Dear Csilla,

thank you for your quick response and the solution idea. Unfamiliar with Universal Graphs and the NSDD function, it took me a while to figure this out.

Now I have the Universal Graph working with an Annular aperture, where I scan the radius in the Universal graph.

The NSDD function takes the output of a detector. However, it does not seem to consider the filter string (e.g. H13 & H34 &H37) of the detector. Is this observation right? Is there a way to consider the filter string to avoid any strange rays to my detector? Or can I consider the filter string in the NSTR function?

Below some screeshots to show what I have done.

• The detector with the filter string
• The merit function with NSTR and NSDD
• The Universal Graph settings

Many thanks

Markus

Hi Markus,

Thanks for your your follow-up question.

Yes, you are correct with your observation. Unfortunately, currently the filter strings are not taken into account when using the NSDD operand. The problem is that currently filter strings are not supported without saving a ZRD file, because all of the detectors are 'lit up' while tracing the ray, while the filters only apply after the entire ray path has been computed. 

This has been raised before by other users, and there is an open feature request for it, so I have gone ahead and voted for that feature request in our internal system on your behalf.

Please keep in mind that feature requests are weighed based on impact, difficulty to implement, and the number of users who request it. A request is not a guarantee that the feature will be added to a future release. However, these feature requests are very important to us and shape the future of OpticStudio, so we appreciate your input regarding desired functionality.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention again!

In the meantime, the most efficient workaround is to work through the API. You can use MATLAB for example to establish a connection to OpticStudio and run a series of ray traces while saving the ray data as a ZRD file and applying filter strings. Then, you can plot the data calculated based on those ray files.

To move forward with the workaround using the API, I would suggest to check out these forum threads about how to pull detector data from the API:

Methods for extracting detector data through the API · MyZemax

Accessing filtered detector data with ZOSAPI · MyZemax

How can I pull Peak Irradiance or Total Hits from the Detector Viewer analysis in the API? · MyZemax

For more information about how to use ZRD files and apply filter strings specifically, please check out the sample code of Example 10 - NSC ZRD Filter String:

Apologies for the inconveniences!

Best,

Csilla

Dear Csilla,

thank you for your quick response and explaining the options I have.

Instead of using the filter strings, I have now included an additional annulus to take out the unwanted rays. This works quite fine and gives me the same result as the filter strings.

With this work-around I could now create a an equivalent graph to the encircled power graph in sequential mode. For this I have used NSDD in the Merit function and a 1D Universal Graph.

Best regards and thanks for the good support

Markus