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AllieZemax Staff

published in User News & Alerts

New here?F.A.Q.

Welcome to the Zemax Community! This is a gathering place for all things optics. Within this community, you will be able to find out more about your Zemax products. You will also be able to chat with other industry professionals about the latest trends. Use this space to ask questions, help others, and learn! Now that you're here, there are a few steps you should take to make the most of your experience! 新人入门？(Chinese Version)はじめてですか？ (Japanese Version) First Steps: 1. Subscribe to User News & AlertsWhen you subscribe, you will be kept up-to-date on news that affects Zemax’s user community, like new release functionalities, opportunities to learn and network, or critical issues. 2. Configure your profileLog into the platform and navigate to your profile settings here. Each of your profile elements (except your last name) will be visible to all community members. We encourage you to be descriptive: tell others about your areas of expertise and professional interests. 3. Introduce

5260

3 years ago

AllieZemax Staff

published in User News & Alerts

Zemax Case Support is Moving!

The time is finally here! Only three years after being acquired, Zemax support is moving into the Ansys systems 🎉🎉🎉.If you used support in the last year, then you likely already received a notice about this migration. In addition to that, I have put together an FAQ about the move to help answer some of the common questions we are seeing from users. See the FAQ below, and feel free to comment with any other questions! Where do I go to open a support case with Zemax now?Support cases will be handled in the Ansys Customer Support Space (ACSS) going forward. You can access ACSS here: https://customer.ansys.com.If the account you are listed under has an active Zemax subscription, you will be able to create a case under the Optical Family with Zemax OpticStudio selected as the Application. You can review the active subscriptions at your account by navigating to My Products in ACSS. Can I still email support at the Zemax Support email addresses?No. The Zemax Support email addresses will be

3125

1 month ago

Berta.BernadZemax Staff

posted in User News & Alerts

Zemax OpticStudio Online Help

Ansys has made its help documentation publicly available, and this include Zemax OpticStudio help. It is open to anyone with internet access and has a search functionality. You can access the help file in the following link: Ansys Help

830

3 months ago

Lisa CMonochrome

posted in User News & Alerts

Upcoming Updates to the Cost Estimator Tool

Hello OpticStudio Users,Starting in the Ansys Zemax OpticStudio 2024 R2.02 release scheduled for September, the Cost Estimator tool will be removed from the Production Tools group found under the Tolerancing Tab of OpticStudio's main menu. You can still get real-time cost estimates using the ISO Element Drawing. These changes will simplify the Cost Estimator tool and enable better maintenance as we begin to make improvements to the ISO Element Drawing itself.In addition, LaCroix will be removed as a provider for the Cost Estimator in order to streamline their customer experience. LaCroix continues to be a valuable partner and collaborator to Ansys Zemax OpticStudio.Thanks for your attention,Lisa

830

4 months ago

Tom PickeringUltraviolet

posted in User News & Alerts

Customer Announcement: Known Issue in Upcoming Release

Dear Valued Customers,We would like to inform you about a known issue in our upcoming release, Ansys Zemax OpticStudio 2024 R2. This issue involves the incorrect usage of multiple seats for multiple instances. Specifically, the first two instances will share a single seat, however any additional instances will incorrectly consume an extra seat per instance.Our team is actively working on a fix for this issue, and we expect to release the corrected version, Ansys Zemax OpticStudio R2.01, by the end of July.We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding and patience as we resolve this matter. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to our support team.Thank you for your continued support.Best regards,Tom Pickering

1290

4 months ago

Tom PickeringUltraviolet

posted in User News & Alerts

Upcoming improvements to the Export to PanDao tool!

The Export to PanDao tool currently only supports on-axis systems that use Standard surfaces with a conic constant of zero, Even Asphere, Extended Asphere, and Extended Odd Asphere surface types. Both refractive and reflective surfaces are supported. However, not all parameters for a PanDao estimate are included (e.g. asphericity), and not all tolerance operands are supported. It's a starting point to import lens design data into the PanDao website.Check out Sahil’s walk-through of the current implementation of the tool!After positive first customer feedback, we've been working on making this tool support more designs. The next update planned for release in September 2023 will convert all appropriate and necessary tolerance operands and lens parameters to the PanDao JSON format, so that only minimal manual data entry is required. Furthermore, all on-axis surfaces with real sag will be supported.

