I consider the BATT, Darkside, and the other laps Gearloose has developed, some with ideas and input from Tom Smith at Adamas, part of the hardware revolution in faceting. The other part is the development of digital heads, also pioneered by Gearloose.
On the software side, the revolution is the development of mathematical techniques by people like Robert Long and Norman Steele, followed by the development of tools like GemCad, GemRay, and BOG, by people like Robert Strickland and Tom Herbst. The next step for some will be realistic rendering techniques, which Tom Herbst discusses in his books.
Sorry for going on, but I’m amazed by what’s taken place in the lapidary field over a few decades. Almost as amazing as what’s happened in my own field of computer technology.