Creating a Poly Ellipsoidal Reflector

This page shows how to create a Poly ellipsoidal reflector.

To create a Poly Ellipsoidal Reflector:

  1. From the Design tab, click Poly Ellipsoidal Reflector .
  2. In the 3D view, define the axis system of the reflector:

    • Click and select a point to define the source point.

    • If you need to modify the image point (the origin point), click and select a point in the 3D view.

    • If you need to modify the orientation axis (by default the Y axis), click and select a line.

  3. Define the Focal length of the reflector, that is the distance between the source point and the back of the reflector.
  4. If you want to create a reflector without a hole (for example a reflector with a LED and not a bulb as light source), set Hole to False.
  5. If you activated the creation of a hole, set its diameter to position the light bulb.
  6. In Optics, define how you want to build the poly ellipsoidal reflector. From the Symmetry for sections drop-down list:
    Note: Angular sections can only be defined between 0° and 90°.

    • Select No symmetry to define angular sections between 0° and 90°.

    • Select Symmetry about the Optical axis to define only the 0° section angle.

    • Select Symmetry to 0 deg plane to mirror the definition of the angular sections on the horizontal axis.

    • Select Symmetry to 90 deg plane to mirror the definition of the angular sections on the vertical axis.

    • Select Symmetry to 0 deg and 90 deg planes to create a full reflector, with mirrored definition on both horizontal and vertical axes.

  7. Create as many angular sections as you need for your reflector and define their angle value.
    Note: Only default angular sections (0° and 90°) are visible in the 3D view. But all sections created are taken into account for simulation.
  8. For each angular section created, you can define control planes :
    1. From the design panel, select the angular section on which you want to define control planes.
    2. Create as many control planes as you need.
    3. Set the Position and Defocus values
      Note: The highest position value defines the size of the reflector. Consequently, the highest value must be the same for each angular section.
  9. Click Compute to build the feature.