1531

11 months ago

Lisa CMonochrome

published in User News & Alerts

Ansys Zemax OpticStudio Updates File Format

Hello Zemax Community!I have important news regarding your Zemax OpticStudio products. Ansys Zemax is dedicated to ensuring that we offer the best possible optical design workflow and user experience that allows you to bring your products to market faster. As such, 2025 R1 (January 2025) will be our last release where you will be able to save to the .ZOS file format in Ansys Zemax OpticStudio. We have made the choice as of 2024 R2 (July 2024) release to begin writing the same content type as found in the .ZMX file format to the .ZOS file format to begin the file type transition. The .ZMX file format will also replace the .ZOS file format as the default save option in Ansys Zemax OpticStudio.This change aligns with requests from long-term customers who have come to rely and depend on the product over decades and have chosen to have the .ZMX file as their format of choice. For some customers we are aware this decision may not support your existing workflow, which is why we are offering

4200

1 year ago

AllieZemax Staff

published in User News & Alerts

April 2023 Community Newsletter

WelcomeWelcome to the April edition of the Ansys Zemax Community newsletter! Cherry blossoms in full bloom in Tokyo.Picture taken by @Takashi Matsumoto This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on technical content you might find interesting or helpful. This newsletter features content that has been posted or was popular during the last month! Check out what we have for you below:Welcome Zemax-er Spotlight: Luca Cellerino The Community in Review Featured Community Posts Ask An Engineer: Tolerance analysis on Binary 2 diffractive surfaces Code Exchange Latest Editions Chinese Forum: Popular Topics Japanese Forum: Popular Topics Knowledgebase Updates Ansys Optics Application Gallery Metalens – Ansys Optics Is this newsletter missing something you think others should know about? Or is there something you learned here that you didn’t know before? Let us know in the comments below! Zemax-er Spotlight: Luca CellerinoThis month, we are featuring Luca Cellerino (@Luca.cellerino

2840

1 year ago

AllieZemax Staff

published in User News & Alerts

March 2023 Community NewsletterNewsletter

WelcomeWelcome to the March edition of the Zemax’s Community newsletter! This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on technical content you might find interesting or helpful. This newsletter features content that has been posted or was popular during the last month! Check out what we have for you below:Welcome The Community in Review Featured Community Posts Ask An Engineer: PanDao Export Demo Code Exchange Latest Editions Chinese Forum: Popular Topics Japanese Forum: Popular Topics Ansys Optics Application Gallery Zemax-er Spotlight: Oliver FähnleIs this newsletter missing something you think others should know about? Or is there something you learned here that you didn’t know before? Let us know in the comments below! The Community in ReviewFeatured Community PostsA shorter month might mean less activity for most communities, but not for ours. Our fantastic users were still out here helping their peers. We’ve collected some of the most-liked posts from February to shar

3360

1 year ago

Sandrine AuriolLuminary

published in User News & Alerts

February 2023 Community NewsletterNewsletter

WelcomeWelcome to the February edition of the Zemax’s Community newsletter! This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on technical content you might find interesting or helpful. This newsletter features content that has been posted or was popular during the last month! Check out what we have for you below:Welcome The Community in Review Featured Community Posts Ask An Engineer Code Exchange Latest Additions Chinese Forum: Popular Topics → To Update Japanese Forum: Popular Topics Knowledgebase Updates Ansys Optics Application Gallery Zemax-er Spotlight: Francesco AldegheriIs this newsletter missing something you think others should know about? Or is there something you learned here that you didn’t know before? Let us know in the comments below! The Community in ReviewFeatured Community PostsEach month we are excited to see the community coming together to solve problems and discuss how to use the software. This month is no different! Check out some of the most helpful po

3481

1 year ago

Sandrine AuriolLuminary

published in User News & Alerts

January 2023 Community newsletterNewsletter

WelcomeWelcome to the January edition of the Zemax’s Community newsletter! We wish you all a happy new year 2023 and are looking forward to discussing with you all on our community.This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on items you might find interesting or helpful from the last month! Check out each of these items below:Welcome Featured Community Posts Knowledgebase Updates Zemax-er SpotlightIs there something else you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments below! Featured Community PostsWe have selected a couple of posts from last month that we thought might interest you.This post discusses coherence in non-sequential. For further information, I would also recommend checking this article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/opticstudio-coherent-power-michael-humphreys?trk=public_profile_article_view that gives a good insight. This post is about using POP to model diffraction from a Grid Phase surface. On the Code Exchange, here are the latest additions:This ZPL macro

