Mineralogy software
The MINERAL Database
a computerized mineral reference book in a PC database format containing data for more than 4800 minerals. The data has been assembled and evaluated by E. H. Nickel, Vice-Chairman of the International Mineralogical Association (IMA) Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names, and M. C. Nichols, Sandia National Laboratories. The data contained in MINERAL will be updated annually. An electronic user manual accompanying the computerized reference contains readily understandable instructions for installing and using the system plus examples of typical searches.
MINERAL is designed to allow extremely rapid searches of the more than 7400 entries in the database. Searchable information includes: name (Fragment or Synonym), elemental and poly atomic data, x-ray powder data, type localities, mineral group name, related species name(s), measured and calculated densities, hardness, reference to name origin and date, crystal system and space group, lattice parameters, c/a, a/b, unit cell volume, status, mineral classification, luster and color, general references, crystal structure reference, notes field for other data or comments, JCPDS number, date of the most recent update, chemical formula.
In addition to simple searches, MINERAL allows multiple field searches and complex search criteria (e.g. not equal, less and greater than, contains etc.). It is also possible to print, or view on the screen summaries of those minerals which meet elemental or other criteria you establish.
The Digital Rockhound's Companion
is a database application that is the compilation of a lifetime's interest in rock and mineral collecting. The program includes: 260,000 mining locations from North America and the world, chemical and physical data for more than 3800 mineral species, bibliography with over 17,000 mineral and mining related references, 3300 digital map images (including all of the Streets for the USA), personal address book to organize dealer contacts includes fields to store e-mail and World Wide Web addresses, and you can use it catalog and organize your collection. Using DRC, you can view and search the databases and add your own data! Digital images can be stored added to the databases. Build and view custom maps of mine locations, Search EBay Auctions and search Microsoft's Terraserver site for Aerial photos, relief maps, and topographic maps with a simple click of a button. Export your mineral collection data to HTML for display online or simply to store on CD-R/CD-RW.
MineralDB
is an integrated mineral database and cataloguing system for mineral collectors, dealers and museums.
It includes a mineral properties database for 4,000+ mineral species (with up to 45 different data types per record). A mineral locality database with over 55,000 entries, 3,000+ example mineral images, support for multiple collection catalogues and unlimited storage of specimen/mineral digital photographs.
Minerals
Free software for cataloging mineral collections.
ICM Minéralogie
Collections Management Software, Multi-Platform: Windows - Mac - Android - IOS - Windows Phone
Geology365
Geology365.com is a platform that has been built to manage your mineral/fossil/gem specimen collection as well as your club and its activities. The platform has been designed to be completely free!
Chemistry Formatter
Add-ins for Microsoft Word and Excel. The chemistry formatter is software that does some of the formatting one would otherwise have to do by hand. Chemistry formatters are provided for Microsoft Excel and Word that perform functions like the appropriate numbers in a chemical formula are subscripted, as in H2O. Charges are superscripted. -> is converted to → and numbers in the form of 3.2E8 are converted to 3.2 × 108.
Gemcad
is a program that enables you to create your new faceted gem design on screen in a matter of minutes. GemCad's purpose is to do the tedious calculations, behind the scenes, as you design a new cut. GemCad simulates a faceting machine. The stone is shown on the screen as each facet is cut. You can type in the angle and index of a facet and set a point with the mouse to indicate cutting depth, and GemCad will cut the facet and all others related to it by symmetry. The final result of GemCad is a fully checked faceting diagram that you can take to your faceting machine and cut.
Diamond calculator (DiamCalc)
is a system of modelling cut gemstones, which enables the precise calculation of the diamond weight and determination of the cut proportions. The real (photorealistic) image of a polished diamond created by the system makes it possible to determine the cut parameters that cannot be measured and to select the optimal combination of the parameters to obtain the best perception (brilliance, fire, scintillation) of the stone. Necessary cut parameters can be obtained by comparison of the real diamond to the computer image.
Shape Software
SHAPE is a program for drawing the external morphology (faces) of crystals and quasi-crystals, and also for drawing sections of crystals (Windows and DOS versions). It will draw any single crystal and most twins and epitaxial intergrowths. You enter the crystal axis lengths and angles, the symbol for the crystal class, and one face of each form (symmetry equivalent set). The crystal can be rotated and scaled. A stereonet can be displayed with the crystal, or stereopairs can be drawn automatically. Screen display and hard copy of even complex, interpenetrating intergrowths may be made in final finished form, with no extraneous lines.
