Freeform History

[B-Tech]

Does anyone know who initiated the Freeform process and in what year?

[Georg Mayer]

In my opinion this can't be answered as such. For the production off thick glass molds required for the casting of conventional Progreessiv blanks, digital surfacing machines produced freely programmable surfaces (hence Free Form) since CNC machining was available.

The transfer of this technology to the level of an RX lab production, being able to generate a set of surface data with a complex topography directly onto a flexible, thin organic substrate with high precision was certainly driven by a southern German lens company in the early 90's.

Other opinions and input please!

Best regards

Georg Mayer
Rodenstock - Munich

[Chris Ryser]

There is an article in 20/20 magazine November 2008 by Michael DiSanto


Going Digital







Things Will Never
Look the Same Again
Major electronic retailers all over the world are announcing they are discontinuing the sale of analog televisions in favor of high-definition televisions. Another page in history has been turned. Old technology will once again yield to new technology. People will always strive to replace that which exists with something better. In the case of television “high definition” is that something better.

When it comes to reproducing the very best in clear, precise video nothing beats high-definition television. High-definition is better because it captures the smallest details of an image in order to present a truly lifelike picture. The concept we enjoy to watch on our TV has now come to the concept we use on our face to watch our TV. High-definition performance lenses are the new “something better” state-of-the-visual-art.

Digital surfacing technology, which is also known as free-form surfacing technology (the words are interchangeable but the process is the same), has broken from the limitations of traditional lens surfacing to establish a new level of excellence in lens production. Previous lenses were limited in design scope by the industries inability to reproduce the more complex surfaces necessary to address the full spectrum of the wearer’s visual needs. Traditional lens production hit the wall and stopped short when addressing key issues that diminished performance in spectacle lenses. Designers knew what they had to do to improve optical lens performance, but they were unable to translate intricate design concepts needed to accomplish improvement from the drawing board into a real lens. The industry had reached a plateau from which there was no escape until better technology could enable them to implement advanced designs. ..........................

See whole article at: http://www.2020mag.com/ViewContent/t...6/Default.aspx#

[Uncle Fester]

I see why he used it but I disagree with the high def TV analogy. That discussion however belongs in the Pro's forum.

[RT]

The transfer of this technology to the level of an RX lab production, being able to generate a set of surface data with a complex topography directly onto a flexible, thin organic substrate with high precision was certainly driven by a southern German lens company in the early 90's.

Both Gerber and Coburn (separately, before the merger of the two) had digital surfacing projects in the early 1990's as well.