece you receive. Hand-finishing and polishing soften sharp digital edges into something with more warmth and less machine-like precision — most people find this an improvement rather than a departure. Metal tone will read differently under real light than it did on a backlit screen. And the specific stone set into the piece will have its own individual sparkle and character that no render, however good, was ever simulating.

What shouldn't change are the things the CAD was built to confirm: the dimensions, proportions, claw count and structural details you approved. If the finished piece differs from these in a way that isn't explained by the normal render-to-reality gap, that's a legitimate point to raise with the workshop.

When hand-drawing still gets used

CAD has become the default for most bespoke commissions because of the precision and revision speed it offers, but hand-drawn sketches and watercolour renderings haven't disappeared entirely. They tend to show up earlier in a project, before CAD begins, as a fast way to explore several design directions or capture a general mood and silhouette without committing to exact measurements. Some designers also still favour hand sketches for pieces built around an unusual antique stone or an asymmetric, organic design where a strict 3D model can feel like it's forcing the idea into too rigid a shape too early.

A small number of workshops, often those working in a more traditional bench-based tradition, skip formal CAD altogether for certain commissions and move from sketch or hand-carved wax straight to the model stage. This isn't necessarily a red flag, but it does mean you lose the precise, revisable digital sign-off stage — worth asking about directly if exact proportions matter a great deal to you before anything is made.

The bottom line

A CAD render is an engineering model wearing a pretty picture, and both halves matter. Use it to check hard facts — dimensions, claw count, profile height, finger coverage — rather than judging sparkle or exact metal tone from the screen, since those will always look better in the render than reality can quite match. Ask questions and request changes before you approve; after that point, the design is effectively locked in, and reworking it costs real time and money.