Hi Dekang,

That’s a tricky question. I didn’t find the possibility to Reload Surface with the ZOS-API.

However, I may have found a workaround if you are running a Standalone Application. The idea is to close TheApplication, modify the file, and then re-open a new application from within the same script. Closing TheApplication happens automatically after those default lines of code (I think):

# This will clean up the connection to OpticStudio.
# Note that it closes down the server instance of OpticStudio, so you for maximum performance do not do
# this until you need to.
del zos
zos = None

I made a dummy example in Python (should be similar to MATLAB):

if __name__ == '__main__':
    # Modify GRADIENT_9.DAT
    with open(r'C:\Users\David Nguyen\Documents\Zemax\Glasscat\GRADIENT_9.DAT', 'r') as file:
        data = file.readlines()

    data[0] = 'DUMMY\n'

    with open(r'C:\Users\David Nguyen\Documents\Zemax\Glasscat\GRADIENT_9.DAT', 'w') as file:
        file.writelines(data)

    # Start first application
    zos = PythonStandaloneApplication1()

    # load local variables
    ZOSAPI = zos.ZOSAPI
    TheApplication = zos.TheApplication
    TheSystem = zos.TheSystem

    # Gradient 9 type setting
    gradient_9 = TheSystem.LDE.GetSurfaceAt(1).GetSurfaceTypeSettings(ZOSAPI.Editors.LDE.SurfaceType.Gradient9)

    # Change Surface 2 to Gradient 9
    TheSystem.LDE.GetSurfaceAt(1).ChangeType(gradient_9)

    # Save this file
    test_file_path = r'C:\Users\David Nguyen\Desktop\test_0.zos'
    TheSystem.SaveAs(test_file_path)

    # This will clean up the connection to OpticStudio.
    # Note that it closes down the server instance of OpticStudio, so you for maximum performance do not do
    # this until you need to.
    del zos
    zos = None

    # Modify GRADIENT_9.DAT
    with open(r'C:\Users\David Nguyen\Documents\Zemax\Glasscat\GRADIENT_9.DAT', 'r') as file:
        data = file.readlines()

    data[0] = 'MODIFIED_DUMMY\n'

    with open(r'C:\Users\David Nguyen\Documents\Zemax\Glasscat\GRADIENT_9.DAT', 'w') as file:
        file.writelines(data)

    # Open a new application
    zos = PythonStandaloneApplication1()

    # load local variables
    ZOSAPI = zos.ZOSAPI
    TheApplication = zos.TheApplication
    TheSystem = zos.TheSystem

    # Change Surface 2 to Gradient 9
    TheSystem.LDE.GetSurfaceAt(1).ChangeType(gradient_9)

    # Save this other file
    test_file_path = r'C:\Users\David Nguyen\Desktop\test_1.zos'
    TheSystem.SaveAs(test_file_path)

    # This will clean up the connection to OpticStudio.
    # Note that it closes down the server instance of OpticStudio, so you for maximum performance do not do
    # this until you need to.
    del zos
    zos = None

I only modified this part of the template. On my desktop, it creates two files: test_0, and test_1. Test_0 has a Material called “DUMMY” while test_1 has “MODIFIED_DUMMY”.

I hope this can help you a little bit.

Take care,

David

Hi David,

Thanks very much for your detailed reply. It is very helpful! I would like to say it is indeed unfortunate there is no “Reload Surface” command in the ZOS-API. I notice that all the other tools in the LDE window has been equipped with a API command in the Tools section just except “Reload Surface”. I don’t know why this one is missing. Your idea is a really good workaround, and I am going to try it on my side. However, I would imagine it is challenging for my application. This is because I want to do a Monte-Carlo simulation by including the variation of GRIN lenses index, which needs ~ 10000 runs of simulation in a Monte-Carlo cycle. Therefore, re-opening file each time may result in a very long time.

I am wondering do you have any idea of how to improve the performance of re-opening file in standalone mode? such as parallel calculation? Any suggestions will be much appreciated.

Best regards,

Dekang

Hi David,

Your suggestion sounds great. Thanks very much for all your help!

Best regards,

Dekang