Calendar

Introduction to Illumination Design Using LightTools
Oct. 1-3, 2007
Pasadena, California
Click here for more details and to enroll

Advanced Topics in LightTools:  Optimization, COM/API, and Photorealistic Rendering
Oct. 4-5, 2007
Pasadena, California
Click here for more details and to enroll

LEDs 2007
Booth 76
Oct. 24-26, 2007
San Diego, CA
LEDS 2007 website

LightTools Version 6.0

LightTools version 6.0, which shipped early last month to all users, features several major enhancements to LightTools.  To view a recording of a recent Webinar that presents an overview of the new features in version 6.0, please visit ORA's Customer Support Web Site, www.oraservice.com.  To view this recording, click Webinar Recordings under LightTools Support.

Here's a brief description of some of the major enhancements included in version 6.0:

Multiple Immersion: LightTools now supports multiple levels of immersion, which enables you to immerse an already immersed element, into another element.  This allows you to correctly model and ray trace system in which rays encounter multiple materials, such as the phosphor and epoxy covering of an LED. 

Optimization Module: You can now optimize an illumination mesh to achieve a particular pattern (e.g., uniform, Gaussian, etc.) while simultaneously targeting total or peak power using a single merit function.  The mesh data and variance settings have been moved to a new Mesh Data table in the Optimization Manager for better organization.

Two new variance options have also been added to the Optimization Manager dialog box: Scale targets based on total power, and Scale targets based on desired peak value.

A new scale factor is used to calculate the mesh merit function that results in a relative increase in the merit function if you use absolute targets and/or change the number of mesh bins.  The smarter scale factor will prevent radical changes in the merit function that could occur in earlier versions under these conditions.

Parameter Sensitivity Utility: This powerful new utility enables you to determine the effect of specific variables on the merit function prior to optimization, helping you to determine which variables will have the biggest impact during the optimization process.   It can also be used to perform a tolerance sensitivity study to determine the impact of manufacturing tolerances on the final as-built design.

User-defined Optical Properties:  This new feature extends the LightTools surface optical property capability to provide a programming interface for developing custom optical properties via executable component libraries that can be dynamically linked with LightTools.  Examples of the types of optical properties users can program include specialty polarization components, grating components with efficiency calculations, anamorphic scatterers, specialty coatings, and more. 

User Interface Enhancements:  Based on customer requests, two new user interface enhancements have been made in LightTools 6.0.  LightTools now supports keyboard shortcuts for all menu items.  The keyboard shortcut characters can be displayed (via underline) and activated in the menus by pressing the Alt key.  You can also now use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out in the design views, replicating the In and Out commands on the toolbar.

Improvements to LightTools Distributed Simulation Feature: Several enhancements and bug fixes have been made to LightTools Distributed Simulation Feature.  Most notable, the job priority for the server LightTools sessions has been increase from Low to Normal, and can be modified via the ltService program.  By increasing the default job priority, distributed sessions of LightTools will be less likely to "time out" when system resources are limited. 

LightTools 6.0 Service Release Available for Download

LightTools version 6.0 SR1, a service release to version 6.0, is now available for download.  This downloadable patch fixes over a dozen customer reported bugs in version 6.0.  For more details on the specific bugs fixed in 6.0 SR1 and to download this patch click here.  We encourage all LightTools users to download and install this service release.

Known Issue in 6.0 Not Yet Resolved: We have discovered a bug in LightTools 6.0 and earlier which can produce incorrect results when modeling luminescent materials if inert particles are included in the scattering definition.  We will fix this bug in the next LightTools service release, scheduled for later this year.  If you would like more details regarding this problem and a workaround, please contact ORA Customer Service (service@opticalres.com).