You can change the number of cores being used in OpticStudio User Interface. For example when launching raytracing in non-sequential mode. Here is how to do the same thing from within a ZPL macro: !through the system properties, code 901: SYSP 901, 1 !measure time TIMER !raytrace NSTR 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0 PRINT "Elapsed time:", ETIM(), "Seconds" !number of cores print SYPR(901) SYSP 901, 16 TIMER !raytrace NSTR 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0 PRINT "Elapsed time:", ETIM(), "Seconds" print SYPR(901) Here is the text output:

Hi, I'm using the binary file converter on your website to convert a .DAT ray file into an ASCII text file: https://customers.zemax.com/os/resources/learn/knowledgebase/how-to-convert-a-binary-source-file-into-ascii I should then be able to use this ASCII ray file in my design (I know that raytracing will be much slower). However, I don't know how to import such file in Zemax. It is located in the Source Files folder (same as .DAT ray file) on my computer but it doesn't appear in the list of Data files when I'm using a Source File Object. What I'm I doing wrong here? Thanks, Sebastien

I'm using coating 'Pass_P' to model a wire grid polarizer, which is made by fabricated narrow metal stripes on a glass substrate. The polarizer should reflect s-polarized light, while transmit p-polarized light. But the coating cannot handle it correctly, when I setup my system,  why the normal incident S-polarized light pass the surface with 'Pass_P‘ coating. 

Navigate to the Lens Catalog in the Libraries tab. From there, you can search through different vendors, and also choose different options. To put the lens of your choice in your system, press the Insert button.  

Hello all, I am trying to simulate a Super-Guassian beam n=6 in sequential mode but I am having some trouble. I can't seem to find any way to do it. Does anyone have a suggestion on how I might generate this? Thank you very much, Matt

Hi, The standard method for defining the direction of the Z-axis is that positive is towards the image plane. This is opposite to what my team's FEA & CAD team has been doing and prefers. We are looking at integrating SigFit for thermo-optical analysis. For implementation of SigFit the coordinate systems need to align.   Does anyone have any experience in changing the Z-axis orientation? The CAD & FEA team prefers that we first investigate just changing the definition of positive Z in ZEMAX. Or will it be a better procedure for the FEA & CAD to default to the ZEMAX optical system Z-orientation (positive towards the image plane)? Regards, Dalene

I have a phase vs angle plot (Analysis->Coatings->Phase vs angle) whose values I would like to import into another program (e.g.Excel) for further analysis.  Is there a table of the plotted values available somewhere?  if not, is there a way to get them using a macro?

Hello, I have set up a 45-degree mirror in sequential mode, and I run into a result that I want to make sure is a physical phenomenon and not a bug in the program. In Sequential mode, I set up collimated light hitting a the MIRROR surface in a 45-degree angle.  When I open the Polarization Pupil Map analysis window and set the input polarization axis to 45 degrees, I expect to see 45 degree polarization. However, as you can see, the Polarization Pupil Map shows slightly elliptical polarization. I would have thought that metal mirrors caused a phase shift of pi both for S- and P-polarized light. I wonder if what I see in the OpticStudio results corresponds to a real physics phenomena or a bug in the program.

Hello Zemaxers! OpticStudio 19.4 SP2 is now live on our website. You can download it here: http://downloads.zemax.com/Downloads/ZOS19.4_2019-07-31_SP2.exe This service pack release contains mostly bug fixes. The release notes are here: https://my.zemax.com/OpticStudio-downloads/release-notes/OpticStudio19-4-SP2_ReleaseNotes.pdf Happy ray tracing!

