Creating an Interactive Source

An Interactive Source generates specific and monochromatic light rays which are useful to understand the behavior of a light beam through an optical system.

Note: The purpose of the interactive source is not to model the emission of a real light source (like a LED or a filament), but to generate specific light rays that can help dimension an optical system but never validate it. The Interactive Sources are generally created to be used in an Interactive Simulation.

To create an Interactive Source:

Prerequisites: You must have two geometries, one for the propagation's start and one for the propagation's end.
  1. From the Light Simulation tab, click Interactive .
  2. From the Type drop-down list, select the start geometry's type.
  3. Click to select the start geometry in the 3D view:

    • For a Point, select a point.

    • For a Curve, select a line or an edge and specify the sampling (number of rays) on X axis.

    • For a Face, select a face and specify the sampling on X and Y axes.

    • For a Direction, select a line or a body edge.

  4. From the Type drop-down list, select the end geometry's type.
  5. Click to select the end geometry in the 3D view.

    A preview of the rays appear in the 3D view.

  6. Edit the Wavelength value according to the light you want to simulate.

The interactive source is created and appears in the Simulation tree and in the 3D view.