Latest faceting design software release

This long awaited gem cutting software has finally been released after close to two years in the making. All reviews are extremely positive.

https://gemcutstudio.com/screenshots/

SOLD!!

So cool!

Well that appears to be an impressive next step up from regular Gemcad

Saw a preview run through of Gemcut Studio about a month ago, impressive. Going down to Casino on Sunday, the Guild is having a presentation by the developer Rej Poirier plus a workshop on it, something about BYO laptop as well.

Be sure to let us know how it goes Dihusky

They have a free 30 day trial, guess they will let you have a play :inlove: :gemstone:

Ok gang I'm going to start with a couple of disclosures:

1. I have never used or even looked at Gemcad, Dinah has and found it a bit cumbersome.
2. When I was at school we didn't even have calculators, slide rules and Log tables were the go, so though I can operate a computer my skills are not the best, but better than some.

As I said earlier I have seen a demo video of Gemcut and it captivated me, today took it to the next level and there was one significant element that made it stand out which I believe it totally different from Gemcad; rendering to a Gemray style viewer is 'real time' in a box below your faceting screen and this view is highly editable with colours and other attributes, to show areas of interest like headshadow, light rays and many others.

We had the opportunity to download the 30 day trial and have a play during the workshop, Dinah and I had a few illuminated discussions prior to the full workshop as others in the group were downloading and setting up the software, me on the mouse and her watching me blundering around :argh: (she's an ex-programmer) but this still confirmed the power of this software and how easy it is to use.

The exercise was a Std round brilliant which I could now draw, render and print to a PDF in less than a couple of minutes even with my computer skills! ower: :Y:

The intuitive simplicity of this program is amazing and the speed at which you can produce a fully editable result once you understand the very simple controls is truly remarkable. It will import .gem files so these also become fully editable and saves them to its own file structure with all additional Gemcut info, you can also export back to a .gem file but I am not sure why you would want to.

There is so much to absorb that it'll take us a fair bit of reading and playing, so for others probably the best first step is download the 30 day trial complete with its 60 page instruction book, then play. Sure things will go wrong as you initially blunder around, but very soon you'll get the hang of it and be amazed once you get started and explore its full capabilities. Rej is also building a series of online tutorial videos, the first of which canbe accessed vie the 'Help' button on the screen.

Another little item I loved is in the 'Preferences', you can tell the software that you only want 1/10th of a degree and not be bogged down with correcting 1/100th :clap:

The software was released officially 2 days ago and Rej had been pushed by the Guild to have the release in time for the AFG's Annual shindig, it's been 2 yrs in the making so this is only the beginning, there is still plenty of development to be done expanding its capabilities and Rej has kept the price low so he can get constructive input for additional features, v1.01 is already in progress.

I think one of the big pluses is Rej's background, he not only cuts gems but also has a software development background from the gaming industry so knows how to make things respond fast visually using simplicity with controls.

We now have Gemcut and will be completing the purchase next week so we can load it onto Dinah's computer as well at no extra cost, this does not apply to commercial use. We only had about 1/2hr for the workshop so we have a lot more to explore so today we barely scratched the surface of what the v.1.00 is capable of and having had a glimpse of v.1.01 I know there are some interesting additions on there way once they have been beta tested.

We both see this as a significant move forward as the software is designed for today's computers and that is not to take any credit away from Gemcad which was designed back in the 90's, its new, bang smack up to date and fun to use.

I'm sorry if this sounds like a sales pitch, it's not intended to be, but this software is just so much fun to use.

Hello everyone, I'm not exactly a regular user here but I do stop in for a read from time to time

Thanks to those who attended the launch presentation and workshop at the AFG seminar on the weekend, it was great to meet you all. And again sorry for not planning on more USB drives for installing on the afternoon, what an embarrassment. :8 I really wasn't expecting such a huge turnout...

@Dihusky, it warms my heart to hear that your experience so far has been positive. I've been looking at this thing for so long now that I wasn't too sure how it would be received. I really wish I could have shown more at the workshop though, grrr. In the meantime, if you have any ideas of things you'd like to see as a tutorial video, do let me know. Best way to get in touch is through the contact email on the website.

Thanks to everyone for your interest.

Rej - Brisbane

Rej, what you have created is amazing, the fact that I could play incorrectly and the software didn't go into meltdown was a reliefy. It was a WOW for both myself and my wife when we really got into it and also started to comprehend its capacities in your earlier presentation.

Hopefully a few of the faceting gang on this forum grab it and start playing as well then give you some feedback.

