Understanding the Micro Optical Stripes Parameters

The following page helps you understand the parameters used to create Micro Optical Stripes.

Construction Type

The Construction types define how you want the stripes to be processed in the Support surface.

Constant Ratio

The relative position of a stripe along the second curve is equal to the relative position of the stripe along the Guide Curve according to the length of the curves.

Note: When building Micro Optical Stripes based on Constant Ratio, we recommend you to define the Support side as Inner surface, or the Projection type as Normal To Support Surface. Otherwise, you may face with a constant ratio not being respected along the curves.
Figure 1. Construction type: Constant ratio

Same Pitch

The distance (pitch) between two stripes on the Second Curve is equal to the distance between these two stripes on the Guide Curve: dGuide Curve = dSecond Curve.

Figure 2. Construction type: Same pitch

Normal to Guide Curve

Stripes are created from the Guide Curve to the Second Curve according to the normal direction to the Guide Curve at their specific starting point.

Figure 3. Construction type: Normal to guide curve

Projection Type

The Projection Type is the projection of the stripes on the support surface according to the Normal to the support surface or the Optical axis.

Figure 4. Projection of the stripes according to the optical axis
Figure 5. Projection of the stripes according to the normals to the support surface

Support Side

The Support side determines on which side of the Light Guide the support surface is placed.

Outer Surface

The support surface is placed on the exit face of the light.

Inner Surface

The support surface is placed on the emissive face.

Tool Bit Shape and Control Points

The Tool Bit Shape defines the profile of the tool used to process the mold, and the Control Points control the stripes parameters at a specific location on the Guide curve.

Note: Variation of stripes parameters is considered to be linear between two Control Points.
Figure 6. Start Side Mold Creation
Figure 7. End Side Mold Creation
Figure 8. Mold Created

Preview Stripes

As the Micro Optical Stripes generation can take time, you can preview the stripes to see how would the stripes be generated along the guide.

When you preview the stripes, only the top curves used by the tool to create the stripes are displayed. To see the different construction curves used by the tool to create the stripes, refer to Extract Tooling Paths below.



Extract Tooling Path

Extract Tooling Path is a Micro Optical Stripes functionality that allows you to generate as geometry the construction curves used by the tool to create the stripes. This is particularly useful for the communication between design teams and manufacturing teams, as it helps verify how machine tool moves in 3D in detail and check manufacturing feasibility.

Extract Tooling Path generates 3 curves per stripe ( top curve, start curve, end curve).



Extract as CSV File

Extract as CSF file is a Micro Optical Stripes functionality that allows you to generate a CSV containing information on the position and orientation of the machine tool. These information are useful to the manufacturing teams to check manufacturing feasibility and create the appropriate machine tool.