1710

1 year ago

AllieZemax Staff

published in User News & Alerts

December 2022 Community NewsletterNewsletter

WelcomeWelcome to the December edition of the Zemax’s Community newsletter! This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on items you might find interesting or helpful from the last month! Check out each of these items below:Welcome Featured Community Posts Knowledgebase Updates Zemax-er Spotlight: Success Stories in 2022Is there something else you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments below! Featured Community PostsIn the last month, we’ve seen a couple of topics really take off. Click below to see the latest. In particular, take a look at the first link wherein we discussed the relationship between POP and a user’s published paper: Refractive index of biological tissues: Review, measurement techniques, and applications: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-24176-8Lumerical RCWA和Zemax OpticStudio的动态链接 | Zemax Community With the year coming to a close, we looked back at our most popular forum posts from 2022. Take a look at the top 5 below. Is there one you think shou

1660

1 year ago

Sandrine AuriolLuminary

published in User News & Alerts

November 2022 Community Newsletter

WelcomeWelcome to the November edition of the Zemax’s Community newsletter! This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on items you might find interesting or helpful from the last month! Check out each of these items below:Welcome Featured Community Posts: AR/VR Chinese forum Japanese forum Check out the newly-released 22.3 suite of Zemax products! Knowledgebase Updates Zemax-er Spotlight: Ty AdairIs there something else you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments below! Featured Community Posts: AR/VRThis month, Yuan has been busy updating summary posts about the AR/VR topics.On the Code Exchange side, Yuan and Michael created a ZPL and Python scripts that can fit a non-sequential object like a CAD object into a built-in sequential surface. The scripts build a merit function and make a surface ready to be optimized! For example, that could be interested to describe a windshield in sequential mode. For more information, check the links below: Chinese forumAR/VR相关资料整理Japanes

2840

2 years ago

Sandrine AuriolLuminary

published in User News & Alerts

October 2022 Community NewsletterNewsletter

WelcomeWelcome to the October edition of the Zemax’s Community newsletter! This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on items you might find interesting or helpful from the last month! Check out each of these items below:Welcome Where is September Community Update? David reaches the Luminary rank Featured Community Posts: Converters Chinese forum Japanese forum Knowledgebase Updates Zemax-er Spotlight: Alissa WilczynskiIs there something else you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments below!Where is September Community Update?You haven’t missed anything! We felt it was a bit awkward to publish our newsletter at the end of the month. So we skipped the September month and are starting afresh with the October one. There hasn’t been any Ask An Engineer event this month as we are working on a new format. David reaches the Luminary rankLast month, David reached the Luminary rank. He is the 1st to reach that rank. Congratulations @David.Nguyen and a massive thank you for all you

2330

2 years ago

Alissa WilczynskiZemax Staff

published in User News & Alerts

The Zemax 22.2 Release is Live

Table of ContentsThe Zemax 22.2 release is here! Learn from the experts in the 22.2 release webinar Our Community Manager’s Take The Zemax 22.2 release is here!The 22.2 release is available now, and we’ve got a series of events and information designed to help you make the most of the latest and greatest. Highlights include…Ray Aiming Wizard (OpticStudio) - Easily and accurately determine the optimal ray aiming settings to ensure that rays pass through your system. Export to Speos Lens System (OpticStudio) - Create a reduced-order model of the current optical system to be used in a Speos simulation, enabling accurate optical sensor simulation in a realistic environment. Performance Analysis (OpticStudio STAR Module) - Find out how temperature changes and deformations contribute to a change in system performance. Ray Footprint Boundaries (OpticsBuilder) - Interactive ray footprint boundaries allow the use of CAD tools to measure, position, and analyze the effects that mechanical compone

4376

2 years ago

Sandrine AuriolLuminary

published in User News & Alerts

August 2022 Community Updates

WelcomeWelcome to the August edition of the Zemax’s Community newsletter!This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on items you might find interesting or helpful from the last month! Check out each of these items below:Welcome Featured Community Posts: Heads-Up Display (HUD) Knowledgebase Updates Ask An Engineer: How do I import a CAD component in sequential design into OpticStudio? Zemax-er Spotlight: Mathilde ContyIs there something else you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments below!Featured Community Posts: Heads-Up Display (HUD)Heads-up displays are optical systems which allow information to be displayed to a user in a manner such that the user does not have to look away from their current field of view. These types of systems are particularly prevalent in the automotive industry wherein data (such as speed or remaining mileage) can be shown to a driver as a part of their windshield view. HUD systems are easily modeled in Ansys software. For example, you will see i

3630

2 years ago

Gernot.BlobelSingle Emitter

posted in User News & Alerts

Ask an Engineer: How do I import a CAD component in sequential design into OpticStudio?

