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Welcome to the Zemax Community! This is a gathering place for all things optics. Within this community, you will be able to find out more about your Zemax products. You will also be able to chat with other industry professionals about the latest trends. Use this space to ask questions, help others, and learn! Now that you're here, there are a few steps you should take to make the most of your experience! 新人入门？(Chinese Version)はじめてですか？ (Japanese Version) First Steps: 1. Subscribe to User News & AlertsWhen you subscribe, you will be kept up-to-date on news that affects Zemax’s user community, like new release functionalities, opportunities to learn and network, or critical issues. 2. Configure your profileLog into the platform and navigate to your profile settings here. Each of your profile elements (except your last name) will be visible to all community members. We encourage you to be descriptive: tell others about your areas of expertise and professional interests. 3. Introduce
The Export to PanDao tool currently only supports on-axis systems that use Standard surfaces with a conic constant of zero, Even Asphere, Extended Asphere, and Extended Odd Asphere surface types. Both refractive and reflective surfaces are supported. However, not all parameters for a PanDao estimate are included (e.g. asphericity), and not all tolerance operands are supported. It's a starting point to import lens design data into the PanDao website.Check out Sahil’s walk-through of the current implementation of the tool!After positive first customer feedback, we've been working on making this tool support more designs. The next update planned for release in September 2023 will convert all appropriate and necessary tolerance operands and lens parameters to the PanDao JSON format, so that only minimal manual data entry is required. Furthermore, all on-axis surfaces with real sag will be supported.
WelcomeWelcome to the April edition of the Ansys Zemax Community newsletter! Cherry blossoms in full bloom in Tokyo.Picture taken by @Takashi Matsumoto This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on technical content you might find interesting or helpful. This newsletter features content that has been posted or was popular during the last month! Check out what we have for you below:Welcome Zemax-er Spotlight: Luca Cellerino The Community in Review Featured Community Posts Ask An Engineer: Tolerance analysis on Binary 2 diffractive surfaces Code Exchange Latest Editions Chinese Forum: Popular Topics Japanese Forum: Popular Topics Knowledgebase Updates Ansys Optics Application Gallery Metalens – Ansys Optics Is this newsletter missing something you think others should know about? Or is there something you learned here that you didn’t know before? Let us know in the comments below! Zemax-er Spotlight: Luca CellerinoThis month, we are featuring Luca Cellerino (@Luca.cellerino
WelcomeWelcome to the March edition of the Zemax’s Community newsletter! This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on technical content you might find interesting or helpful. This newsletter features content that has been posted or was popular during the last month! Check out what we have for you below:Welcome The Community in Review Featured Community Posts Ask An Engineer: PanDao Export Demo Code Exchange Latest Editions Chinese Forum: Popular Topics Japanese Forum: Popular Topics Ansys Optics Application Gallery Zemax-er Spotlight: Oliver FähnleIs this newsletter missing something you think others should know about? Or is there something you learned here that you didn’t know before? Let us know in the comments below! The Community in ReviewFeatured Community PostsA shorter month might mean less activity for most communities, but not for ours. Our fantastic users were still out here helping their peers. We’ve collected some of the most-liked posts from February to shar
WelcomeWelcome to the February edition of the Zemax’s Community newsletter! This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on technical content you might find interesting or helpful. This newsletter features content that has been posted or was popular during the last month! Check out what we have for you below:Welcome The Community in Review Featured Community Posts Ask An Engineer Code Exchange Latest Additions Chinese Forum: Popular Topics → To Update Japanese Forum: Popular Topics Knowledgebase Updates Ansys Optics Application Gallery Zemax-er Spotlight: Francesco AldegheriIs this newsletter missing something you think others should know about? Or is there something you learned here that you didn’t know before? Let us know in the comments below! The Community in ReviewFeatured Community PostsEach month we are excited to see the community coming together to solve problems and discuss how to use the software. This month is no different! Check out some of the most helpful po
WelcomeWelcome to the January edition of the Zemax’s Community newsletter! We wish you all a happy new year 2023 and are looking forward to discussing with you all on our community.This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on items you might find interesting or helpful from the last month! Check out each of these items below:Welcome Featured Community Posts Knowledgebase Updates Zemax-er SpotlightIs there something else you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments below! Featured Community PostsWe have selected a couple of posts from last month that we thought might interest you.This post discusses coherence in non-sequential. For further information, I would also recommend checking this article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/opticstudio-coherent-power-michael-humphreys?trk=public_profile_article_view that gives a good insight. This post is about using POP to model diffraction from a Grid Phase surface. On the Code Exchange, here are the latest additions:This ZPL macro
