Proceedings Article | 18 December 2012
KEYWORDS: Computer aided design, Optical design, Lenses, SolidWorks, Imaging systems, Integrated optics, Geometrical optics, Optical imaging, Modulation transfer functions, Optomechanical design
By integrating optical and photometrical simulation directly into CAD/CAM software, OPTIS presents an innovative
solution which answers the global design needs on complex shapes, making optical, thermal, mechanical and cinematic
functionalities communicate with each other.
The OptisWorks solution, integrated in SolidWorks from Dassault Systèmes, opens up access to a multitude of
applications to optical engineers, from analysis of optical performance, stray light analysis, and at the same time putting
into a virtual context the final opto-mechanical system under constraint, which now becomes an integral part of the final
assembly.
The Optical Design solution inside OptisWorks enables the creation of optical components dedicated to imaging (lenses,
mirrors, diaphragms) and their insertion directly in the CAD environment. After having added an optical source and a
detection surface plane, the user can analyze the optical performances of his/her imaging system: spot size, wave front
default, MTF, etc. The results of these analyses are comparable to what dedicated optical design software can offer. The
user can then launch an optimization or a tolerancing of their opto-mechanical system.
CAD integration also offers other physical simulation tools available with SolidWorks: thermal, tolerancing, cinematic,
interference detection, etc. For example it is possible, using the thermal simulation model, to take into account dilation of
opto-mechanical elements right from the optical design phase, and to determine their influence on optical performances.
This innovation naturally leads onto a change in the methodologies of designing optical imaging systems which are now
open to the CAD world. By integrating optics right at the start of the design process, enables designers to arrive quicker
at a solution which will fully meet all the criteria and specifications requested, and no longer in isolation to each
specification.
