Export

Everything here writes the file, or part of it, back out to disk. All of it sits in the Save flyout of the File tab.

• SaveSaves the current model.
• Save AsSaves under a different name, closes the current file and leaves you in the new one.
• Incremental SaveWrites a new numbered version and leaves the file you are in untouched.
• Save SmallSaves the geometry without its render meshes.
• Export SelectedWrites only what you have selected to a new file, in Rhino format or any other Rhino supports.
• Save as TemplateSaves the geometry and every setting you have made, so the next piece starts from it.

Which one to use

Four of these look alike and are not. The difference is what ends up in the file and what happens to the one you are in.

	Writes	You end up in
Save	everything	the same file
Save As	everything, new name	the new file
Incremental Save	everything, next number	the file you were in
Save Small	geometry, no render meshes	the same file
Export Selected	only the selection	the file you were in

Incremental Save is the one worth the habit: it costs a click and leaves a numbered trail through a design, which is the cheapest insurance there is against a client asking for the version from two days ago.

Save Small is the one to send. A jewellery file’s render meshes are usually larger than the geometry itself, and whoever opens it rebuilds them anyway — so the mail gets through and nothing is lost.

Sending a design on

Export Selected is how a single piece leaves a busy file: select the ring, write it out, and the plate of forty others stays behind. It writes any format Rhino supports, so it is also the route to STL for a bureau that wants one piece rather than a whole build plate.

For a full plate going to a printer, use 3D Print in Manufacturing instead — it converts and hands the file to your slicer.