Automated engraving of a customized jewelry item

A system for manufacturing a customized item, comprising:

• an order module that receives order data, where the order data specifies a first personalization element;
• a construction module that constructs a geometric model for the customized item, wherein the construction module comprises at least one of:
• a panel retrieval module that retrieves one or more stock or icon panels from a repository;
• and
• a panel assembly module that assembles one or more text panels for a personalization text in a specified font;
• a scaling module that scales the first personalization element to proper size;
• a projection module that projects the first personalization element onto a three dimensional surface of the geometric model;
• and
• a conversion module that converts the geometric model into a set of machining instructions for a milling machine compensating for cutter geometry.

A computer program embodied on a computer readable medium, when executed by a computer configures the computer to manufacture a customized item, the computer program comprising:

• a code segment for receiving order data, where the order data specifies a first personalization element;
• a code segment for constructing a geometric model for the customized item, wherein the code segment for constructing a geometric model comprises at least one of:
• a code segment for retrieving one or more stock or icon panels from a repository;
• and
• a code segment for assembling one or more text panels for a personalization text in a specified font;
• a code segment for scaling the first personalization element onto a three dimensional surface of the geometric model;
• and
• a code segment for converting the geometric model into a set of machining instructions for a milling machine compensating for cutter geometry.

A method for manufacturing a customized item, comprising:

• receiving order data, where the order data specifies a first personalization element;
• constructing a geometric model for the customized item, wherein constructing a geometric model comprises at least one of:
• retrieving one or more stock or icon panels from a repository;
• and
• assembling one or more text panels for a personalization text in a specified font, wherein the step of assembling one or more text panels comprises:
• retrieving the personalization text and a design number from the order data;
• receiving font information for the specified font;
• requesting and receiving font geometry from an operating system;
• constructing a plurality of splines from the font geometry;
• mapping the personalization text onto a two dimensional frame using the font geometry;
• tessellating the plurality of splines for generating a polyline data representation, wherein the polyline data representation comprises a plurality of polyline sets, wherein each of the polyline sets describes a character of the personalization text;
• processing each of the polyline sets based on kerning data for properly spacing each character of the personalization text;
• and
• mapping the polyline data representation between two boundary curves;
• scaling the first personalization element to proper size;
• projecting the first personalization element onto a three dimensional surface of the geometric model;
• and
• converting the geometric model into a set of machinery instructions for a milling machine compensating for cutter geometry.