Product Review, Diamond Calculator

There is a new piece of software available that will be of interest to many of you. It is called the Diamond Calculator. While it was designed specifically to simplify the diamond appraising, it has many other uses as well.

The Diamond Calculator was designed at the Moscow State, University in Russia. Here is a copy of the main screen:

To use it, you first input the shape. As you add the dimensions and it calculates the remainder of them for you. When ready, it will print out an appraisal in AGA, AGS, GIA, HRD or Russian format. For the appraiser, this will make the job easier and save considerable work. However, that is just the beginning of what this software will do.

Besides diamonds, this has the capacity to import files from GemCad. Here the other features become much more significant.

You can display the gem in draft mode, (that is the image in the main screen above,) with single or double refraction, or in a photo realistic mode. You can also make a movie with an unlimited number of frames and play them back. The default selection is 50 frames per second, but that is adjustable. In addition,…