Synopsys' LightTools delivers leading-edge illumination analysis

MOUNTAIN VIEW, USA: Synopsys Inc. announced the availability of enhancements to its LightTools illumination design and analysis software, acquired as part of Synopsys' acquisition of Optical Research Associates (ORA).

LightTools 7.2 delivers features that will help users graphically analyze simulation results, compute important metrics when designing for the lighting industry, iteratively design with CAD software and improve the efficiency of luminaire and solar designs. These capabilities enable lighting designers to more easily explore design alternatives, study light behavior and improve product quality early in the design process.

"Our goal is to deliver software innovations that help engineers create high-quality illumination designs and accelerate their design processes," said George Bayz, VP and GM of the Optical Solutions Group at Synopsys. "The latest enhancements in LightTools offer users customizable analysis that allows them to access system performance data quickly and efficiently and to display that data in the exact format they need to communicate results to design teams, project management and customers."

Customize simulation results
The LightTools LumViewer, an interactive charting capability, has been significantly enhanced with a new look and many additional features to customize illumination simulation results to meet personal, company or industry standards. Users can rotate and zoom 3D charts, change fonts and colors, view data on a logarithmic scale and make many other customizations as needed. Users can also save charting customizations in a template to reload for later use, or to set as a default for all LightTools charts.

"LightTools version 7.2 has some great enhancements to the LumViewer," said Joshua Cobb, senior optical engineer, Corning Tropel Corp. "This is now my primary analysis tool, and it has been straightforward to come up to speed quickly with the new user interface."

Beam statistics
The LightTools simulation output now includes detailed beam statistics to provide lighting designers with access to beam and field width information for analysis and optimization. These statistics are useful for determining the angular or spatial spread of a beam pattern generated by an optical system, such as a luminaire. Designers also have the ability to automatically optimize the optical system to match a specified beam spread.

CAD file element
With the new CAD file element, LightTools entities can be associated with an externally created CAD file, enabling users to update geometry with the click of a button without losing optical properties, names or relations with other elements of the LightTools model. CATIA, IGES, SAT and STEP formats are accepted. This capability simplifies the process of using CAD geometry in LightTools and ensures data integrity throughout design iterations.

Native compound parabolic concentrators
3D compound parabolic concentrators (CPCs) and CPC reflectors are now available as native elements in LightTools. The CPC objects are useful in luminaire and solar design for collimating light from a source or concentrating light onto a receiver. The elements are fully optimizable; for example, users can automatically optimize a CPC's size and angle to match a target illumination distribution, intensity, total power or flux on a receiver.

The LightTools 7.2 release is available now.