Development Update: Custom Gem Cuts and New Gem & Mineral Rendering

Thank you for playing RigidGems Museum.

Development has gradually resumed following my discharge from the hospital.

RigidGems Museum currently includes 527 gem cuts, but I would like to expand the system beyond simply selecting from the included designs and eventually allow players to create their own cuts more freely.

Gem Cut Designer

I am currently developing a system called Gem Cut Designer, which allows gem cuts to be designed directly.

Facet families such as the crown, pavilion, and girdle can be edited while adjusting parameters including angles, positions, and segment counts to create the shape of the gemstone itself.

The system is also being developed to load .GEM cut data, modify existing designs, or create new cuts from scratch.

The long-term goal is to allow players to enjoy not only the 527 cuts already included in RigidGems Museum, but also their own custom-designed cuts.

This system is still under development, and its UI and specifications may change.

Researching New Gemstone Effects

Alongside the cutting system, I have also been experimenting with optical effects for gemstones and minerals that are not currently represented in the game.

One of the more advanced experiments is Spectrolite, with its strong flashes of blue, green, violet, orange, and other colors depending on viewing angle and internal structure.

I am testing ways to reproduce this effect through real-time rendering.

I have also been experimenting with asterism, the star-like optical effect seen in gemstones such as star sapphire.

The goal is to reproduce the characteristic rays of light produced by the interaction between internal structures and illumination.

Opal is another area of ongoing research, particularly methods for representing its play-of-color effect.

Expanding from Cut Gems to Mineral Specimens

I would also like to gradually expand RigidGems Museum beyond cut gemstones and introduce more natural mineral specimens.

This includes crystal aggregates such as Pyrite, as well as more complex Beryl-family crystal clusters that are intended primarily for collection and display rather than cutting.

Some of these features are still at the research or prototype stage, and not everything shown or discussed here should be considered a confirmed upcoming update.

RigidGems Museum is an independently developed project, so large updates cannot always be produced quickly. However, I intend to continue expanding the range of gemstones, minerals, cutting systems, and optical effects that can be explored in the game.

As development progresses, I plan to continue sharing updates like this to show what is being worked on.

Thank you for your continued support of RigidGems Museum.