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Hello,

           I am curious what the best way to create a multi faceted prism is in Zemax.  I have tried using multiple surfaces (freeform, various rectangle volumes, triangles, etc...), but I do not have the freedom that I need to make it customized.  I want to make a prism with 4 or more faces and design it similar to the freeform surface where I define it one point (face) at a time.  It would be great if there was a surface defined by angles and distances.  Can someone point me to the right surface for this?  I can figure out the rest once I know where I need to start.  Thanks.

It’s a bit cumbersome compared to CAD programs, but OpticStudio allows complex polygon objects to be created by means of a text file. See Creating Polygon Objects in OpticStudio.

You could also generate an object in another CAD program and import it.


Thanks for the help David.  With respect to TIR, absorption, and dispersion if I imported a CAD file and told Zemax it was a volume of BK7 would there be any issues that may arise since it is not a standard Zemax surface/object?

Thanks again.


The only issue I know of is that imported cad parts can be slower to ray trace than native parts. I avoid them when I can in favor of Boolean combinations of native components. But there have been improvements in these areas so my experience may be dated. 


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