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Thread: designing your own lens

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    Old Optician to New OD Aarlan's Avatar
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    designing your own lens

    Out of curiosity, what are the chances of having a lens that you design (using Zemax software, for example) manufactured on a labs freeform generator?


    It seems to me, each product will have it's own proprietary software or algorithms, but if you wanted specific conditions, could it be done, and what info would you need to convey?


    AA

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    Master OptiBoarder MakeOptics's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aarlan View Post
    Out of curiosity, what are the chances of having a lens that you design (using Zemax software, for example) manufactured on a labs freeform generator?


    It seems to me, each product will have it's own proprietary software or algorithms, but if you wanted specific conditions, could it be done, and what info would you need to convey?


    AA
    First you would have to find a lab that would be willing to allow you to send them a SDF (Surface Definition File), they can be very complex or you could have a simple SDF file with a few points given and the rest extrapolated by the equipment. Since no known software exists that allows the layman to produce such a file, either a lease with a manufacturer, custom made software, or a hand done file would have ot be created an sent off to the lab.

    First place to check is going to be with the labs no need in wasting time creating a file that no one is willing to produce.

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    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Silver Supporter rdcoach5's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aarlan View Post
    Out of curiosity, what are the chances of having a lens that you design (using Zemax software, for example) manufactured on a labs freeform generator?


    It seems to me, each product will have it's own proprietary software or algorithms, but if you wanted specific conditions, could it be done, and what info would you need to convey?


    AA
    I asked Daryl Meister a similar question and he indicated that the new Individual can be custom made per request in Europe. I think I got that right, Daryl ?

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    Old Optician to New OD Aarlan's Avatar
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    so are all the SDF files in a similar format, or are they in their own proprietary design? Sort of like trying to open a .jpg in a .pdf program, even though they're both photos?

    AA

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    Master OptiBoarder MakeOptics's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aarlan View Post
    so are all the SDF files in a similar format, or are they in their own proprietary design? Sort of like trying to open a .jpg in a .pdf program, even though they're both photos?

    AA
    There are different formats but the VCA standard talks about the different formats and ways to incorporate them into an OMA file that pushes the proprietary or older format to a particular generator. Current machines are VCA compliant with slight variations due to experimental features.

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    OptiBoardaholic other_bill_fea's Avatar
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    If you were looking to send a surface file to a lab, you'd probably want to be able to make sure the design they made is the one you sent them. For that, either you or the lab would need something like a lens mapper to ensure not only the power was correct, but the design as well. You (nor the lab) would really have any other way of verifying that what you sent them is what you received.
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