GemDiagram Docs

Interface Tour

GemDiagram's main editor has four zones: the Viewport (center 3D view), Build panel (left), Inspect panel (right), and a Top bar with save/export controls.

Tip

On a paid plan, an in-app guided tour spotlights these zones and the tools your plan unlocks the first time you open the editor after upgrading.

Note

The Free plan shows pre-loaded gems in the viewport with Solid/Realistic render, Ray Studio, and the yield calculator. Editing tiers in the Build panel and the Top bar's Save/Import/Export controls require Starter or higher — see Accounts, Plans & Billing.

The viewport (center)

The 3D stone renders here. You control the view with the mouse:

  • Rotate: Click and drag to spin the stone.
  • Zoom: Scroll the mouse wheel (or trackpad pinch on Mac).
  • Pan: Right-click and drag (or Shift+click on some devices).

At the bottom of the viewport, the view pill lets you snap to preset angles (Iso, Top, Bottom, Front). The display bar above it controls:

  • Render mode: Solid (fast, flat color) or Realistic (slow, full ray tracing with refraction and dispersion).
  • Edges: Toggle the black outlines around each facet.
  • Tier colors: Toggle flat colors on each tier (useful for identifying which tier is which).
  • Spin: Rotate the stone automatically.

The Build panel (left)

This lists every tier in your design, grouped by Crown, Pavilion, and Girdle. For each tier, you see:

  • Tier name: e.g., "Crown mains", "Pavilion breaks".
  • Angle (degrees): How steeply the facets tilt. Drag the slider or type a number.
  • Distance: How far the facet plane sits from the stone's center. Auto- distance keeps it anchored to the girdle edge as you adjust angle.
  • Indices: Which positions around the stone this tier occupies (e.g., 0, 12, 24, 36… for 8-fold symmetry).

Below the tier list, the Symmetry controls let you set fold count and mirror — the Symmetry panel auto-generates index lists from these, or you can type indices by hand.

Click any tier row to highlight it in the 3D viewport (it lights up).

The Inspect panel (right)

Three cards:

  1. Material: The dropdown sets the gem type (Diamond, Ruby, etc.). Below it: the Color swatch and hex field (linked), three stat tiles showing the gem's Refractive index, Dispersion, and Critical angle, and the Color depth slider (controls how saturated the body color renders in Realistic mode).

  2. Diagrams: Two facet diagrams — Crown and Pavilion, viewed straight down (or up for pavilion). Facets are colored by tier; click a diagram to highlight that tier in the main 3D view.

  3. Stone report: Quick stats — facet and tier counts, symmetry, depth/width ratio, weight estimate (once you set girdle size and material), and hardness (Mohs scale).

The Top bar

Left to right:

  • Design name: Type the name of your stone. Saved files use this as the filename.
  • Save button: Downloads the current design as a .facet file.
  • Import button: Load a .facet, .asc, .gem, or .gcs file from your computer.
  • Export menu:
    • PDF: Cutting report (detailed tier-by-tier diagram with angles, distances, facet counts).
  • Presets dropdown: Load a built-in design (Round Brilliant, Step Cut Octagon, Portuguese Round, etc.).