Got home this morning, built geometry, worked up materials, and Cameron is now running a test render.

     Meanwhile, here is a split-frame modeler (Silo) screenshot of how the geometry is arranged for IDL use in P8 and PP2010.  Click image to enlarge.

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     The gem is the green object.  Duplicate this to create the IDL emitter, and scale the emitter down slightly, so that it nestles inside the gem.  To make the aura, you can get by with duplicating the gem (again), but this time scale it up larger, 167% to maybe 250%.  I used a modeler to smooth the aura and reshape the bottom so as to avoid an intersection of the aura with the stanchion on which the gem rests.

     The gem, emitter, and aura are separate props.  In the parameters panel, un-tick the casts shadows box for all three props.  This is especially imperative for the gem itself, otherwise the gem will block light from the emitter concealed inside.  For a faceted gemstone, you'll probably also want to un-tick the smooth polygons box.

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     Render settings:  Tick the indirect light box.  If you have PP2010, also engage gamma correction (set value to 2.2)

     Irradiance caching and indirect light quality trade render speed for quality.  Range is 1% - 99%.  Don't enter 0.  Low values will render quicker but the IDL will be splotchy.  Higher values yield better resluts, but will take longer to render and use more RAM.

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     Coming up next:  materials and demo render.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5