WelcomeWelcome to the December edition of the Zemax’s Community newsletter! This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on items you might find interesting or helpful from the last month! Check out each of these items below:Welcome Featured Community Posts Knowledgebase Updates Zemax-er Spotlight: Success Stories in 2022Is there something else you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments below! Featured Community PostsIn the last month, we’ve seen a couple of topics really take off. Click below to see the latest. In particular, take a look at the first link wherein we discussed the relationship between POP and a user’s published paper: Refractive index of biological tissues: Review, measurement techniques, and applications: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-24176-8Lumerical RCWA和Zemax OpticStudio的动态链接 | Zemax Community With the year coming to a close, we looked back at our most popular forum posts from 2022. Take a look at the top 5 below. Is there one you think shou
WelcomeWelcome to the November edition of the Zemax’s Community newsletter! This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on items you might find interesting or helpful from the last month! Check out each of these items below:Welcome Featured Community Posts: AR/VR Chinese forum Japanese forum Check out the newly-released 22.3 suite of Zemax products! Knowledgebase Updates Zemax-er Spotlight: Ty AdairIs there something else you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments below! Featured Community Posts: AR/VRThis month, Yuan has been busy updating summary posts about the AR/VR topics.On the Code Exchange side, Yuan and Michael created a ZPL and Python scripts that can fit a non-sequential object like a CAD object into a built-in sequential surface. The scripts build a merit function and make a surface ready to be optimized! For example, that could be interested to describe a windshield in sequential mode. For more information, check the links below: Chinese forumAR/VR相关资料整理Japanes
WelcomeWelcome to the October edition of the Zemax’s Community newsletter! This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on items you might find interesting or helpful from the last month! Check out each of these items below:Welcome Where is September Community Update? David reaches the Luminary rank Featured Community Posts: Converters Chinese forum Japanese forum Knowledgebase Updates Zemax-er Spotlight: Alissa WilczynskiIs there something else you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments below!Where is September Community Update?You haven’t missed anything! We felt it was a bit awkward to publish our newsletter at the end of the month. So we skipped the September month and are starting afresh with the October one. There hasn’t been any Ask An Engineer event this month as we are working on a new format. David reaches the Luminary rankLast month, David reached the Luminary rank. He is the 1st to reach that rank. Congratulations @David.Nguyen and a massive thank you for all you
WelcomeWelcome to the August edition of the Zemax’s Community newsletter!This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on items you might find interesting or helpful from the last month! Check out each of these items below:Welcome Featured Community Posts: Heads-Up Display (HUD) Knowledgebase Updates Ask An Engineer: How do I import a CAD component in sequential design into OpticStudio? Zemax-er Spotlight: Mathilde ContyIs there something else you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments below!Featured Community Posts: Heads-Up Display (HUD)Heads-up displays are optical systems which allow information to be displayed to a user in a manner such that the user does not have to look away from their current field of view. These types of systems are particularly prevalent in the automotive industry wherein data (such as speed or remaining mileage) can be shown to a driver as a part of their windshield view. HUD systems are easily modeled in Ansys software. For example, you will see i
Event DetailsTopic: Utilizing a custom CAD component within Sequential Mode in OpticStudioLive demo and Q&A: August 24th, 8am - 9am PDT (See the attachments for a calendar invite)Engineer:@Gernot.Blobel - Senior Application Engineer, Ansys Zemax Ask an Engineer is a once-monthly live event. The meeting is a small, informal gathering wherein our technical staff will take the time to educate and answer questions on the featured topic. We highly encourage new users - especially students - to join and learn a bit more about the software!Take a look at the topic and resources below, then join us on August 24th to connect with our engineer. Live event: August 24th, 8am PST (the calendar invite may be found in the attachment link at the bottom of this post)Topic:It is often the case that our optical systems utilize unique parts or objects designed in-house. For example, a vehicle’s windshield shape (an important component of a HUD system) may be proprietary information that we would nee
WelcomeWelcome to the July edition of the Zemax’s Community newsletter!This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on items you might find interesting or helpful from the last month! Check out each of these items below:Welcome Featured Community Posts: Tools for the eye 中文论坛 日本語フォーラム Knowledgebase Updates Ask an engineer: How do I model my laser beam in OpticStudio? Zemax-er Spotlight: Gábor ErdeiIs there something else you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments below! Featured Community Posts: Tools for the eyeThis month we have selected forum posts around vision and eye modelling. Feel free to reply on these posts if you have some suggestions or feedback! We also had some activities on the Chinese and Japanese forum. And our lovely colleague @yuan.chen translated this popular post for English readers: 中文论坛用OpticStudio模擬微結構薄膜產生摩爾紋 (Moiré) | Zemax Community 日本語フォーラムノンシーケンシャルモードでの、レンズ起因の光芒・光条のシミュレーション方法 | Zemax Community室内照明(シーリングライト) 室内が人間の目にどう見えるかシミュレーションする方法 | Zemax Commu
