Lighttools 8.7

Rapid Model Creation with LightTools

LightTools’ robust design features help you quickly and efficiently create and modify your illumination system design, from initial concept phases to subsequent engineering iterations and refinements.

Key design features

• Sophisticated solid modeling with full optical accuracy
• State-of-the-art ray tracing speed, with full user control of accuracy and resolution requirements
• Create a light source from any geometric model, for unlimited flexibility to create custom sources
• Application-specific utilities to help you quickly build a complete model
• Extensive source and materials libraries, including LEDs and BSDF measurements
• Robust data exchange support for mechanical CAD data
• Interactive, dynamic link with SOLIDWORKS
• Multiple immersion for modeling the embedded phosphor in an encapsulated LED
• Fully optimizable skinned solids for creating efficient LED couplers, solar concentrators, and other complex optical surfaces
• User-defined materials to model phosphor-based white LEDs
• Textures – 2D, 3D, and user defined – with flexibility to vary the shape, size, and spacing of texture elements
• Calculate the color rendering index (CRI) on any receiver – ideal for LED and luminaire design
• Intensity data collection that enables data exchange with other lighting design software through the IES and LDT data formats
• Point-and-shoot ray tracing for real-time, immediate feedback on your system’s light behavior during design iterations

Reach the Best Design Solution Faster with LightTools Optimization

LightTools is the first illumination design and analysis software to deliver a fully integrated system optimization tool. The LightTools optimization module improves the performance of virtually any type of illumination system, and gives designers tremendous flexibility to choose from hundreds of system parameters to designate as variables in order to achieve specified luminance, illuminance or output intensity distribution goals.

Key optimization features

• Full integration with LightTools 3D solid modeling ensures that the optimizer delivers practical, realistic solutions that yield the best possible system performance, in a fraction of the time it would take to accomplish manually
• Augmenting the capabilities of the LightTools optimizer is the parametric controls feature. Used in conjunction with the optimizer or in earlier stages of system design, this feature improves parameter management efficiency; by enabling the properties of various system elements to be associated, parametric controls permit global changes on a model to be accomplished by varying a single parameter.
• Backlight Pattern Optimization for automatic design of backlight extraction patterns for LCDs, cell phone key pads, and automotive instrument clusters
• Parameter Sensitivity analysis for selecting the best set of variables prior to system optimization