Freeform Z
A Freeform Z object is formed by drawing a cubic spline curve through a series of points in the YZ plane, and then sweeping this curve around the Z axis to form either a solid volume or shell. The Freeform Z object is defined by two parameters and a user selectable number of defining points:
| Parameter # | Description | Face Name | Face # |
| 1 | The number of points. This is the number of coordinate pairs used to define the curve in the YZ plane. The minimum is 5, the maximum is 124. | NA | NA |
| 2 | A flag to indicate if the resulting object is a solid volume or a hollow shell. If the "Is Volume?" parameter is zero, then OpticStudio assumes the shape is hollow shell. No "end caps" are added in this case. If the object is a solid volume, then flat "end caps" are added if the first or last points do not have a y coordinate of zero to close the solid. | NA | NA |
| 3-250 | The coordinate values of the YZ curve, in pairs. | NA | NA |
The Z coordinate of the first point must be zero. No Z value may be less than or equal to the Z value of the preceding point. The absolute value of the Y values is always taken when creating the spline curve.
There is a special optimization operand designed to provide boundary constraints on the shape of Freeform Z objects, see "FREZ" for more information.
A tool is available that greatly simplifies inserting and deleting points in the spline curve; see " Freeform Z Tools " in the Non-sequential Component Editor toolbar.
The reference point is the center of the front face of the lens. Face Numbers: Front face Face 1, back face Face 2, all other faces Face 0.
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