The problem I have is that I have to buy Windows 10 Pro because the current Windows 10S will not allow download unless I purchase a special app.

You've been working on this for some time Rej - I recall seeing you posting at Gemology Online a couple of years ago I think - good to see it's finally come to fruition :Y:

I might be tempted to look into it. I have Gemcad and Gemray sitting on my hard drive gathering cyber-dust, simply because I am not very IT savvy and as useful as it is to see something built in 3D, cutting a stone in Gemcad is not even remotely similar to taking a little tiny rock and carefully machining it into a finished gem. Gemcad and Gemray seem to be more about how well you understand IT rather than how well you can understand gem cutting and physically go ahead and do it. After frustrating stints at the computer where not much was achieved, I would end up walking away and going back to the hands-on machine instead.

Going on Dihusky's description, what you have developed sounds more user-friendly.

Cheers

Pat Hogen said:

The problem I have is that I have to buy Windows 10 Pro because the current Windows 10S will not allow download unless I purchase a special app.

Click to expand...

Pat, you'll need to check with Rej but I think Gemcut might run on earlier versions, when I downloaded from the drive he supplied there were two different versions, which may indicate a alternate version for earlier versions of windows.

Dihusky said:

Pat, you'll need to check with Rej but I think Gemcut might run on earlier versions, when I downloaded from the drive he supplied there were two different versions, which may indicate a alternate version for earlier versions of windows.

Click to expand...

While Gem Cut Studio can be installed on windows versions down to Windows XP, Pat's case is a bit different. From what I can tell Windows 10S is a bit like the earlier Windows "RT" operating system. It's based on Windows, but lighter weight and only has access to the Windows Store to install apps.

Unfortunately, with the all the restrictions Microsoft places on app developers to publish on their store (and the 30% cut of your sales they take for the privilege), I have no plans to publish my app there right now.

Love that spider cut!

tailormarc said:

Love that spider cut!

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Yeah I reckon they look cool :Y: I've only done it the once because I'm not sure how many people like spiders.

That is correct Rej and I will most likely expand to Win 10 Pro in a few days time but at the moment I am safe in a security zone without the insecurity of apps, only because my security provider ESET is not with me ATM.

I will investigate in a few days, the other part to this is that there are so many designs out there that have been run through Gemcad I wonder if I need more designs.

Nice prog! :- ) your software?!

Ill keep the prog in mind mayby i can use the prog for implementation!

Greets,

Christian

This program is ridiculious!! I freaking love it!

Finally I can build and test all the counter-intuitive shatter designs I have been drawing by hand but too chicken to cut! Could never get the positioning right in gemcad but I love the fact I can set a meet point or two and cycle through the index gears to get the facet in the right spot.

Previously it would take a heap of goes at re-entering the same data into gemcad with different indexes to get it right.

Loads of diffrent options. Just need to work out a few of the finer points around getting the cutting sequences the way I like to do things.

Only gripe I have is the laptop dosen't like running it at the speed I like to work. Good thing i have a water cooled, twin 1080 build on the run. Should have no problem running the raytracing.

You got my money Rej. Please keep updating. This thing is a game changer!

(maybe some customizing skin options just for fun erfect: )

SneakyCuttlefish said:

This program is ridiculious!! I freaking love it!

Finally I can build and test all the counter-intuitive shatter designs I have been drawing by hand but too chicken to cut! Could never get the positioning right in gemcad but I love the fact I can set a meet point or two and cycle through the index gears to get the facet in the right spot.

Previously it would take a heap of goes at re-entering the same data into gemcad with different indexes to get it right.

Loads of diffrent options. Just need to work out a few of the finer points around getting the cutting sequences the way I like to do things.

Only gripe I have is the laptop dosen't like running it at the speed I like to work. Good thing i have a water cooled, twin 1080 build on the run. Should have no problem running the raytracing.

You got my money Rej. Please keep updating. This thing is a game changer!

(maybe some customizing skin options just for fun erfect: )

Click to expand...

Thanks mate, I appreciate it. One thing I told the folks at the AFG seminar - and I mean it - is that I do like gem cutting but mostly I love making tools for people. I love hearing about stories like yours where there are ideas brewing and my tool can help them come to life. This thing is all about experimenting.

And yeah there's huge step up in performance with desktop vs laptop. There's a reason desktops have huge heatsinks and don't run off batteries. I've got a 4 year old i7 desktop and everything is super smooth compared to the i5 laptop.

And I mean you can change a few skin things in the Edit..Preferences menu, just colours though.

:Y: :Y: Not just my sales pitch!!