This paper presents a study on a Computer-aided-design (CAD) tool for lapidary design. The material chosen is rock crystal quartz. Aspects of historical development of gemstone lapidary, faceting diagrams and faceting parameters are presented. Two criteria are proposed to assess the efficiency of a given lapidary design: brilliance and yield. To estimate these two results, the tool developed is based on artificial neural networks. Tests with 62 different lapidary designs were used to validate the proposed CAD tool.
faceted gems; lapidary design; artificial neural networks
