What
is "optical engineering software"? How is it
different from lens design software?
“Optical
engineering software” picks up where lens design software leaves off. With
optical engineering software, the analyst merges the optical elements with the
mechanical components to build a complete, integrated model. Frequently this is
the first time in the product development process where the optical and
mechanical parts are together in the same model, and so mismatched elements,
incorrect separations and/or locations, inconsistent dimensions, “the same lens
has to be in two places at once”,
etc are
readily identified.
This integrated model serves as a basis for
performing “real world” analyses of the performance of opto-mechanical system.
For example
FRED
is routinely used to analyze and quantify:
| • | Formation of ghost images in molded plastic lenses | |
| • | Formation of lens-damaging ghost images in laser systems | |
| • | Stray light levels in sensors | |
| • | Interference effects in coherent systems | |
| • | Irradiance and intensity uniformity in illumination systems | |
| • | Appearance of images at different wavelengths and under various types of illumination | |
| • | Signal levels, throughput losses | |
| • | Unexpected “glint” (specular) paths (sometimes called “sneak paths”) that create image artifacts | |
| • | Contrast levels in projector systems | |
| • | Effectiveness of baffle, light shields, surface treatments, etc to improve contrast | |
| • | Thermal self-emission levels in MWIR, LWIR systems |
No product, no matter how trivial, should be released for prototyping without being assessed by FRED optical engineering software!
Why is
it important to work in a 3D virtual prototyping environment?
It's
critical to your finished product to conceptualize and capture the entire
optical/illumination design early in the design process. Good designs are built
from the ground up with the intent of manufacturing a product. The only
productive way to do this is by creating a 3D CAD model that takes into account
not only the optical elements but the mounting and mechanical structure that may
obstruct or interfere with the light propagation path. The ultimate power of
virtual prototyping is the capability to test a total system concept quickly
without spending time and costs to cut metal through multiple iterations.
FRED's
3D WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) CAD interface is perfect for virtual
prototyping.
Why
use a 3D CAD environment, aren't spreadsheet based products faster?
If you are
trying to use a spreadsheet interface to do 3D virtual prototyping check
yourself with this important question? When I need to manufacture my new
concept, will my CAD department use a 3D CAD interface or a spreadsheet-based
product to create the manufactured model? It might be faster in some instances
to work in a 2D spreadsheet environment, but you are sacrificing detail required
to fully manufacture the assembly and you are losing the 3D visual understanding
of how parts are placed in regard to each other spatially. Using a spreadsheet
interface is usually a clunky affair that has problems providing the full visual
3D global picture. Instead, what you usually see are "snapshots" of 2D sections
that prevent you from easily finding problem areas in 3D space that need to be
addressed before creating the finished product.
Why is
FRED
superior for exporting CAD models?
Spreadsheet
based products are known for exporting poor CAD models. This is mainly due to
the fact that most of these products use exact surface equations to model
optical components and these surfaces are exported as wireframe models or second
order patches of higher ordered surfaces. These models are great for fast
raytracing speeds and effective for reducing optimization time, but real surface
data is needed to convert these surfaces to the NURB information that CAD
systems need. The amount of time for an engineer to convert models from
spreadsheet surface based systems into a complete manufacturable CAD model may
take more time than the entire time it takes to do the optical design. Isn't
it a better idea to use a 3D CAD program that exports exact solid and surface
geometry at manufacturing tolerances which
FRED
does to
alleviate this tiresome and problematic step?
Further,
FRED
exports both the opto-mechanical subassemblies and a full ray set detailing the
footprint of the optical ray set or beams through the optical assembly. This
feature is perfect for checking ray set or beam impingement on mechanical
structure through the optical path.
Other optical software is very expensive. Why is
FRED
so inexpensive?
Does the low cost mean that
FRED
is less capable?
Photon Engineering is a focused business
with two lines of business: consulting services and
FRED.
We do not divert our resources into unprofitable business pursuits nor do we
have a “top heavy” management. By concentrating on what we do best, we can keep
the development costs down and the value to our customers up.
FRED
is comprehensive, full-featured optical engineering software in daily use by our
own consulting group, national laboratories and universities, major aerospace
and defense contractors, product development companies, and consultants
worldwide. Compare its features with those of any other software on the market
and you’ll see that
FRED
is cost-effective and capable!
Other optical software is available in several
different editions and/or with several options.
Are there different editions of
FRED?
Are there any add-ons or extra features to buy?
From the beginning, we planned to market one,
comprehensive, all-inclusive edition of
FRED;
with no
add-ons or extras to purchase! Recently, however,
several of our larger customers requested an edition
that traces rays on multiple processors using a
multi-threaded approach and uses a network license.
This ongoing development is expensive, so instead of
increasing the price of
FRED
for everyone,
we
decided to create a
FRED Optimum edition
specifically with multi-processor support and
networking capability for those customers and
potential customers who need this type of
horsepower.
Our
FRED
Standard edition will incorporate the multi-threaded
ray trace for up to four CPU cores shortly.
Our business philosophy is not to “nickel and dime”
our customers with necessary add-ons and extra
features that drive the purchase price upwards. We
believe that it is misleading to attract potential
customers with a low initial price and then make
them pay extra for the features they need to get
their job done. But we also understand that some
customers may need certain high power features and
that not all customer's needs are the same,
therefore we have created two editions of
FRED.
How often are
FRED
updates made available?
FRED
is under constant development and some users simply
can’t wait to get the “latest and greatest“ version
of
FRED.
For these users, we put an “intermediate” version of
FRED
onto our website for download on a regular basis.
These intermediate versions have been tested
internally but new features may not be completely
implemented.
Twice a year we release the “major”
FRED
updates. These versions have been tested internally
and by customers downloading the intermediate
versions. All new features are fully functional.
Our standard policy is to notify our customers by
e-mail that the intermediate and major releases are
available for download. Some customers, because of
security reasons or IT requirements, request that a
CD be mailed to them instead.
Does Photon Engineering do custom
FRED
development?
Yes! Photon Engineering has completed and
released several new features that have been
requested and funded by customers.
However our standard policy is that all new features
are immediately available to all of our customers;
we do not generally develop “exclusive”
FRED
features.
What does the name “FRED”
stand for? Is
FRED
an acronym?
Well, the truth is that the name
FRED
is just a name; it is not an acronym or
abbreviation!
FRED
was the original development name of the software
when Steve and Rich started working on it in the
early 1990’s. (Rich had previously worked with an
engineer who used the name
FRED
the way mathematicians use “x” as the name of a
variable. Something “clicked” and Rich started using
FRED
as the name for anything that didn’t have a name!)
When it came time to release the first commercial
version of
FRED
in April 2001, we couldn’t agree on a better name
and so the
FRED
software
development project became the
FRED
Optical Engineering Software.
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