Tourmaline

Tourmaline

Tourmaline grows in nearly every colour and often in more than one within a crystal. Bi-colour stones change colour along their length; watermelon tourmaline is pink at the core with a green rim.

  • Green tourmalineGreen tourmaline
  • Pink tourmalinePink tourmaline
  • Bi-colour tourmalineBi-colour tourmaline
  • Watermelon tourmalineWatermelon tourmaline

At a glance

Mineral
Tourmaline group (boron silicates)
Refractive index
1.624
Dispersion (C–F)
0.009
Specific gravity
3.06
Mohs hardness
7–7.5
Wear
Durable enough for rings.

Tourmaline in Jart

The 4 looks in the studio's material library, with the values the renderer uses.

Optics of Tourmaline in Jart
StoneColourRIDispersion C–FAbbeSGColour depth
Green tourmaline#3a9a621.6240.009693.069 mm
Pink tourmaline#e2488a1.6240.009693.065.5 mm
Bi-colour tourmaline#e2488a / #3a9a621.6240.009693.066 mm
Watermelon tourmaline#e2488a / #2f9a5a1.6240.009693.066 mm

RI refractive index (nd). Dispersion C–F nF − nC, the spread between blue and red light; many gem tables quote the B–G figure instead (diamond 0.044, here 0.025). Abbe number: lower means more fire. SG specific gravity, used for carat estimates in Design Facts. Colour depth the path through the stone after which white light takes the stone's full colour; shorter paths look paler.

How it renders

With a refractive index of 1.624, a polished tourmaline facet reflects 5.7% of light that meets it face-on (diamond: 17.2%). Light inside the stone that meets a facet more than 38.0° from straight on cannot leave and is reflected back in; the smaller that angle, the more light a good cut returns to the eye (diamond 24.4°, quartz 40.4°).

Its dispersion (C–F) is 0.009, 36% of diamond's, which sets how much fire, the flashes of colour, a render shows under small, bright lights.

The bi-colour preset blends two colours along the stone and the watermelon preset rings a pink core with green, the way a slice of the crystal looks.

  • 1 mm
  • 3 mm
  • 6 mm
  • 10 mm
Green tourmaline: the colour of white light after 1, 3, 6 and 10 mm of stone. It takes the full preset colour at 9 mm.
  • 1 mm
  • 3 mm
  • 6 mm
  • 10 mm
Pink tourmaline: the colour of white light after 1, 3, 6 and 10 mm of stone. It takes the full preset colour at 5.5 mm.
  • 1 mm
  • 3 mm
  • 6 mm
  • 10 mm
Bi-colour tourmaline: the colour of white light after 1, 3, 6 and 10 mm of stone. It takes the full preset colour at 6 mm.
  • 1 mm
  • 3 mm
  • 6 mm
  • 10 mm
Watermelon tourmaline: the colour of white light after 1, 3, 6 and 10 mm of stone. It takes the full preset colour at 6 mm.

All gemstones · Metals · Stone and metal pairings · Finishes

Render tourmaline on your own design.

Open a 3DM, STL or GLB file, or a sample ring, choose the stone and the metal, and render it photoreal in your browser. No account needed.

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