garnet

garnet is an interesting software utility which aims to provide you with the ability to display a precious stone from various angles and at various sizes, simulating the appearance and cut of a real object, thus letting you study it in more detail.

After downloading the file, you can simply unzip the archive and run the EXE file, as it does not require an installation process of any kind.

As a result, it generates no registry entries on your system, meaning you can remove it any time you want, just by deleting the containing folder.

At the same time, garnet can be stored and run from a USB stick or similar portable memory devices, enabling you to use it on all compatible computers, without a problem.

The main window of garnet allows you to select the preferred 'Stone', 'Cut' and 'Color' from the corresponding drop-down menus, while the 'Ref Idx' function lets you decide on the refractive index value for your stone.

The 'Back Color And Light Volume' button enables you to adjust the way in which your image is displayed. Moreover, the 'Size' function lets you view the rotating object in a separate window or perform 'Trimming' operations on the image, by configuring the top, bottom, right and left side in pixels.

From the second panel you can decide the position of the object on the X, Y and Z axes, while the third panel allows you to choose the preferred angle for the light source. Finally, you can press the 'Ray-trace' button to generate the image of the precious stone you wanted to display.

Using sequential still images of the object, you can create a GIF animation of a rotating diamond, emerald, crystal or sapphire, by deciding on the number of frames, then automatically grabbing the screenshots.

To summarize, garnet is an fun application whose main function is to help you view a diamond, topaz, emerald or crystal from several angles, under varying light conditions.