RayTracer Use for Off-Axis Systems
RayTracer Use for Off-Axis Systems
Most optical simulation software follows a similar layout. Using code or a UI with an excel-like table, users can input radii, aperture, refractive indicies, et cetera, and then a program runs to create that optical system in a visible layout for the user to see where light rays would be directed as they pass through the system. This is a useful setup for many systems, but sometimes we have projects that don't follow the same approach. Especially as a mechanical engineer dealing with optical elements, this is something I have run into in a few different contexts, and this is where the RayTracer app for Fusion 360 really shines.
One example of this was for an interferometer calibration system I worked on for Mettler-Toledo. At the time, I hadn't developed RayTracer yet, so instead, the optical analysis and ray tracing was all done by hand. This mostly involved mirrors, and had multiple folds in the system, so we had to ensure that the angles would line the rays up properly to be read by the interferometer. Using Zemax or another tool would work, but it wasn't necessary for a project that was mostly mechanical at this stage. Additionally, having a lot of folds and axis changes in an optical system can be difficult to visualize when everything is just a box on a spreadsheet. Using Raytracer, this type of analysis is simple and can be done with a single click. The user simply has to draw a couple of rays in the orientation they would like to test, then they can select any lens or surface options they need, list refracive indicies in the order that the ray will pass through them, and Raytracer takes care of the rest. The setup and output is entirely in the Fusion UI, so it's easy to understand and see the dimensions and directions that the rays are moving, especially if you are already familiar with Fusion 360.
Another similar project was for my master's thesis, where I oriented multiple image planes on top of each other. I found this very difficult in Zemax, because I essentially had 2 (or more!) parallel systems with multiple folds, and I needed to see where the image planes would be in physical space. Once I developed Raytracer, this changed the process from taking hours of calculations, orientations, et cetera, to being completed in minutes, if not seconds.
Raytracer is meant to be used for mechanical engineers or other users of CAD programs like Fusion, who don't need or have time to learn a whole new optical simulation software for the projects they are working on. It cuts down on wasted time manually setting dimensions or interpreting optical simulation results into what that means for a mechanical model, and merges optical and mechanical engineering in a way that hasn't been possible before. If you'd like to try out RayTracer, you can download it at the following links. Happy tracing!
Download here: https://apps.autodesk.com/FUSION/en/Detail/Index?id=6116739023577696095