Event DetailsTopic: Utilizing a custom CAD component within Sequential Mode in OpticStudioLive demo and Q&A: August 24th, 8am - 9am PDT (See the attachments for a calendar invite)Engineer:@Gernot.Blobel - Senior Application Engineer, Ansys Zemax Ask an Engineer is a once-monthly live event. The meeting is a small, informal gathering wherein our technical staff will take the time to educate and answer questions on the featured topic. We highly encourage new users - especially students - to join and learn a bit more about the software!Take a look at the topic and resources below, then join us on August 24th to connect with our engineer. Live event: August 24th, 8am PST (the calendar invite may be found in the attachment link at the bottom of this post)Topic:It is often the case that our optical systems utilize unique parts or objects designed in-house. For example, a vehicle’s windshield shape (an important component of a HUD system) may be proprietary information that we would nee

5603

2 years ago

Alissa WilczynskiZemax Staff

published in User News & Alerts

Information for Zemax customers using SolidWorksNews

Zemax places a high importance on supporting you in using your best possible workflow, so we regret Dassault Systems’ recent decision to conclude Zemax’s membership in the SolidWorks partner program. As a result of this decision, Zemax is no longer able to support our OpticsBuilder for SolidWorks product nor the CAD Dynamic Link for SolidWorks capability previously included in the Premium edition of OpticStudio. Please see our FAQ page for more details.

3373

2 years ago

Angel MoralesEn-Lightened

posted in User News & Alerts

Ask an Engineer: How do I model my laser beam in OpticStudio?

Topic: Selecting a laser propagation method in OpticStudioLive solution reveal and Q&A: July 20th, 8am - 9am PDT (See the attachments for a calendar invite)Engineer: @Angel Morales - Senior Application Engineer at Ansys Zemax Ask an Engineer is LIVE again this month! Try out the challenge below to learn more modelling laser beams in OpticStudio, then come back on July 20th to discuss. Submit your solution or questions as a reply to this thread. Challenge opens: July 7thSubmit your file as a reply by: July 19th, EODLive event: July 20th 8am PST (the calendar invite is in the attachments)Challenge: OpticStudio supports several different approaches to model a laser input for your system. They include:Defining your geometric ray bundle with the correct aperture apodization and divergence angle Utilizing the Paraxial Gaussian Beam or Skew Gaussian Beam analysis to define and propagate your laser beam Generating and analyze your laser beam using the Physical Optics Propagation analysis

132813

2 years ago

Sandrine AuriolLuminary

published in User News & Alerts

July 2022 Community Updates

WelcomeWelcome to the July edition of the Zemax’s Community newsletter!This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on items you might find interesting or helpful from the last month! Check out each of these items below:Welcome Featured Community Posts: Tools for the eye 中文论坛日本語フォーラム Knowledgebase Updates Ask an engineer: How do I model my laser beam in OpticStudio? Zemax-er Spotlight: Gábor ErdeiIs there something else you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments below! Featured Community Posts: Tools for the eyeThis month we have selected forum posts around vision and eye modelling. Feel free to reply on these posts if you have some suggestions or feedback! We also had some activities on the Chinese and Japanese forum. And our lovely colleague @yuan.chen translated this popular post for English readers: 中文论坛用OpticStudio模擬微結構薄膜產生摩爾紋 (Moiré) | Zemax Community 日本語フォーラムノンシーケンシャルモードでの、レンズ起因の光芒・光条のシミュレーション方法 | Zemax Community室内照明(シーリングライト) 室内が人間の目にどう見えるかシミュレーションする方法 | Zemax Commu

