CodeV, Zemax, OSLO, or …

Trying to decide which optical design software to use? Just try them out and decide for yourself. I like how Steve Eckhardt (great guy, btw, in case you’re looking for someone to consult with) summarized their different strengths: “CodeV’s Global Synthesis is an extremely powerful global optimizer while Zemax makes it easy to take control over the fine details of the merit function. OSLO’s forte is its C-like macro language that can do almost anything.”

But please don’t ask me to comment on these grumpy ramblings from over 10 years ago. All of the software packages have changed a lot since then.