That discussion gives a quick overview of the most used .NET or .COM capable languages to communicate with ZOS-API. Which version of OpticStudio supports ZOS-API? ZOS-API is available since OpticStudio 15. More and more functionalities are being added to ZOS-API. Which tool, program can connect to ZOS-API? The ZOS-API can be used with any .NET-capable language or any .COM-capable language. For more information about the connection, consult the built-in Help File under The Programming Tab…About the ZOS-API…Get Connected… Here is a non-exhaustive list of the programs that can interact with ZOS-API: Language .NET .COM Comments C# X C++ X Matlab X From our experience, any Matlab versions above 2015 can access .NET libraries.  For more information, see https://uk.mathworks.com/help/matl

Hi, Question as described in the title. The spot size i mean here is neither RMS or GEO spot size, it is the calculation size like Airy Radius with diffraction effect consideration. Airy spot size is the min spot size in focusing distance, but how does OpticStudio calcuate the spot size in de-focus distance? what is (are) the formula(s)? Similarly for MTF calculation, just using a paraxial lens with known EFL and imaging F/#. Thanks, Roger

How do I know what command to use to run an analysis in the ZOS-API? Once I run my analysis, how can I extract my results in a meaningful way?

Does anyone have an example dll showing a NURBS fully defined?

Hello After having opened a lens file I sometimes want to check one or the other ISO drawing, which had been created with this file in the past. I proceed as follows: in the GENERAL Tab I click LOAD, select the ISO drawing of interest and after it has opened I click APPLY. Most of the tolerances appear correct but the shape of the lens not. OK, then I go to the GENERAL tab again and select the correct start surface for that lens. Now the shape looks better BUT - the 2nd radius of curvature flipped from plus to minus. So I now have a plano-concave instead of a plano-convex lens... Of course, this can be corrected by applying "Reset from LDE" but now my manually defined AR coating for that surface, which was not input in LDE, disappears...Manually defined coating was also the reason for unclicking "Automatic" in the associated surface tab. Anybody with similar experience? Best regards, Dusan

I've setup a Universal Plot to display the variation of ensquared energy (DENC Merit Function operand) with the temperature (TEMP Multi-Configuration operand). At first glance, the plot looked convincing. However, when I changed the TCE of one surface, the plot did not changed even slightly. Therefore, I think that the TCE is not accounted in the Universal Plot. Could you confirm?

OpticStudio uses a layout manager to determines how to position and resize the windows. This manager can sometimes go into a state where the window of an editor/analysis take a default undesirable shape. This thread idea has been suggested and co-written by Dusan Zadravec.

Hi!  How an Alvarez lens can be designed in Sequential Zemax? Thanks, Hooman

When I want to create a toroidal surface, I only see the ability to create the toroid in Y, but I want it along X. How can I do that?

Although OpticStudio is well known for modeling visible, infrared, and ultraviolet applications, but is it accurate when using radio, x-ray, or other "non-optical" wavelengths?

This is a frequently asked question. To answer this question, let's slightly discuss how spherical reference works.When calculating Huygens PSF with Spherical Reference, OpticStudio will first trace rays to image surface and then "go back" to exit pupil like below.Then each ray interception point on the exit pupil will be considered as point source that radiate spherical waves and interfere on the image plane. This is called spherical reference.On the other hand, when in planar reference, each ray is simply considered as a plane wave and still interfere on the image plane, which is same as spherical reference.The difference of the two methods will mainly be large when the Huygens PSF is supposed be large. OpticStudio will detect this by checking the distance from exit pupil to image surface and the expected size of the PSF.Back to the discussion about which reference we should use. Usually, we can let OpticStudio decides automatically. However, there are some cases that the spherical r

I'm going to plot diff between two operands vs thickness by using the feature Universal Plot, but the analysis window always show 'Error in operand parameters', how to avoid this error?

I'm running a sensitvity tolerancing analysis, with the option Separate Fields/Configs unchecked. My question is on which field of view did the analysing result based?  And what's the difference between check and uncheck this option? 

Question: When using Sequential Mode with the 'Afocal Image Space' option enabled, the units for the Spot Diagram become angular (milliradian). What angle is this referring to?

Question:  I'm trying to use the API to connect to OpticStudio. I'm using the default template script to establish a connection. When I run the script, I get an error message "License Check Failed" or "License is not valid for ZOSAPI use".   

I'm trying to write a ZPL macro in Notepad but I can't figure out how to save the file with the .zpl extension. Every time I try to save, the file name ends up looking like "MyMacro.zpl.txt". How can I change this?