Apart from this program for calculating crystal morphology, this site also has programs like ATOMS for atomic-structure display, VIBRATZ for normal-coordinate vibrational analysis and CRYSCON a general crystallographic conversion utility.
demo versions can be downloaded.
JCrystal
is a computer program for creating, editing, displaying and deploying crystal shapes. The present JCrystal-distribution is for PC only (Win95/98/NT/ME, Win2000). JCrystal is a stand-alone Java application.
KrystalShaper
KrystalShaper draws crystal shapes for normal crystals and icosahedral quasicrystals. It is possible to export webpages in the HTML language, which use the provided Applet, so that crystal shapes can be viewed within a Java-enabled webbrowser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer. KrystalShaper itself has more rendering options than the applet. It might thus be used as an interface for the creation of interactive webpages.
KrystalShaper is a new crystal shape editing program. It is not an upgrade ofJCrystal, but a separate program, which is written in a different language and with a different feature set and file format.
Smorf
web based program for drawing the external morphology (faces) of crystals
Easy to use. Data of the drawn crystal may be saved on the local computer. Over a thousand crystals are available in a database and ready to be visualized in a web browser. See their crystal drawing home page.
3D printed crystal models are also available here.
WinXMorph
a software program for creating realistic still or animated crystal shapes (morphologies) from crystallographic data (metric, (hkl) - Miller indices and central distances) as input and *.wrl (VRML V2.0 utf8) files as output, that can be inserted on web pages
DRAWxtl
this computer program produces crystal structure drawings in the form of an interactive screen representation, as well as VRML files for use on web pages and in classroom teaching, and creates input files for the popular Persistence of Vision Raytracer (POV-Ray) rendering program for publicationquality graphics, including generation of stereo pairs. DRAWxtl output produces the standard kinds of graphical representations: spheres, ellipsoids, bonds and polyhedra of any complexity. In addition, it can draw arrows to represent magnetic moments, show capped cones to indicate the location of lone-pair electrons and display Fourier contours in three dimensions. Aunique feature of this program is the ability to plot incommensurately modulated and composite structures. This open-source program can be used with operating systems as diverse as Windows (9X, NT, 2000 and XP), Mac OS X, Linux and most other varieties of Unix.
Kristall2000
ist ein Programm zum Kombinieren von Kristallformen in allen Kristallklassen zu Einzelkristallen in unterschiedlicher Tracht und verschiedenem Habitus auch mit Verzerrungen. Weiter können beliebige Einzelkristalle zu orientierten Verwachsungen aufgestellt werden. Einzugeben sind die Kristallelemente, die Kristallklasse und die Millerschen Indizes der Kristallformen.
CrystalMaker
software for research and teaching in chemistry, solid-state physics, materials science, mineralogy and crystallography. Products used to display & manipulate all kinds of crystal and molecular structures.
Simulate diffraction properties for powders and single crystals. etc.
Crystal Studio
is a Windows 95/98/NT software package for crystallography developed by CrystalSoft Corp.. It is a comprehensive tool for user-friendly creation, 3D graphical design, display and manipulation of crystal structures and for the simulation of diffraction patterns. Empowered with a crystallographic database, Crystal Studio lets you create stunning photo-realistic 3D graphics and diffraction patterns with just a few mouse clicks. Free demonstration version available for download.
Mercury
Mercury offers a comprehensive range of tools for 3D structure visualization and the exploration of crystal packing. Mercury is able to load structural data from a variety of formats and provides an extensive array of options to aid the investigation and analysis of crystal structures. Generate packing diagrams of any number of unit cells in any direction, define and visualise least-squares and Miller planes, and take a slice through a crystal in any direction. Simulated diffraction patterns can be calculated for any displayed crystal structure. Bravais, Friedel, Donnay and Harker (BFDH) theoretical crystal morphologies can also be viewed.
VESTA
VESTA stands for Visualization for Electronic and STructural Analysis. It is a 3D visualization program for structural models, volumetric data such as electron/nuclear densities, and crystal morphologies. It runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It is distributed free of charge for non-commercial users.
Mineralogical Society of America
Apps for smartphone
