Working with Tiers

A tier is a ring of facets that share one angle and one distance, repeated at a set of index positions around the stone. Tiers are organized into three groups: Crown, Pavilion, and Girdle.

The tier editor

In Manual Mode, the Build panel (left side) lists every tier grouped by Crown, Pavilion, and Girdle. Each tier row shows:

• Name: What you call it (e.g., "Crown mains", "Pavilion breaks").
• Angle: How steeply the facets tilt, 0–90°.
• Distance: How far the facet plane sits from the stone's center, along the facet's own normal.
• Indices: Which positions around the index wheel this tier uses.

Click a tier name to highlight it in the 3D viewport (it lights up so you can see which facets it is). Drag any slider to adjust the value, or click the row to expand it and type numbers directly.

Adding and removing tiers

Click the + add button in each group (Crown, Pavilion, Girdle) to create a new tier. A new row appears with default values — give it a name, set its angle and distance, and pick index positions from the index wheel (or type them by hand).

To remove a tier, click the X button on its row. The design rebuilds without it.

Angle and distance

Angle is measured in degrees from the girdle plane:

• Girdle facets are always 90° (straight up and down).
• Pavilion angles count down from 90° toward the culet (usually 30–45°).
• Crown angles count down from 90° toward the table (usually 20–45°).

Distance is the offset of the facet plane from the stone's center, computed along the facet's normal. When you change angle, the Auto distance toggle (on by default) recalculates distance to keep the facet anchored to the girdle edge — useful for designs where all tiers meet the girdle evenly. Turn it off if you want manual control over both values.

See Faceting Workflow for the full formula and why it matters.

Index positions

Each tier lists the positions it occupies. On the 96-index wheel for example the indexes will be:

• 0, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84 (8 positions, evenly spaced) = 8-fold symmetry.
• 3, 9, 15, 21, 27, 33, 39, 45, 51, 57, 63, 69, 75, 81, 87, 93 (16 positions, offset by 6) = 16-fold, interleaved.

You can type indices by hand (separated by commas) or use the Symmetry panel to auto-generate them from a fold count and optional mirror. See Symmetry for how the panel works.

Crown, Pavilion, and Girdle

Crown tiers sit above the girdle. They're the facets you see looking down into the stone. A typical design has 2–4 crown tiers (mains, breaks, star, etc.), plus the single table facet at the very top.

Pavilion tiers sit below the girdle. They bounce light back up through the table. A typical design has 2–3 pavilion tiers (mains, breaks, culet, etc.).

Girdle is usually just one tier — a ring of vertical facets at the stone's widest edge. It connects crown and pavilion and provides the outline diameter you measure on a real stone.

Deleting a tier from any group is fine, but every design needs at least one tier in each group (even if it's just a placeholder) — otherwise the geometry breaks.

Clicking tiers in the viewport

In the Inspect panel (right side), below the Material card, the Diagrams section shows a top-down view of the Crown and Pavilion. Click any facet in either diagram — that tier lights up in the list, and the tier row scrolls into view in the Build panel. Useful for quickly finding which tier a facet belongs to.