Topic: Selecting a laser propagation method in OpticStudioLive solution reveal and Q&A: July 20th, 8am - 9am PDT (See the attachments for a calendar invite)Engineer: @Angel Morales - Senior Application Engineer at Ansys Zemax Ask an Engineer is LIVE again this month! Try out the challenge below to learn more modelling laser beams in OpticStudio, then come back on July 20th to discuss. Submit your solution or questions as a reply to this thread. Challenge opens: July 7thSubmit your file as a reply by: July 19th, EODLive event: July 20th 8am PST (the calendar invite is in the attachments)Challenge: OpticStudio supports several different approaches to model a laser input for your system. They include:Defining your geometric ray bundle with the correct aperture apodization and divergence angle Utilizing the Paraxial Gaussian Beam or Skew Gaussian Beam analysis to define and propagate your laser beam Generating and analyze your laser beam using the Physical Optics Propagation analysis
WelcomeWelcome to the June edition of the Zemax’s Community newsletter!This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on items you might find interesting or helpful from the last month! Check out each of these items below:Welcome Featured Community Posts: Tools for visualizing your system OpticsBuilder is now on OpticsAcademy! Knowledgebase Updates 日本語ナレッジベースを拡張中! (The Japanese Knowledgebase is expanding!) Zemax-er Spotlight: Paul K. ManhartIs there something else you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments below!Featured Community Posts: Tools for visualizing your systemThis month we have selected forum posts that present ideas or macros to improve visualization. It can be visualizing the entrance pupil on a layout, seeing the propagation of a gaussian beam through an optical system or plotting the MTF in object space. Feel free to reply on these posts if you have some suggestions or feedback! OpticsBuilder is now on OpticsAcademy!New to OpticsBuilder, or want to increase your
Topic: Build an initial lens design from a provided spec sheet using the APILive solution reveal and Q&A: June 22nd, 8am - 9am PDT (See the attachments for a calendar invite)Engineer: @Allie - Senior Application Engineer at Ansys Zemax Ask an Engineer is LIVE again this month! Try out the challenge below to learn more about the API, then come back on June 22nd to discuss. Submit your solution or questions as a reply to this thread. Challenge opens: June 9thSubmit your code as a reply by: June 21st, EODChallenge: Any new project for an optical designer comes with a set of required criteria. The job of the designer is to create a system which meets the requested specifications. To do this, the designer will begin with a generalized starting point, then optimize and tweak the system until it meets (or even exceeds) spec. Often, specification data is provided in the form of a data sheet which must then be translated into the optical simulation software of choice. An example of a thor
Table of ContentsThe Zemax 22.2 release is here! Learn from the experts in the 22.2 release webinar Our Community Manager’s Take The Zemax 22.2 release is here!The 22.2 release is available now, and we’ve got a series of events and information designed to help you make the most of the latest and greatest. Highlights include…Ray Aiming Wizard (OpticStudio) - Easily and accurately determine the optimal ray aiming settings to ensure that rays pass through your system. Export to Speos Lens System (OpticStudio) - Create a reduced-order model of the current optical system to be used in a Speos simulation, enabling accurate optical sensor simulation in a realistic environment. Performance Analysis (OpticStudio STAR Module) - Find out how temperature changes and deformations contribute to a change in system performance. Ray Footprint Boundaries (OpticsBuilder) - Interactive ray footprint boundaries allow the use of CAD tools to measure, position, and analyze the effects that mechanical compone
WelcomeWelcome to the May edition of the Zemax’s Community review newsletter!This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on items you might find interesting or helpful from the last month! Check out each of these items below:Welcome Featured Community Posts: Birefringence Knowledgebase Updates Zemax-er Spotlight: Chris NormanshireIs there something else you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments below! Featured Community Posts: BirefringenceThis month, we have selected forum posts around the birefringence theme. Birefringence materials are commonly used to make waveplates. For more information on waveplates, check out the next section!To model birefringent materials in OpticStudio, the Knowledgebase article How to design birefringent polarizers is a good starting point, but look at those interesting discussions on the forum. Knowledgebase UpdatesHow to model and design real waveplate in OpticStudio by Takashi Matsumoto (@Takashi Matsumoto) This article shows how to model a
Topic: Creating a user-defined surface using DLLsLive solution reveal and Q&A: May 19th, 8am - 9am PDT (See the attachments for a calendar invite.)Engineer: @Sandrine Auriol - Lead Application Engineer at Ansys Zemax This month, Ask an Engineer looks a little different! Give the challenge a try to learn more about DLLs, then come back on May 19th to discuss! Submit your solution or questions as a reply to this thread. Challenge opens: May 2nd Submit your code as a reply by: May 18th, EODChallenge: OpticStudio surfaces are typically represented with continuous curves - either given by a smooth sag equation, or a spline which connects individual sag points. However, discrete steps may be needed to best represent an optical surface. For example, when manufacturing an optic with a 3D printer or lathe, the tool may generate the shape through the use of different zones of sag data, instead of a smooth profile, and you may want to represent a rough first-pass prototype in your simulation
