Advanced Gem Shaders

Fancy gems in video games:

Gems in video games are very difficult to simulate because of their fancy effects which are caused by light scattering. I often visited mineral exhibitions where I could come into contact with those precious stones. However I could never afford it to buy one. Diamonds, Saphires, Rubies and Emeralds are so expensive, so why not create the in Unity3D. Someday I found a paper from a NVidia about the simulation of cut gemstones in the library of my university. I have read it and it explains how to simulate gemstones in realtime by using different materials for the inner side and outer side.

 

Huge package with special gemstones:

Aterwards, some updates also added the option to create gemstones with inclusions to make them more realistic. In the real world, gemstones without inclusions are very uncommen and rare. Every gemstone has at least tiny imperfections which make them interesting unless they were created with synthesis. The most difficult thing to render in computer graphics are still opals because of their refractive behaviours which are caused by tiny water inclusions inside the gemstone. It is possible to simulate opals by filling the gemstone with inclusions and apply a different material to the inclusion. With little artwork, they would appear pretty realistic.

Completely realistic renderings would require ray tracing which is not possible in realtime at the moment. As technology advances, such renderings may be possible in the future without crushing down the framerate. However this asset can be bought for 15$ which is a fair price as it offers 50+ different 3D models of common gem shapes, 10+ different shaders and generators which alters the 3D model itself to create gemstones with very special properties. For more information, check out the documentation but I recommend watching the attached video which shows those beautiful gemstones.