Hello Zemax Community, I am struggling to navigate the OpticStudio API in MATLAB. What I'm attempting to do shouldn't be that difficult. I think my issue is I'm not an object oriented programmer, much less a competent software developer so I'm really struggling. First thing I tried was consulting several helpful examples that successfully demonstrated grabbing analysis data through MATLAB. I've run and studies these and can grab wavefans, MTF and spot diagrams. Although the last one looked like it used the ray trace engine directly and not the spot diagram analysis function. The specific example that I think would get me started is if I had example code showing how to pull wavefront maps at various fields and wavelengths in the 28deg double Gauss sample lens file. I found the analysis method 'New_WavefrontMap' and can create the object in Matlab but can't figure out how to actually get the data. It does not appear as easy as grabbing a full double array.

I have a simple lens diagram where my goal is to decenter one of the two elements, and record the change in the Ray X Center value of the footprint diagram. I have found how to view/change the Decenter X column of the coordinate break using TheSystem.LDE.GetSurfaceAt(2).GetCellAt(12).get_Value() and xx.DoubleValue =.  Next, I need to pull out the value of Ray X Center from the footprint diagram after propogating the changes made by altering the decenter. Either through grabbing the single value, or even saving the entire footprint diagram text values. I have found what I believe is the correct location for this data at TheSystem.Analyses.Get_AnalysisAtIndex(2), as xx.get_GetAnalysisName() returns 'FootprintSettings'. I have not yet been able to find a method (through tab completing in PyCharm) that returns the data in any way.  How can I pull out the footprint diagram information?

Hi, I want to do a loop to get a lot of MTF curves. How do I do with GETMTF? I know how to run it in a single time, but if I want to change object distance every time and rerun the GETMTF, how should I do the loop? How to set object distance at ZPL macro? Thanks a lot. 

I used the ZPL example to calculate psf. why there is an error message.

which operand can be used to get the peak2valley data from wavefront map. thanks

In multi configuration operand, THIC is surface-to-surface distance.  I want to modify THIC operand! Principal plane-to-principal plane!   

I am using FLDX,FLDY to get the current field angle. Now, I find in the Help: These commands are obsolete. See “SETSYSTEMPROPERTY, SYSP”. But SETSYSTEMPROPERTY is to *set* properties of the system, not to *read* them. So how do I access the current field angle now?   Best,      Christof.

I am using non-sequential mode. And I want to detect by automatically moving the location of the source by 1mm. How to write zpl file? I want to figure out the number of hits by point source location. Ex) point source location(0,0,0) >> clear & trace >> point source location(1mm,0,0) >> clear & trace >> point source location(2mm,0,0) >> clear & trace >> point source location(3mm,0,0) >> clear & trace ...

Hello, This post would just like to share how you could find stray light with OpticStudio hologram model.  In the following knowledge base article,  Simulating diffraction efficiency of a volume holographic grating using Kogelnik’s method  we have shared an non-sequential example as below.       It's not obvious, but here are actually some stray light in this example. To find them, we can just increase the Contrast Enhancement in Detector Viewer as shown below.       Then you can find those 0th order ghost!   

When we see the following error using C# for ZOS API User Extension, the most common reason is we opened a tool and didn't well close it before open it again.   For example, in the second built-in sample code, we can see there is a line that calls the funciton close() to close the ray trace tool. The same applies to many other tools like ILocalOptimization, IHammerOptimization, IGlobalOptimization, INSCRayTrace, ITolerancing, IConvertToNSCGroup ... etc. If we try to open the RayTrace tool again before close the previous one, the error will show.   The other similar reason this may happen is we terminate the application, for example using the [X] button, unusually before the tool is closed.   Note there is a property called TheSystem.Tools.CurrentTool. It's convenient if we can check it and close if needed when finished the API code like below.

Hello! I tried to open .zmx files and raytrace them, but I got an error code: Error: Dot indexing is not supported for variables of this type.         normUnPolData = rayTracer.CreateNormUnpol(nRays,realRayType,nSurf);    I think that when I open another .zmx file, the 'Open Batch RayTrace' code doesn't seem to be updated. Could you tell me how can I solve this problem? Thanks.

Hi! I am trying to set up a system with different configurations of a light source. The light source is defined by a source file and set up as a circular array with a certain radius. I would like to change the radius of this circle between different configurations of the system. Is there a way to reach this radius parameter by a multi-configuration operand?   The ZPL function SETNSCPROPERTY seems to have a way to reach in and do this. SETNSCPROPERTY (keywords)   Sets properties of NSC objects. Syntax: SETNSCPROPERTY surface, object, code, face, value Code Property The following codes set values on the Sources tab of the Object Properties dialog. 112 Sets the array mode; 0 for none, 1 for rectangular, 2 for circular, 3 for hexapolar, and 4 for hexagonal. 165-166 Sets the array mode double precision arguments 1 and 2.   I have tried to set this with the NPRO operand

I'm using the ZOS API to work with ZAR files our engineers produce. We're using ZAR files since there are CAD files associated with the ZMX file. I want to open a ZAR file. There aren't any examples of how to do this, and `TheSystem.Tools.OpenRestoreZAR` isn't well documented; for example, `get_ArchiveFile` isn't in the docs. Here is my code so far: zos = PythonStandaloneApplication() zos_api = zos.ZOSAPI zos_system = zos.TheSystem zos_system.MakeNonSequential() zos_system.SystemData.MaterialCatalogs.AddCatalog('SCHOTT') non_sequential_component_editor = zos_system.NCE zar_path = os.path.join('..', 'data', config['filename']) if not os.path.exists(zar_path): print(f'ZAR file does not exist at {zar_path}.') zar_restorer = zos_system.Tools.OpenRestoreZAR() status_code = zar_restorer.SetFileName(zar_path) print(status_code) `SetFileName` doesn't work even if I know there is a ZAR file at that location. Where do I go

