| |
 |
|
|
Science Forum Index » Optics Forum » FRED vs ZEMAX
Page 1 of 1
|
| Author |
Message |
| Florian |
 Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 7:14 am |
|
|
|
Guest
|
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 |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Iain Mackay |
| Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 9:07 am |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Florian
I have a little experience with FRED.
Some time ago we were designing an imaging system using a dichroic beam
splitter and we were initially attracted by the non sequential features and
the program's GUI.
However, in use, we found the documentation poor, and the software
non-intuitive so it never really delivered for us. (a European optics
software rep recently confirmed that we are not alone.)
On the occasions when I spoke to Photon Engineering (the folks who make
FRED) we were offered the opportunity of buying places on a tutorial course
in the US - " really the best way to learn this software".
Perhaps, but the cost and time associated with that course of action was not
at all what I had in mind when we bought the software and I'm afraid the
dongle has languished in our fire safe for the past couple of years.
However, I do emphasise that this is only one view and it would be
interesting to hear from other ng folks who may have had more success.
Perhaps another user has prepared a tutorial based on their use of the
software?
HTH
Iain |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Boxman |
| Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 5:47 am |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Philip's advice is best here. I have seen people use ZEMAX for
problems that are much better handled by something like FRED and seen
people use FRED for problems that are much better handled by something
like ZEMAX.
In addition to what Philip said about how he uses ZEMAX and FRED, I
found that for doing illumination design, programs like FRED (I do not
use FRED specifically, there are others similar to FRED like ASAP,
LightTools, and TracePro) are more appropriate for the task than
ZEMAX, although there are plenty of people that use ZEMAX for
illlumination.
You might get better input if you can explain a little more about the
types of problems you are trying to solve with the software. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Florian |
| Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 11:20 am |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Hello fellows,
thank you very much for you answers. That's good infomation. I give you some
more background of my work: I am an engineer doing research in the field of
free space optical communications. I already use ZEMAX for optical designs
and just heard about FRED. So I want to inform if it can replace ZEMAX
and/or how good it can interact with CAD sofware like Autodesk.
Thanks and greetings, Florian
"Iain Mackay" <no_one@here> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:8Oadncvrc7ERfSvanZ2dnUVZ8qydnZ2d@giganews.com...
Quote: Florian
I have a little experience with FRED.
Some time ago we were designing an imaging system using a dichroic beam
splitter and we were initially attracted by the non sequential features
and the program's GUI.
However, in use, we found the documentation poor, and the software
non-intuitive so it never really delivered for us. (a European optics
software rep recently confirmed that we are not alone.)
On the occasions when I spoke to Photon Engineering (the folks who make
FRED) we were offered the opportunity of buying places on a tutorial
course in the US - " really the best way to learn this software".
Perhaps, but the cost and time associated with that course of action was
not at all what I had in mind when we bought the software and I'm afraid
the dongle has languished in our fire safe for the past couple of years.
However, I do emphasise that this is only one view and it would be
interesting to hear from other ng folks who may have had more success.
Perhaps another user has prepared a tutorial based on their use of the
software?
HTH
Iain
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| |
|
Page 1 of 1
All times are GMT - 5 Hours
The time now is Fri Jul 04, 2008 3:10 pm
|
|
