Creating a Parabolic Surface

This page shows how to create a Parabolic Surface that can, later on, be used as a support to create optical lenses.

To create a Parabolic Surface:

  1. From the Design tab, click Parabolic Surface .
  2. Set the axis system of the surface:
    • Click to select the surface's Origin point (the source point).
    • Click and select a line giving the direction of the optical axis.
    • Click and select a line fixing the orientation of the surface around Axis.
    • or click and select a coordinate system to autofill the Axis System.
    Note: Orientation is not necessarily defined on a plane normal to Axis. In this case, Orientation is projected onto such plane.
  3. In Size, adjust the length of the surface's edges.
  4. Adjust the focal length of the surface, that is the distance between the top and the focus.
  5. Press the E key to leave the feature edition mode.

The Parabolic Surface is created and appears both in the tree and in the 3D view.