2720

2 years ago

AllieZemax Staff

published in User News & Alerts

June 2022 Community Updates

WelcomeWelcome to the June edition of the Zemax’s Community newsletter!This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on items you might find interesting or helpful from the last month! Check out each of these items below:Welcome Featured Community Posts: Tools for visualizing your system OpticsBuilder is now on OpticsAcademy! Knowledgebase Updates 日本語ナレッジベースを拡張中! (The Japanese Knowledgebase is expanding!) Zemax-er Spotlight: Paul K. ManhartIs there something else you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments below!Featured Community Posts: Tools for visualizing your systemThis month we have selected forum posts that present ideas or macros to improve visualization. It can be visualizing the entrance pupil on a layout, seeing the propagation of a gaussian beam through an optical system or plotting the MTF in object space. Feel free to reply on these posts if you have some suggestions or feedback! OpticsBuilder is now on OpticsAcademy!New to OpticsBuilder, or want to increase your

3411

2 years ago

AllieZemax Staff

posted in User News & Alerts

Ask an Engineer: Build a lens from spec with the API

Topic: Build an initial lens design from a provided spec sheet using the APILive solution reveal and Q&A: June 22nd, 8am - 9am PDT (See the attachments for a calendar invite)Engineer: @Allie - Senior Application Engineer at Ansys Zemax Ask an Engineer is LIVE again this month! Try out the challenge below to learn more about the API, then come back on June 22nd to discuss. Submit your solution or questions as a reply to this thread. Challenge opens: June 9thSubmit your code as a reply by: June 21st, EODChallenge: Any new project for an optical designer comes with a set of required criteria. The job of the designer is to create a system which meets the requested specifications. To do this, the designer will begin with a generalized starting point, then optimize and tweak the system until it meets (or even exceeds) spec. Often, specification data is provided in the form of a data sheet which must then be translated into the optical simulation software of choice. An example of a thor

8525

2 years ago

Sandrine AuriolLuminary

posted in User News & Alerts

Ask an Engineer: Making a Surface DLL

Topic: Creating a user-defined surface using DLLsLive solution reveal and Q&A: May 19th, 8am - 9am PDT (See the attachments for a calendar invite.)Engineer: @Sandrine Auriol - Lead Application Engineer at Ansys Zemax This month, Ask an Engineer looks a little different! Give the challenge a try to learn more about DLLs, then come back on May 19th to discuss! Submit your solution or questions as a reply to this thread. Challenge opens: May 2nd Submit your code as a reply by: May 18th, EODChallenge: OpticStudio surfaces are typically represented with continuous curves - either given by a smooth sag equation, or a spline which connects individual sag points. However, discrete steps may be needed to best represent an optical surface. For example, when manufacturing an optic with a 3D printer or lathe, the tool may generate the shape through the use of different zones of sag data, instead of a smooth profile, and you may want to represent a rough first-pass prototype in your simulation

181913

2 years ago

Sandrine AuriolLuminary

published in User News & Alerts

May 2022 Community UpdatesNewsletter

WelcomeWelcome to the May edition of the Zemax’s Community review newsletter!This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on items you might find interesting or helpful from the last month! Check out each of these items below:Welcome Featured Community Posts: Birefringence Knowledgebase Updates Zemax-er Spotlight: Chris NormanshireIs there something else you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments below! Featured Community Posts: BirefringenceThis month, we have selected forum posts around the birefringence theme. Birefringence materials are commonly used to make waveplates. For more information on waveplates, check out the next section!To model birefringent materials in OpticStudio, the Knowledgebase article How to design birefringent polarizers is a good starting point, but look at those interesting discussions on the forum. Knowledgebase UpdatesHow to model and design real waveplate in OpticStudio by Takashi Matsumoto (@Takashi Matsumoto) This article shows how to model a

2410

2 years ago

AllieZemax Staff

published in User News & Alerts

April 2022 Community UpdatesNewsletter

WelcomeWelcome to the April edition of the Zemax’s Community review newsletter! This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on items you might find interesting or helpful from the last month! Check out each of these items below:Welcome Featured Community Posts: Mathematica Knowledgebase Updates Zemax-er Spotlight: Dr. Helke Karen HesseIs there something else you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments below! Featured Community Posts: MathematicaIn OpticStudio 22.1 Mathematica templates have been added to support Mathematica users when using ZOS-API. Since this, we have seen questions popping on the forum so if you are a Mathematic user, have a look as there might be the answer that you are looking for: Knowledgebase UpdatesAutomated recurring documentation for optical designs with ZOS-API and LaTeX – Knowledgebase by @Karen This article will explain how to automate the documentation of optical designs with ZOS-API and LaTeX. An example for a comparison of 2 systems with 8

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2 years ago

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