Hackagem
Hackagem is a gemstone faceting design tool that uses code to define the shape of the stones. You might wonder, why use code for that?
Well, it turns out that coding your gemstone designs has some pretty cool benefits:
Flexibility and Customization
- Parameterization: With code, you can easily tweak parameters like table size, crown angle, and pavilion depth. This makes it a breeze to try out different variations and find the perfect cut for your gemstone. The Best Design Style Practices page has more info.
- Algorithmic Design: You can create complex and innovative patterns that would be difficult to achieve manually, thanks to algorithms that generate intricate designs. See Algorithmic Design
- Mathematical Optimization: By using mathematical calculations and simulations, you can optimize basically all aspects of your designs for brilliance, dispersion, or other optical properties. We're planning to support this feature by the end of 2024.
Additional Benefits
- Documentation: Your code acts as a clear, self-documenting representation of your design, making it easy to share with others.
- Innovation: Using code opens up new possibilities for creative exploration and experimentation in gemstone faceting.
- Design Libraries: Code-based designs can be easily stored, shared, and reused, helping you build a library of standardized and customizable faceting patterns. Have a look at cushioned, truncated rectangles, squares and ovals using the automated CAM generator.
- Web based: Hackagem fully runs in your web browser with the help of WebGPU. WebGPU is a modern web technology that lets web apps harness the full power of your device’s graphics card (GPU). We use it for ray tracing, light performance measurements and the Optimizer. WebGPU is supported by Chrome and Microsoft's Edge browser. Support for Safari and Firefox is planned. If the stones on this page are turning, you are all set!
- Free: We plan to keep the basic version (without the optimizer) free to use.
But perhaps the most practical benefit is that in Hackagen, all cutting steps can be linked logically or relatively. This ensures the entire design is a coherent, unified whole, allowing you to modify intermediate steps without compromising the overall design.
Hackagem is currently in its early testing phase as we make sure everything runs smoothly. Feel free to explore the available designs on Hackagem or sign up to create your own. Don’t forget to check out the Quick Start Tutorial in the Help section to get you started!
Roadmap
- Currently: The platform is usable, but it still has some rough edges. Documentation not fully done.
- Q4 2024:Optimizer ready