ASET - The Diamond Evaluation Tool by Bryan Boyne

[coati]

Bryan Boyne illustrates the importance of the ASET (Angular Spectrum Evaluation Tool) by comparing two asscher cut diamonds.

ASET – The Diamond Evaluation Tool

Many thanks, Bryan! We appreciate your contribution to the PS Journal.

 

[oldminer]

Great demo and easy to understand for the consumer. THX

 

[kenny]

Bryan, thanks SO much for this.
It will be very useful for customers shopping for step cuts.
There is an art to distilling a complex subject so the lay person can understand, and you are an artist.

 

[Karl_K]

Good article and I agree with much of it.
However many SE/Asscher cuts draw light from the edges of the red/green zone and the positioning of the stone is critical.
It is possible for an all green ASET stone to be the brighter stone if it is just a tiny amount off in how it is positioned in the scope.
IE: one is positioned so it is over red, the other positioned so it is over green compared to the optimal position.
In this case the regular pictures match the ASET but that is not always the case.

What static ASET can not tell you is what kind of life the stone has.
A stone with a somewhat darker ASET may have more life than one with the brighter looking ASET.
I like video for this reason.
If I cant get video talking to an expert who is looking at both diamonds is the next best thing.
For example the 1.95 is a bit dark center so I would want to know does it flash in that area under slight tilt or stay dark?

Also step cuts resting on the pavilion facets like the 3rd picture can make them look bad where in real life there might be no issues.

 

[Rockdiamond]

I agree it's very important to educate consumers.
All due respect, but I did not agree that the page shows conclusive results, easy for a consumer to understand.
Which diamond is supposedly better cut?
It was not made clear in the article.
It's stated the 2.02 is gathering light from lower angles, therefore less bright- implying that the 1.95 is a better cut

From what I see, many people will prefer the 2.02
Brightness is not always what people find beautiful in a diamond.
With an Asscher cut things like corner size, and the number and placement of the "steps" are aspects also not easily discernible form the GIA report, yet very influential in how the stone performs.
For my money a video is far more informative to consumers than ASET for an Asscher cut.

 

[Texas Leaguer]

Thank you all for your comments. I agree that the ASET is not definitive but it is a very useful tool. Seeing the diamond in real life (or even in a well made video) offers a whole different level of understanding of performance. I guess the point is that if you are limited to static images, probably the most diagnostic in terms of performance would be ASET. And when it comes to fancy shapes, a whole lot more informative than the data on a GIA report!

This article got started as result of the interesting and unusual amount of contrast between these two stones in ASET. We are not specialists in asscher so we do not handle that many, but I don't think I've ever seen one that was almost all green. I circulated the images with my observations to our staff and they found it pretty intriguing. It was then suggested to turn it into an education piece.

 

[Rockdiamond]

Thank you for writing it Bryan- is is a very interesting comparison.
If you don't mind sharing, which did you like better?

 

[Texas Leaguer]

Thank you for writing it Bryan- is is a very interesting comparison.
If you don't mind sharing, which did you like better?

I much prefered the 1.95. Crisp, bright and fiery. As I mentioned, we don't see a ton of asschers in our practice but the 1.95 was very easy to recommend to the customer. The 2.02 is a totally different "flavor" and very pretty in its own right, but a little lumpy and not bright enough for my taste.

 

[Rockdiamond]

I think this is very interesting discussion.
There's no "right" answer here- but it does seem to me that the larger corners and slightly higher will increase the perception of "steps" on the 2.02ct.
Basically, the 1.95 is a square emerald cut, while the 2.02 is much closer to what we expect to see when we think of an Asscher Cut

All due respect, but to me this is a great demonstration of why aset does not clarify the issue. There are many cases where "green is good"

 

[Texas Leaguer]

All due respect, but to me this is a great demonstration of why aset does not clarify the issue. There are many cases where "green is good"

There's nothing wrong with spinach either, but if that is all that is on the menu I'm going to find another restaraunt!

Seriously though, I agree that you can't rely totally on ASET for fancies. Sometimes negatives like black bars in step cuts can lead you to believe there are problems. Then you look at the stone and it's gorgeous. I think it is mainly due to the limitation of a static image to convey information about a dynamic object.

 

[kenny]

With ASET pics one can of worms is where the clever photographer put the lights.

If one color is the horizon, another color is overhead and the third color is in between . . . I as a sneaky photographer can move my lights, and little cardboard black bar thingies, to make an ASET image look perfect for the most dead leaky, flat and dead asscher ever cut.

 

[Texas Leaguer]

With ASET pics one can of worms is where the clever photographer put the lights.

If one color is the horizon, another color is overhead and the third color is in between . . . I as a sneaky photographer can move my lights, and little cardboard black bar thingies, to make an ASET image look perfect for the most dead leaky, flat and dead asscher ever cut.

Are you trying to develop a Bad Boy image Kenny?

But point well taken. Of course photography can be manipulated at capture or in the editing process. The value of these images (or any of the diamond information), is dependent upon the consistency and integrity with which they are produced. "Consider the source" and as Ronald Reagan said, "trust but verify"! Using the the complete collection of data available should help the verification process.

For instance, although similar, you can see ssubtle differences in the ideal scopes which correspond to what you see more vividly reflected in ASET.

 

[Laila619]

Great article with helpful explanations. Thank you!

 

[Karl_K]

With ASET pics one can of worms is where the clever photographer put the lights.

If one color is the horizon, another color is overhead and the third color is in between . . . I as a sneaky photographer can move my lights, and little cardboard black bar thingies, to make an ASET image look perfect for the most dead leaky, flat and dead asscher ever cut.

Which is why you need multiple pics and types and compare them to each other and see if they are saying the same thing.
It is hard to make a regular pic, IS and aset all hide the same defect.