WelcomeWelcome to the April edition of the Zemax’s Community review newsletter! This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on items you might find interesting or helpful from the last month! Check out each of these items below:Welcome Featured Community Posts: Mathematica Knowledgebase Updates Zemax-er Spotlight: Dr. Helke Karen HesseIs there something else you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments below! Featured Community Posts: MathematicaIn OpticStudio 22.1 Mathematica templates have been added to support Mathematica users when using ZOS-API. Since this, we have seen questions popping on the forum so if you are a Mathematic user, have a look as there might be the answer that you are looking for: Knowledgebase UpdatesAutomated recurring documentation for optical designs with ZOS-API and LaTeX – Knowledgebase by @Karen This article will explain how to automate the documentation of optical designs with ZOS-API and LaTeX. An example for a comparison of 2 systems with 8
Our team is heading out to Laser World of Photonics! Will you be there? Below is a list of technical team members who will be attending the trade show. Come chat with us!Jet into Munich, Germany and find us at booth #B6.216! @Chris Normanshire - Lead Application EngineerChat with me about OpticStudio and STAR! @Thomas Magnac - Manager Application Engineering, EMEALooking forward to talking with you! @Gernot.Blobel - Senior Application EngineerYou are welcome to chat with us and we are looking forward to many exciting conversations about our products! @Sahil - Application Engineer IIChat me about programming capabilities of Zemax. @Christophe.Weisse - Senior Application EngineerHappy to speak about your workflow! @Tom Pickering, Zemax - Senior Product Manager, OpticStudioChat with me about OpticStudio!
Due to the evolving situation with Ukraine, Ansys (Zemax) made the decision in March to pause the distribution of technical assistance and software licenses to customers in Russia or Belarus. As a result of this decision, Community accounts of these users have also been banned. This ban was initiated as of April 15, 2022.A ban is not an account deletion, so users’ activity will be retained; however, it does prevent a user from logging in and posting on the forums. Bans are not permanent. This will be subject to ongoing review until such time that we can resume normal technical interactions in this region.We regret any immediate inconvenience arising from this, but hope you can understand the current constraints. If you have any questions in relation to this, please contact RussiaSupportUpdate@ansys.com.
Join us for our monthly “Ask an Engineer” event! Submit your questions between now and April 14th. The event will be hosted on this thread in text form with a focus on the spotlighted topic: Topic: OpticStudio-CAD interoperability and OpticsBuilderTo turn optical designs into reality, teams of optical and mechanical engineers need to coordinate their individual expertise around one common goal. In order to convert optical designs into CAD Zemax offers different approaches. I am happy to answer question about that in this month`s "Ask an Engineer" Event. Please ask your questions on Zemax OpticsBuilder, CAD Files Export tools, CAD Parts in Zemax OpticStudio and optomechanical workflows in general. Dates: March 30th - April 14thLive Discussion Time: 8am - 9am PST, April 14thEngineer:@Flurin Herren - Application Engineer II at Ansys ZemaxSubmit your questions as a reply to this thread between now and the end of the event. Items may be added in any supported language (English, Japan
WelcomeWelcome to the March edition of the Zemax’s Community review newsletter! This newsletter provides updates for you, the user, on items you might find interesting or helpful from the last month! In this article, we will call out forum posts you may have missed and will honor a Zemax user who has made a contribution to their peers! Check out each of these items below:Welcome Check out the updated Code Exchange! Keep up-to-date with your Zemax product through our User Groups Featured Community Posts: Structural and Thermal Analysis Zemax-er Spotlight: David NguyenIs there something else you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments below! Check out the updated Code Exchange!With the launch of the updated forums in August 2021, we introduced the Code Exchange - an exclusive forum for supported users. Within the forum, Zemax engineers and other users are contributing their coding solutions. In this space, you will find everything from ZOS-API analyses to DLLs to ZPL macros. Upon requ
Join us for our monthly “Ask an Engineer” event! Submit your questions between now and March 17th. The event will be hosted on this thread in text form with a focus on the spotlighted topic: Topic: STAR: Bring structural and thermal analysis results into OpticStudioPredicting the optical effects resulting from mechanical stresses or thermal variations is an important step in creating a valid digital prototype. Ask your questions about modeling surface deformations due to mechanical stress, expansion or compression of components due to temperature changes, temperature gradients or changes across a system, and effects of temperature on index of refraction. Dates: March 4th - March 17thLive Discussion Time: 8am - 9am PST, March 17thEngineer:@Hui Chen - Senior Application Engineer at Ansys ZemaxSubmit your questions as a reply to this thread between now and the end of the event. Items may be added in any supported language (English, Japanese, Chinese). Questions added to the discussi
