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LightTools Capabilities Matrix
Optical System
| Number of optical elements allowed | Unlimited |
| Number of wavelengths allowed | Unlimited |
| Linear dimension options | Inches, nm, mm, cm, meters |
| Macro language | Yes (model creation, manipulation, analysis) |
| Number of sources allowed (Illumination only) |
Unlimited |
| Number of receivers allowed (Illumination only) |
Unlimited |
| Number of imaging paths allowed | Unlimited |
| Number of fields (imaging paths only) | Unlimited |
| Pupil specification options (imaging paths only) |
Entrance pupil diameter Numerical aperture at object |
| Field specification options (imaging paths only) |
Field angle (infinite conjugate) Object height (finite conjugate) |
| Reference rays (imaging paths only) | Chief ray plus unlimited reference ray definition (number and position) |
| Aperture stop (imaging paths only) | Definable on any optical surface |
| Automatic and user-defined data setting | Pupil specification (EPD or NAO) Vignetting (moves all reference rays) |
Optical Elements
| Surface shapes | Plane, Sphere, Conic Cylinder (X or Y) Toroid (X or Y, with 20th order aspheric profile) Polynomial asphere (20th order) Swept spline (input via macro) Spline patch (input via macro) Anamorphic asphere (20th order) Odd-power polynomial asphere (30th order) Zernike (65 terms) XY Polynomial (10th degree) Superconic (20th order) |
| Radius specifications | Radius or curvature |
| Radius type solves (imaging paths only) | Marginal or chief ray slope Marginal or chief ray angle of incidence Marginal or chief ray height Aplanatic (marginal or chief ray) |
| Thickness solve types (imaging paths only) | Marginal or chief ray height Paraxial image location |
| Number of solves per element | 4 (2 radii and 2 thicknesses, imaging paths only) |
| Surface characteristics - refract mode (can be applied to any surface shape) |
Refract (fails on TIR) Reflect TIR only (fails on refract) TIR (refract or reflect, depending on angle of incidence) Split (refract and reflect, unless TIR) Absorb (stops rays) Mechanical (stops rays) Diffract |
| Surface Scattering | Lambertian, Gaussian, cosn, user-defined, mixed distributions, elliptical Gaussian (BSDF) |
| Volume Scattering | Mie, user-defined, or Henyey Greenstein |
| Importance Sampling | Yes, via aim area and/or aim sphere |
| Surface properties | Transmittance Reflectance User-defined coatings Polarizing properties (ideal linear polarizer or retarder) Fresnel loss (calculated transmittance/ reflectance) Maximum number of hits per non-sequential ray |
| Diffractive surface forms | Linear grating Radial polynomial (DOE) XY polynomial (DOE) |
| Diffraction direction | Transmission, reflection, both (multiple orders allowed) |
| Glass types | Catalog glass Fictitious (Nd and Vd specified) User materials (optical and non-optical) |
| Glass entry method | Info dialog box or via Glass Map |
| Glass catalogs supplied | Schott, Ohara, Hoya, Chance, Corning France, Kodak, Baush & Lomb, Corning, Special or user material |
| Aperture shapes allowed | Circular, Rectangular, Arcuate, Ellipse, or Bitmap |
| Number of apertures per surface | Unlimited |
| Aperture location | Arbitrary location and orientation on surface |
Optical Element Operations
| Stretch lens focal point (changes power) | Yes (front or back focal point) |
| Bend lens (maintains power) | Yes |
| Cement/Uncement two elements | Yes (cementing changes 2nd radius as necessary) |
| Immersion | Yes |
| Scale | Yes |
| Move | Yes (absolute or by vector) |
| Copy | Yes (absolute or by vector) |
| Rotate | Yes (absolute or in pane) |
| Array | Yes (rectangular or circular) |
| Fold (maintains 2:1 ratio for old mirrors) | Yes (absolute or in pane) |
| Group/Ungroup elements | Yes |
| Align to user-coordinate system | Yes (along any axis) |
| Delete/Undelete | Yes (unlimited) |
Non-optical Elements
| Number of non-optical objects allowed | Unlimited |
| 3D object primitives | Block, Cylinder, Sphere Ellipsoid, Toroid Rotationally swept polyline Linear extrusion |
| 2D object types | Lines, Rectangles, Text |
Boolean Operations
| Types of operations | Union (combine multiple objects into one) Subtract (remove one object from others) Intersect (retain overlap of objects) Trim (slice off an edge) |
| Unbool operation | Yes, breaks apart into components |
| Number of Boolean operations allowed | Unlimited |
| Editing | Yes, all Boolean operations can be edited without the need to re-perform the operation |
| Applicable objects | All 3D objects, optical or non-optical (except sources) |
Non-Sequential Ray Tracing
| Ray tracing modes | Single ray Ray fan (point source, virtual point source, parallel fan) Ray grid (point source, virtual point source, parallel grid) |
| Invoking procedure | Point-and-shoot (select type, starting point, and direction) |
| Automatic update | Yes, upon any optical system change |
| Physical representation | Exact replication of behavior in 3D space, including splitting, TIR, multiple-order diffraction, scattering, etc. |
| Visualization | Color, line width, line style, show/no show all user-selectable |
Views
| 3D View | Wireframe, translucent, solid |
