Designing and Rendering a Festive Ornament in Onshape

Hanen Bdioui

19 November 2025 6 mins to read

Every holiday season offers a perfect opportunity to merge technical design with artistic vision. For this project, I used Onshape for precise parametric modeling to create a unique festive ornament: a detailed reindeer silhouette set within a circular medallion. This guide walks through the essential technical steps in Onshape and concludes with the specific, customized rendering choices emphasizing matte textures, translucency, and a bespoke lighting setup used to achieve the final, moody image.

I organized the whole process by using separate Part Studios to create parts and a final Assembly to put everything together, which made the design clean and easy to manage. For rendering, I used Onshape Render Studio to bring the design to life with realistic materials and lighting.

Onshape Part Studio: Building the Core Geometry

The medallion consists of two main layers: a polished metal frame and a recessed, textured core.

A. Constructing the Medallion Structure

Sketch 1 (Base Profile): We start on the Front Plane, defining three concentric circles: the overall boundary, the edge of the inner core, and an internal reference.
Extrude 1 (Initial Solid): The outermost circle is extruded as a Solid to define the total thickness (e.g., $3 \text{ mm}$
Extrude 2 (Recessing the Core): Selecting the middle circle, a second Extrude is performed with the operation set to Remove. Specifying a partial depth (e.g., $2 \text{ mm}$

B. The Image Trace Workflow

The intricate antlers necessitate an accurate image tracing method.

Sketch 3 (Reindeer Profile): A Sketch is activated on the recessed plane. The reindeer silhouette image is placed using the Insert Image tool and accurately scaled and positioned to fit within the core boundary.

Tracing: I carefully draw the shape using the Spline tool for the curved parts of the antlers and the Line tool for the straight parts. The shape must be one complete, closed loop with no breaks. I use the Coincident Constraint to make sure all the ends connect properly.

Extrude 3 (The Cutout): The closed profile is selected, and the Extrude tool is executed with the operation set to Remove. The depth is precisely set to match the thickness of the recessed layer. This technical step cuts the red layer material, exposing the silver base layer and finalizing the aesthetic silhouette.

C. Hanger Loop and Chain Link

Extrude 4 (Hanger Body): I sketch a small circular loop with a clearance hole above the medallion and extrude this annular region using the Add operation to create a sturdy suspension point.
Chain Link (Sweep Feature): In a separate Part Studio, I model a single chain link efficiently. I start with a Slot sketch to define the Path, then create a small circle on a perpendicular plane as the Profile. Using the Sweep tool, I generate the final continuous link geometry.

Assembly and Linking

The Assembly workspace connects the components using efficient mating and patterning techniques.

Grounding: The festive ornament body is inserted and Fixed to the assembly origin, providing a stable reference point.
Mating: The first chain link is attached to the hanger loop using a Fasten Mate, aligning the central axes.
Linear Pattern:

I generate the full chain using a Linear Pattern instead of placing each link manually. By defining the translational distance and instance count along the Z-axis, I replicate the chain link efficiently and maintain consistent spacing. This controlled patterning creates the interlocked structure needed for a realistic visual assembly.

Rendering: Achieving the Photorealistic Scene

The final render transforms the precise CAD model into an evocative image using external rendering software (or an integrated studio).

A. Material Assignment

Matte Frame :

I assign the frame and silhouette the Chalk Paint Pebbles – Moonlight material. This choice removes harsh specular reflections and gives the surface a diffuse, velvety character. The pebbled texture scatters light softly, highlighting the material’s subtle details rather than producing mirror-like highlights.

Translucent Core: The recessed core receives a Clear Jelly – Red Strawberry shader. This choice provides a high degree of translucency and gloss, allowing light to pass through the material and interact with the silver layer beneath, creating a vibrant, luminous red appearance.

Chain Material :

I assign the chain an Iron Sheet Metal material and apply the “Splotchy Streaks” texture map to it. This intentional material choice introduces a rugged, industrial character that contrasts sharply with the ornament’s refined surfaces. The irregular streaks add visual depth and suggest subtle weathering or age, creating a stronger visual separation between the chain and the polished ornament body.

B. Environment and Illumination

Background Image : The scene utilizes a Snowy Forest Night background as an image. This static image serves as the visual backdrop, providing the picturesque setting for the ornament.

Custom Lighting Setup (Technical):

To create the primary illumination, I use an emissive-geometry lighting method. I start by designing a Cone primitive in the CAD environment and positioning it carefully to direct the light exactly where the ornament needs emphasis. I then assign a custom Diffuse Area Light material to the cone and set the Emission Color to pure white. After this, I control the output by adjusting the Flux value to 200,000 while keeping the Scene Unit Size at 1. This configuration generates a powerful, shaped light source that enhances the ornament’s translucency and soft matte textures, giving the scene its distinctive moody character.

Otomatik En Boy Oranı

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Explore the Project in Onshape

You can view the complete festive ornament design directly in Onshape by clicking the link below:

View the Festive Ornament Project in Onshape

And there we have it! We took a simple, festive idea a reindeer ornament and brought it to life with a dash of digital magic.

It’s amazing how much heart you can put into a digital design. This little ornament is ready to spread holiday cheer!

Go ahead and let your imagination shine!

Author
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Hanen Bdioui

Sales Development Representative at ChampionXperience

Hanen Bdioui is the Editor-in-Chief at ChampionXperience, where she leads content on CAD, VR, and emerging engineering technologies. She works with Dassault Systèmes as a Content Creator and SOLIDWORKS Application Engineer, and contributes as a technical writer for Engineering.com and EngineeRules, covering topics in CAD, PLM, and simulation. Hanen also creates specialized content for 3DEXCITE, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, and Onshape, supporting engineers and companies in adopting modern digital workflows.