The Zemax Knowledgebase is moving!
On August 1, 2025, our articles will only be available on Ansys Optics. As they become available, use the new URL listed at the top of an article to update your bookmarks.Note: Ansys Optics is in English only. If a translation is available on an individual article, it will be listed below the article title.
Mixed Mode
CAD
- How to show exported rays in the CAD platform
- Using the OpticStudio Dynamic CAD link
- How to export a lens to CAD
- How to explode a CAD assembly
- How to import CAD objects
- Using the OpticStudio Dynamic CAD link with assemblies
Source Modelling
- Speos and Zemax Source file converter
- Light sources used in illumination design
- Modeling a white light source using the Phosphor DLL
- How to create an array of sources
- How to make any object into a source object
- How to model LEDs and other complex sources
Non Sequential Objects
- What is the Zemax Part Designer?
- NSC Sag Map Tool Usage
- How to measure the sag of an NSC object
- Improving non-sequential ray tracing speeds with nested and Boolean objects
- How to use the Array Ring Object
- Creating Polygon Objects in OpticStudio
Illumination System Fundamentals
- An overview of a typical illumination system design cycle
- Useful optical simulation methods in illumination design
- Performance targets of illumination design
- Background theory and concepts of illumination design
- Introduction to illumination systems
- Modeling frustrated total internal reflection in Non-Sequential mode
Tilted/Decentered Systems
- How to model an off-axis parabolic mirror at finite conjugates
- Rotation Matrix and Tilt About X/Y/Z in OpticStudio
- Demystifying the off-axis parabolic mirror
- How to tilt and decenter a sequential optical component
- How to model a scanning mirror
- Why do rays trace behind a fold mirror surface?
Scattering
- Fitting ABg scattering coefficients from raw measured data
- How to create a user defined scattering function
- How to use multiple ABg profiles to define an object's surface scatter property
- Using the Henyey-Greenstein distribution to model bulk scattering
- How to simulate atmospheric scattering using a Mie model
- Polarization-sensitive scattering in OpticStudio
Coatings
Materials
- How to return the index of refraction at a specific wavelength
- What is the "reference temperature" of a material?
- How to add new materials and glasses in OpticStudio
- Can I define a background material other than air?
- How to determine which material catalog is being used
- How to define metal materials in OpticStudio
Sequential Surfaces
- Aspheric Surfaces - Part 2: Compact Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope
- How to model DMD (MEMS) in OpticStudio
- Tools for diffractive optics - webinar
- How to use the Grid Sag surface type
- How to use the ISO Element Drawing
- Adding a phase surface to an off-axis mirror
Imaging System Fundamentals
- Exploring Sequential Mode in OpticStudio
- Using Multi-Configuration Operands to control parameters in a single configuration system
- How to place dummy surfaces at the front and rear principal planes
- Adjusting relative luminosity to simulate the visible spectrum
- Display pupils on a layout plot
- What is a ray?
