d940fb1f   
   On Friday, February 15, 2008 at 11:27:36 AM UTC-8, Philip wrote:   
   > On Feb 15, 6:14 am, "Florian"  wrote:   
   > > Hello Fellows,   
   > >   
   > > does anybody have experience with ZEMAX and FRED? I am using ZEMAX at the   
   > > moment and think about trying out FRED.   
   > > Maybe somebody can tell some differences, advantages and disadvantages of   
   > > the two programs.   
   > >   
   > > Greetings, Florian   
   >    
   > Florian   
   >    
   > I use both FRED and ZEMAX because they are different tools for   
   > different (but similar) jobs.   
   >    
   > Simply: FRED is a non-sequential ray tracing tool, and ZEMAX is a   
   > sequential raytracing tool.  ZEMAX EE has non-sequential raytracing   
   > capabilities but I find them cumbersome to use and most customers in   
   > the Aerospace/Defense/Govt sectors use FRED.   
   >    
   > FRED and ZEMAX are used for a huge variety of purposes and it really   
   > depends on the field of work you are in.   
   >    
   > I use ZEMAX to design various types of optical systems and optimize   
   > them.  I use FRED to verify and quantify different aspects of the   
   > radiometric properties of a system.  In particular I use FRED to   
   > import an optical model, and a mechanical model, and perform system or   
   > sub-system stray light analysis.   
   >    
   > Now if I were using FRED to design a telescope, I would become   
   > frustrated.  Also, If I were to use ZEMAX to quantify the effect of a   
   > spurious reflection, I would become frustrated.   
   >    
   > Is the reason you are looking for an alternative to ZEMAX because you   
   > are using the wrong tool for the job?   
   >    
   > -Philip   
      
   Philip,   
      
   My manager has asked me to get involved in our optical beam train design.   
   I have been out of school now for over 20 years and haven't had to ray trace   
   since then.    
      
   He is very old school and has these spread sheets that he developed over the   
   years and prefers them. But He likes to do comparisons with another engineer   
   who uses Zemax.   
      
   I was wondering in your experience if you would prefer FRED over Zemax to   
   design rely imaging telescopes/systems that our process requires. We image a   
   square mask on a high power laser system for laser shot peening. Mainly 1:1,   
   1:2 telescopes. Then the    
   final image is placed on a part with focusing beam.   
      
   Which program would be easier to learn with?   
      
   I'd appreciate any input.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)