| 2D View | Planar, profile representation of 3D model |
| Table view | User-definable tables of components, sources, imaging paths, or non-sequential rays |
| Special purpose views | Non-sequential grid footprints on selected surface Performance coating editor |
| Number of open views allowed | Unlimited |
| Updating | Automatic updating of all open views |
| VRML Export | Yes |
Construction Tools
| Layers | 32 maximum (user-defined layer names) |
| Grid | Dot or quadrille On/Off selectable Show/No show selectable Variable X,Y spacing Color distinction at regular intervals |
| Grid snap (element positioning) | Snap to grid Snap to X, Y, or Z axis Snap to object Snap to any line Snap to orthogonal direction Enable/disable snap |
| Coordinate system | Global coordinates User-coordinate system (position and orientation user-selectable) |
| Positioning | Cartesian (absolute, relative) Spherical coordinates Polar coordinates Position absolute Position relative |
Layout Views
| Windowing | Pan (by mouse, command buttons, scroll bars, or window center) Zooming (by mouse, fixed factor or by selectable window) Fit (each pane individually or fit all panes the same) |
| Layout panes (3D Design view) | One or four pane Pane size adjustable |
| Viewpoint default | Front, side, top, isometric (3D Design view) Side (2D Design view, Imaging Path view) |
| Viewpoint modification (3D Design view only) |
Rotate about any axis (mouse or command buttons) Align to front or side of any object Align to any axis of user-coordinate system |
| Visibility | On/Off by layer or entity type |
| Rendering resolution | Selectable by slider |
| Color | Color, saturation, hue, translucence, and shininess selectable by surface type (refract, reflect, absorb, or mechanical surface) Color, line width, and line style selectable for any object |
Text Annotation
| Text features | Edit Normal, Italic Rotate, Position Scale independently in X,Y Proportional or fixed space, Justify |
| Ancillary elements | Lines, arrows (in library), boxes |
| Supplied fonts | 15 |
| Maximum number of fonts allowed | Unlimited |
Illumination Features (with Illumination Module only)
| Source properties | Point source Volume or surface emitter Radiant Imaging source data Sphere, Cylinder, Block, Toroid Polychromatic analysis Emittance control (direction, on/off) |
| Point source angular distribution | Lambertian, Uniform, User-defined |
| Surface emitter angular distribution | Lambertian, Uniform, User-defined |
| Surface emitter spatial distribution | Uniform, user-defined |
| Volume emitter angular distribution | Uniform, user-defined |
| Volume emitter volume distribution | Uniform, cylinder, user-defined |
| Number of sources | Unlimited |
| Receivers | Attached to surface or far-field User-defined "bins" Dynamic re-binning without re-tracing Dynamic re-focusing without re-tracing |
| Number of receivers | Unlimited |
| Ray trace | Fully non-sequential Monte Carlo method (random start point and direction) |
| Number of rays | Unlimited Optional preview on design views |
| Output | 2D line plots - rectangular and polar Raster pseudo-color, RGB color, or grayscale plots Candela plots Iso-illuminance contour plots 3D surface plots - rectangular and polar Graphical smoothing of ray trace data Scatter plots of Monte Carlo rays on receiver surface Encircle energy plots Tabular displays of encircled energy data Adjustable binning of irradiance/illuminance distributions Display of Monte Carlo rays Labeling with radiometric or photometric units Tab-delimited file import/export of illumination data |
| Analysis | Irradiance/Illuminance on a surface Luminous intensity of a source Source luminous intensity over a full sphere Encircled flux for a user-defined square, rectangle, circle, oval, and expanding slit Radial and planar symmetry data processing Statistics for the ray data (average, std-dev., max) Summary data of ray termination points Receivers can be moved and the illuminance distribution is automatically updated. |
Standard Interfaces
| Export | CODE V lens data CODE V plot file PostScript LightTools script Tab-delimited spreadsheet IGES and DXF wireframe VRML export |
| Import | CODE V lens data LightTools script |
Optional Import/Export Interfaces (with Data Exchange Modules)
| IGES | writes IGES version 5.3 reads IGES versions up to and including 5.3 |
| STEP | supports AP 203 CC 6 and AP 214 CC 2 |
| SAT | reads and writes versions 1.5, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 |
| CATIA | reads and writes CATIA V4 and V5 |
Imaging Paths (with Imaging Path Module only)
| Number of imaging paths allowed | Unlimited |
| Ray tracing types allowed | Sequential or non-sequential |
| Imaging path definition | By non-sequential ray By surface selection |
| Imaging path update | By adding objects or surfaces By non-sequential ray |
| Imaging Path view | Represents a single imaging path (includes lens prescription table with traditional sign conventions) |
| Field specification | Graphically via Field Spec window |
| Reference ray specification | Graphically via Pupil Map window |
| Optical performance plots | Ray aberration curves Spot diagrams |
| Exportable to CODE V | Yes |
| Importable from CODE V | Yes |