APEX Optical Design Add-In for SOLIDWORKS 2015 V1

$ 150.00

Available as an add-in to the industry-standard SolidWorks® 3D-modeling environment, and based on BRO’s ASAP® kernel technology, APEX® has been developed for the design and analysis of optical and illumination systems using an easy-to-follow workflow. APEX delivers optical software tools in a true CAD interface.

With the full power and sophistication of SolidWorks in APEX, there is no need to translate, bridge or link between two separate programs. In APEX, you learn, create, design, and analyze in the same program environment, and that environment is all about ease of use. APEX seamlessly melds the worlds of computer-aided design and optical engineering, resulting in an “optics aware” design application.

In APEX, no CAD restrictions are placed on your optical components. Rather, APEX combines the power of SolidWorks geometry modeling with the rigor and precision needed for virtual prototyping of optical systems. Optical components created in APEX have optical tolerances and blend seamlessly into larger system models, including electrical, mechanical, and other system components.

APEX is an optical engineering application tailor-made to meet the requirements of today’s product design teams, whether big or small, and is opening up new possibilities for the future of optics. Optical and mechanical engineers can finally work side-by-side on the same files. APEX files are SolidWorks files. Experimenting, evaluating, and innovating couldn’t be easier. Welcome to APEX.

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Description

Ways to Optimize Systems in APEX

There are two ways to handle system creation for optical analysis in APEX:

1) Utilize the features of SOLIDWORKS and the APEX Add-In to both build the mechanical structures of a system and optimize optical performance (most common workflow preferred by SOLIDWORKS users).

2) Utilize the robust CAD interoperability features of SOLIDWORKS to import mechanical designs created in virtually any CAD program, and then optimize optical system performance (preferred by users of other CAD packages).

Following completion of optical analysis in APEX, the optimized optical system can be reimported into the CAD package of your choice to continue your product engineering workflow.

APEX 2015 V1 New Feature Highlights

New feature highlights in the APEX 2015 V1 release include file menu changes, ray-trace activation, support for SOLIDWORKS configurations, addition of SOLIDWORKS sensors, improved optical analysis menus, enhancements to the optimization and parametric study, optical pack-n-go and the optical bill-of-materials features in APEX. These features and enhancements advance the state-of-the-art

Menu Changes in APEX 2015 V1

APEX 2015 file menus have been updated in response to changes in SOLIDWORKS 2015. APEX menus are now consolidated under SOLIDWORKS Tools menu. APEX tabs in the SOLIDWORKS Command Manager are not affected by this change.

Ray-Trace Activation in APEX 2015 V1

Ray-traces and their data are no longer automatically restored when selected in the Results node of the Optics Manager. Users can now choose whether to activate a previous trace to visualize rays in the 3D view. Analyses performed under a specific ray-trace can still be viewed and edited without activating the ray-trace itself.

SOLIDWORKS Configurations in APEX 2015 V1

APEX 2015 now stores SOLIDWORKS configuration data with each ray-trace. The configuration corresponding to a specific ray-trace can be recalled within the 3D view when the ray-trace is activated, and all SOLIDWORKS parameters associated with that configuration will be restored.

Optimization with SOLIDWORKS Sensors in APEX 2015 V1

All SOLIDWORKS sensor types can now be used as constraints for Optimization and Parametric Studies. This allows users to include non-traditional parameters such as mass, volume and surface area as constraints as well as interference and proximity detection and even data from SOLIDWORKS SIMULATION.

Enhanced Optical Pack-n-Go in APEX 2015 V1

The APEX Optical Pack-n-Go feature has been updated to include all ray files associated with ray-traces in the archive. This allows users to immediately unpack and run 3D models in an archive file transferred to a different machine having a licensed copy of the APEX software.

Enhanced Optimization and Parametric Study in APEX 2015 V1

In addition to the use of SOLIDWORKS sensor types, the Optimization and Parametric Study features can now export tabular data in the Results menu for archiving study results or for processing in another program. This option is available by right-clicking anywhere in the Results table itself.

Enhanced Analysis Results in APEX 2015 V1

The parameter used to perform a previous Analysis can now be viewed by right-clicking under the Results nodes for current or previous ray-traces. This allows users to avoid duplication of the same analysis under an activated ray-trace.

Enhanced Bill-of-Materials in APEX 2015 V1

The Optical Bill-of-Materials available in APEX has been enhanced to include source wavelengths and source apodization data as well as optical properties assigned to specific surfaces in the 3D view.

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