Skip to content

Shanks

Pavé Shank

Pavé

Pavé (called Multi Row before 2026-10-17) builds a pavé band with as many rows of stones as you want across its top: a Classic shank with one profile and one size, carrying from 1 to 9 parallel rows of round stones set on its outer surface. You choose how many rows and how big the stones are; the command works out where every row runs, staggers neighbouring rows so each stone falls into the hollows of the next, and drops a bead into every gap between them.

Run it from the ribbon (Shanks) or by typing ArtisanPaveShank. For rows you draw yourself (offsets, sizes and prongs per row), use the Advanced Pavé Shank. The panel opens on the library of saved styles; pick one, or press Edit to work on the design in the viewport. Accepting bakes a parametric shank (band, stones, beads and, optionally, drill cutters) and lists it in the Outliner for later re-editing.

Finger Size

Sets the ring size the band is built on.

Shank

The band is a Classic shank with a single section all the way round: there are no bottom or middle profiles, and the band does not change size. The asset preview chooses and edits that section; the command starts on an oval profile, 3 mm wide and 2 mm high.

  • Width: Width of the section, in millimetres. The rows have to fit across it.
  • Height: Height of the section, in millimetres.
  • Type: Solid, Comfort or Thickness, the treatment of the inner face, with its own depth field appearing alongside.
  • Rotation: Roll of the section.
  • Move in Z: Vertical displacement of the section.

Width and height also have their own gumballs in the viewport.

Gems

Everything about the rows: where they run, how many there are, the stones, and the beads.

Layout

Where the pavé runs around the finger.

  • Full: All the way round. This is the default.
  • Side: A run on each side, bounded by Start and End angles in degrees, measured from the top. Each side is its own run: the rows never bridge the gap across the bottom of the ring, and all four ends finish with a bead.
  • Top: A single run centred on the top, bounded by one Angle (120° by default). Only available on a complete band; selecting an opening under Advanced disables it and falls back to Side.

The Start and End angles have gumballs on the band, so you can drag the run in the viewport.

Rows

  • Rows: How many rows run side by side across the band, from 1 to 9 (3 by default).
  • Row distance: Gap between the stones of two neighbouring rows, edge to edge. The spacing between rows is automatic: half of each neighbouring stone plus this distance, so changing a stone size moves the rows with it.

How the rows are laid out. With three or more rows, the two outermost rows are lateral rows and take their own stone size; every row in between is central. Neighbouring rows are staggered by half a stone: the rows alternate from each edge of the band inward (3 rows: staggered, full, staggered; 5 rows: staggered, full, staggered, full, staggered), so the stones of each row sit in the hollows of the next. The staggered rows carry one stone fewer than the full ones. With five or more rows, the middle staggered row gets one stone more, so the run finishes in a point.

Gems

The stones are always round.

  • Central size: Diameter of the stones in the central rows (and in every row when there are fewer than three).
  • Lateral size: Diameter of the stones in the two outermost rows. Only active with three or more rows.
  • Min. Distance: Minimum gap between consecutive stones along a row.
  • Move in Z: Sinks the stones along the surface of the band; 0 sets the girdle on the metal.

Settings

Two buttons choose whether the stones are held by beads (Shared) or left without prongs (None). There is one bead in every hollow between rows (the space between two stones of one row and the nearest stone of the next), plus a row of beads along each edge of the band and one centred bead past the last stone at each open end of a row. Every bead is seated on the band at the level of the girdles, so beads pushed across a domed profile stay on the metal.

  • Diameter: Diameter of every bead. All the beads of the shank share one size (0.8 mm by default). A bigger bead bites more into the stones but stays in place.
  • Height: Length of the bead.
  • Over girdle: How far the top of the bead rises above the girdle (0.45 mm by default).
  • Gem inside: How much each bead overlaps its stones; it also pulls the edge beads in towards their row.
  • Edge offset: Moves the beads on the band edges (the outer side of the two outermost rows) outward from their tangent position. Negative values pull them in.
  • End offset: Moves the bead at each row end along the row. Negative values pull it in over the last stone; positive values push it away.
  • Extension Manufacturing: Extra bead length for the casting stage.

Cutters

The drill cutters under the stones, using the same parameters as the standalone Cutter command. Show Cutters turns them on; while it is off, changes here have no effect on the preview and nothing is baked.

  • Height Top, Height Crown, Height Girdle, Height Pavilion, Height Drill: The five vertical steps of the cutter profile, from the top face down through the crown, girdle and pavilion to the through-hole.
  • Size Top, Size Drill, Size Bottom: Widths at the top, at the drill and at the bottom.
  • Gem Inside: How deep the stone sits into the cutter.
  • Type: Gemstone Shape, Round, Square or Hexagon.

When you accept with cutters on, one parametric cutter is baked per stone, linked to its stone, and all of them are grouped together.

Advanced: Opening

How the band is finished at the top, in case the shank is meant to receive a head rather than close on itself. Three buttons choose the mode.

Pinch narrows the band toward the top:

  • Opening: Width of the pinched area.
  • Base X: Lateral position of the base of the pinch.
  • Base Y: Depth of the pinch into the material.
  • Base Z: Vertical position of the base of the pinch.

Open cuts the band:

  • Cut length: Length of the cut edge.
  • Cap bumping: Bulge of the cap faces outside the ring.

None leaves the band complete. This is the only mode in which the Top gem layout is available.

Working with the panel

  • Save defaults in the header stores the current parameters as the starting point for the next run. Right-click the same button to clear them and return to the factory values.
  • Save and Update write the design into your styles library so it appears in the gallery next time.
  • Accept bakes the band, its stones, beads and cutters as one parametric group and lists it in the Outliner. If the preview has not resolved, the panel asks you to preview first.

Scripting and AI

The same shank can be built without the panel: create_pave_shank in the MCP tools, ra.pave_shank.create() in Python, and PaveShankBuilderApi.Create in .NET. See Shanks › Multi row for examples.