We have some asymmetric scatterers in the lab that I would like to model in zemax. They have different gaussian scattering properties in horizontal and vertical direction. So i tried to use the Gaussian XY DLL to model it, but it behaves weired. A ray hitting the surface perpendicular is scattered as intended, but rays under even small angles are changing it completely. The scatter pattern for a ray with 1° in x-direction is twisted 90° to a ray under 1° in y-direction. Is there a mistake or do I something wrong? I have attached an example file. Best Steffen

I want to setting imageDelta of fftpsf on ZOS-API-MATLAB   my matlab code is below   I wonder How can I command imageDelta. When I try ' newWin_Settings.ImageDelta = 0.5; ' There's some error with ' Attempted to index object 'null' '   In ZOS-API help document, We can handle imageDelta with 'double'   How do I input into MATLAB so I can change imagedelta of fftpsf?   my MATLAB code...  ----------------------------     TheAnalyses = TheSystem.Analyses;     newWin = TheAnalyses.New_FftPsf();     newWin_Settings = newWin.GetSettings();     newWin_Settings.SampleSize = ZOSAPI.Analysis.Settings.Psf.PsfSampling.PsfS_512x512 ;     newWin_Settings.ImageDelta = 0.5;           newWin.ApplyAndWaitForCompletion();     newWin_Results = newWin.GetResults();          dataSeries = newWin_Results.DataSeries(1);  &nbs

Hello, I was wondering, if it is possible to define the Settings for a 'PhysicalOpticsPropagation' Window created in Matlab as follows:   window = TheSystem.Analyses.New_Analysis(ZOSAPI.Analysis.AnalysisIDM.PhysicalOpticsPropagation)   I am missing an option for "General", "Beam Definition", "Display", and so on.

Hello, I did not like the Standalone Application for the Matlab API which is generated from OpticStudio. This is why I wrote a 'ZemaxStandalone' class, which is based on a naked generated Standalone File. In my opinion, it makes the API a lot more usable and you dont have to write a new Standalone script for each of your appliucations. You only need to create an Instance of this class by a given filepath string. The Class file should be well documented. Have fun with an easier life!   Cheers, Nils

Hi,  I'm writing a macro to calculate ghost foci from focussing optics, and I need a little more flexibility than the built-in function. The way I'm doing this is by adding a mirror surface to the output of a lens system, and then duplicating the optics preceding the lens in reverse order. I'm having trouble with the output of a raytrace after a reflecton off a surface in ZPL, specifically, the direction of the ray does not change (and rays which should converge, diverge), and the ray acts as though the optics are arranged linearly.  Calling a single raytrace yields the expected results and accounts for the reflection as it should, but the output from the raytrace command in ZPL does not do this.  Do I need to configure the raytrace command in ZPL in a certain way to allow reflections? Any help is greatly appreciated! I've attached the output of a single raytrace and the output of my script which (at this stage) ought to match the raytrace outp

I have a macro calling GETPSF for various thicknesses to the focal plane, and I am getting np = -3,  'General Error' returned when I use Gaussian apodization. I have checked that the FFT PSF is calcualting without error for the same thicknesses as are in my macro. What else can cause a 'General Error' in response to a call to GETPSF?  

Stuck in my research. I need to include some basic simulations of grin lenses using Zemax but i have no clue. I have read a lot and watched couple of videos. I guess I still need someone more familiar to put me through some technicalities. Anyone available to help? I can share my email or my phone number. Thanks in anticipation

Hello, Zemax team. I have a question about the sample code #22. In this code (line 67), for loop is used to plot spot diagrams of each three fields. My question is, can I use a different parameter (e.g. ROC of a surface) to plot spot diagrams using for loop? Thank you!

Hello, I am currently programming a ZOS-API application to estimate the Minimum Relative Ray Intensity. Here I would like to open the 'Scatter Function Viewer', adjust my scatter model and everything else to get a rough lower estimate of my reflection by the total power. Unfortunately I could not change the settings by myself with the help of the ZOS-API Help and further attempts and hope for an answer here.   My code is structured as follows: I program in Python, which makes the syntax very similar to Matlab and I can use it without problems. With kind regards Christian

Dear Zemax Team I would like to pick up in surface 21 the parameter 18 from surface 17, in Matlab, something like:     Par18 = Surface_21.GetSurfaceCell(ZOSAPI.Editors.LDE.SurfaceColumn.Par18);     TheLDE.GetSurfaceAt(21).SurfaceColumn.Par18.PickupFrom = 17; But I cannot get it working properly. Thanks for your help.Best regards Gabriele  

Is it possible in ZPL to detect if a line red with READSTRING Line$ contains only any number of spaces or tabs?

Hi everyone,   I'm trying to insert a surface using a DLL file, but it looks like my OpticStudio is not recognize the file. My actions were putting the file in C:\ProgramData\Zemax\DLL\Surfaces (where all the other user define functions located) and then search for this file in the lens data editor. (I followed the instruction from https://my.zemax.com/en-US/Knowledge-Base/kb-article/?ka=KA-01787. Without making any changes)   Looking over the list, I don't see my file. What could be the reason for that? What is the right way to use user-defined function/ DLL functions?   Thanks a lot! Marta