Calendar

SPIE Optics & Photonics
August 2-6, 2009
San Diego, CA
Booth 229
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Introduction to Illumination Design Using LightTools
November 2-4, 2009
Pasadena, California
Click here for more details and to enroll

Advanced Topics in LightTools:  Optimization and COM/API
November 5-6, 2009
Pasadena, California
Click here for more details and to enroll

For a complete list of LightTools events worldwide: visit our website

Overview of LightTools 6.3

The latest LightTools update, version 6.3, was released last month.  This major update to LightTools includes several enhancements:

• Alternate Optimization Engine: An alternate optimization engine has been added to the LightTools Optimization Module.  This alternate engine can be used for systems that do converge well using the default standard optimization engine. 

• New LED Library: A new LED Library has been added to LightTools.  This new library includes LED source models from Cree, Lumileds, Nichia, and OSRAM.  Users can import the source geometry of hundreds of LED models installed with LightTools 6.3.  Supporting LightTools ray data files are also available for download on many of the LED manufacturers’ websites. 

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• File System Improvements: Improvements have been made to the way LightTools sets up and accesses file folders.  These changes were made to support Windows Vista file protection policies, but benefit users under Windows XP as well. 

• Phosphor Modeling: Several enhancements have been made to LightTools’ phosphor modeling capabilities, including a density scale factor for defining the mean free path and new scale factors for defining excitation spectrum and quantum yield. 

• IES Export: LightTools 6.3 includes a new IES data export capability that allows users to export intensity slice data to an IES format file. 

• Thin Film Editor: A new thin film editor has been added to LightTools 6.3, allowing users to define multi-layer coatings using the physical definition (thickness and wavelength/index) of each layer in the coating.  These definitions can then be saved as performance based coatings and applied to your LightTools model. 

• Ray Data Export Enhancements: Several enhancements have been made to LightTools’ ray data export feature.  Ray data files now include the addition of wavelength and CIE tristimulus data as well as a new binary file format. 

These short videos are available on the ORA Customer Support Web site, www.oraservice.com. For more information on these and other enhancements in LightTools 6.3, please refer to the Release Notes installed in the LightTools 6.3 Document Library under Help.

Using Measured BSDF Data in LightTools

Several new BSDF Scatter material downloads have been added to the ORA Customer Support Web site, www.oraservice.com.  There is currently measured BSDF data available for download for 24 reflective sheets and 16 diffuser sheets under LightTools Support > BSDF Scatter Data Library.  We will continue to add new materials as they become available.

A new 14 minute training video, Using Measured BSDF Data in LightTools, is also available for viewing on this site.

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