Digital Gemology

About Digital Gemology

The internet is full of gemstone files. Most come from anonymous designers, with one photo and no data. You can’t tell if that round brilliant is really a round brilliant. You also can’t tell how it will perform in the stone you plan to cut.

We built Digital Gemology to fix that. We construct every design from its angles and cross-check it across every file format. You can test every design before you buy.

Everything in one place

The pieces have always existed, just never together. One site has a beautiful viewer that you can’t adjust. Another site explains the four Cs clearly but never shows them to you. GemCad, GemRay, Gem Cut Studio and FreeCAD are excellent tools, but they are made for people who already know what they’re doing.

Our simulator brings those worlds into one place. Change the cut, the material, the color or the lighting, and watch the stone respond. There is no wrong setting and nothing to break. If a choice confuses you, choose a different one, and you’re back on solid ground.

What you’ll find

We make 3D files for jewelry designers, renderers, game developers and digital artists. The GLB and FBX files are ready for real-time engines. We also make cutting files for faceters. Our cut library has brilliants, jewelry cuts, historic cuts, our own house cuts and the Platonic solids. In the free 3D Gemstone Simulator, you can examine and characterize every one of them. You can then share your gemstone as an image, with its own 3D gemstone report in .pdf.

Who uses our files, and the programs that open them →

How we check

We build every design from its angles, and every file comes from that one construction. For 3D work, the files are STEP, 3DM, STL, OBJ, GLB and FBX. For cutting, the file is the .asc file, with its tier CSV and printable diagram.

Then we try to prove it wrong. A different, independent reader opens each 3D format:

Each reader measures volume, facet count, closure and dimensions, and all the readers must agree. We rebuild the cutting files the way GemRay reads them and compare them with the 3D model. Finally, we ray-trace every stone to measure how it handles light. If anything disagrees, the file doesn’t ship.

How we check the filesOne construction gives every file. STEP is read by Open CASCADE, STL, OBJ, GLB and FBX by Assimp, 3DM by Rhino's own library, and the cutting files are rebuilt as GemRay reads them and compared with the 3D model. All the readers must agree, or the file does not ship.One constructionFileIts own readerSTEPOpen CASCADESTL, OBJ, GLB, FBXAssimp3DMRhino’s library.asc, tier CSV, diagramAs GemRay reads itagainst the 3D modelAll the readers must agree,or the file does not ship.
Each format goes to its own reader. All the readers must agree.

How we measure: the formulas and constants behind every tool →

Who we are

Clint, our founder, was helping his partner start a jewelry business. He wanted to understand diamonds properly, beyond the usual charts and descriptions. He looked for accurate material and for a simulator that could show what the four Cs really look like. When he couldn’t find one, he built it himself.

The 3D Gemstone Simulator

See it for yourself

Open the simulator. Load any cut and see how it handles light. Set the stone exactly as you like it, then share it with a single link.