Calendar
Introduction to Illumination Design Using LightTools
October 11-14
Pasadena, California
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COM Macro Programming in LightTools
October 15
Pasadena, California
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Introduction to LightTools
October 18-22
Munich, Germany
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Selected Advanced Topics in LightTools
October 18-22
Munich, Germany
Contact OEC
For a complete list of LightTools events worldwide: visit our website
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Quick Tip – The User Coordinate System (UCS) in LightTools
In addition to a fixed global coordinate system, LightTools includes a user coordinate system (UCS) that can greatly facilitate aligning objects as they are created or imported. The initial location of the UCS is coincident with the global coordinate system.
The controls to move the UCS are found in the palette in the 3D view, which includes tools to move the UCS to an arbitrary location, move it to a surface, or move it to a line. For example, the UCSOnSurface button moves the UCS to a selected surface, which positions the UCS at the surface's tag point and aligns the UCS Z-axis with the surface normal. This button is also present in the 3D view toolbar, as shown in the following figure. Select the button, and then select the desired surface to quickly move the UCS to that surface.
Once defined, the USC is represented by red (X), green (Y), and blue (Z) axes arrows, as shown below:
The UCSOnSurface button is particularly convenient for inspecting a selected surface, as the UCS has the attribute of being the anchor point for any rotation of the 3D view. For any option that requires the entry of a point, you can enter the point relative to the UCS in the 3D view's command line, specified by LXYZ x,y,z.
A third type of coordinate system available in LightTools is a reference coordinate system. While there can be only one global coordinate system and one UCS in a model, there can be unlimited reference coordinate systems. The reference coordinate systems are often helpful when you are creating complicated 3D geometry. The reference coordinate system controls are available in the 3D view menu, and include controls to define a reference coordinate system as an independent entity, an attribute of a surface, or an attribute of a primitive. Independent reference coordinate systems are useful to serve as a reference location for a group of objects. Reference coordinate systems that are attributes of either a surface or primitive will move and scale with any changes to their respective surface or primitive.
A new 6-minute video demonstrates how the UCS and reference coordinates can be used with the Align Along tool to align LEDs onto a planar surface. This video is available for viewing on ORA's Customer Support Web Site, www.oraservice.com, under .
LightTools 7.1 Release Candidate is Available for Download
The LightTools 7.1 Release Candidate (RC) is an early release of version 7.1 that has undergone extensive internal testing at ORA. We are making this available to all LightTools users who are interested in using its new capabilities. Although we feel the quality of the Release Candidate is high, we strongly encourage users to report any problems you may encounter with LightTools 7.1 RC1 so that any critical issues can be addressed before shipping the final LightTools 7.1 update later this year. LightTools 7.1 RC1 is available only via download. If you did not already receive an email with download instructions, and would like to try 7.1 RC1, please let us know at service@opticalres.com.
LightTools 7.1 contains many useful enhancements. Some key new features include:
- User interface improvements that allow you to maximize the design view and improve productivity. For example, charts can be placed on their own tabbed view and dialog boxes can be docked together and automatically minimized.
- Illuminance visualization in the 3D Design view on any dummy plane surface. This allows you to quickly understand the shape and orientation of the distribution relative to the model geometry.
- Support for IES photometry types A, B, and C for orienting intensity data for both far-field and surface receivers. You can specify IES photometry types on any receiver in the model to orient the intensity data. The intensity data and charts better correspond to the labels and bounds that are measured by goniophotometers.
- CIE color difference analysis. You can compute and optimize color differences on any spatial or angular mesh. When you specify a color target, the Cartesian distance between the target and any point in the mesh is calculated. You can then optimize the color differences, and as the variations become smaller, the color becomes more uniform at the target.
Additional information on these and other enhancements included in LightTools 7.1 can be found in the LightTools 7.1 Release Notes.
Limited space is still available for this Fall's LightTools Training Classes at ORA Pasadena. Enrollment is now open for:
- Introduction to LightTools
October 11-14, 2010
- LightTools COM Macro Programming
October 15, 2010
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