Pave Setting
Also called pavé, micro pave, bead setting
A pave setting is a stone setting in which many small stones are placed tightly together and held by tiny shared beads of metal, so the surface reads as continuous sparkle. The name comes from the French for paved, because the stones cover the metal the way cobbles cover a street.
In other words, dozens of small stones sit side by side with almost no metal between them, giving a solid glittering surface.
How the stones are held
Seats are drilled into the metal, the stones drop in, and the setter raises tiny beads of metal from the surface between them and pushes those beads over the stone edges. Neighbouring stones often share beads, which is what keeps the metal share so low.
Micro pave uses the same method with much smaller stones, often under 1mm. It is slow bench work, and the price of a piece climbs with the stone count rather than with the size of the band.
Why pave is the hardest thing we render
Every stone is a separate light source. A pave band can carry sixty or more of them, each one bouncing light into its neighbours, so the render has to trace far more light paths than a single-stone ring does. Cut that short and pave turns into a grey smear or a strip of white glare.
There is a modelling trap too. In some CAD files the pave stones are placed but the beads are not modelled, or the stones are left as flat placeholders. Those look fine on a technical drawing and wrong in a photoreal image, so we check the stone layer before we start rather than after.
What you get back
Nine HD images and three videos per file, on a white background and sized for ecommerce. Pave is the case where the video earns its place, because still images cannot show the shift of light across a row of small stones as the piece turns.
Two revision rounds are included. If the sparkle reads too hot or too dull for your brand's other photography, that is exactly the kind of note a revision round is for.
Questions about Pave Setting
What is the difference between pave and micro pave?
Only the size of the stones. Micro pave uses much smaller stones, often under a millimetre, set the same way.
Can you render a ring with a lot of pave stones?
Yes, at the same flat $15 per file. Stone count does not change the price.
Do pave stones fall out?
They can if a bead is knocked loose, which is why pave pieces get checked at a jeweler periodically. It is a wear point, not a flaw.