New...
This is the same command as New... under the File menu for the application window.
It brings up a submenu that includes the choice of Design, Material and Table. These imply a new design, a new material or a table. Other choices may be available depending upon the installed enhancements.
Open...
This command presents the user with the usual dialog box showing a file list for opening. The file type can be changed so that designs or plots, or tables can be presented.
Open a Copy of...
This command presents the user with the usual dialog box showing a file list for opening. The file type can be changed so that designs or plots, or tables can be presented.
Open Material...
This command presents a list of the materials in the current materials database for opening. Note that another way of opening materials data files is provided by the Materials command in the Tools menu.
Open Reference...
This command presents a list of the reference files in the current reference folder for opening.
Close
Close closes the active window. If the information in the window has not been saved since the most recent changes then an alert box will offer the choice of saving, discarding
or aborting the close. If the close operation concerns a design then if Cascading Close has been selected as a standing option, all windows that present results connected with the design will also be closed.
Save
Save saves the active window contents in the file from which it was either read or last saved.
Save As...
Save As... permits the active window contents to be saved in a new file or an existing file that is not necessarily the file from which the data was read or where it was already saved. A dialog box asking for a file name is presented and either a new name can be entered or an existing one selected from the list. Note that the appropriate extension will be added to the file name quite automatically. It is not necessary to type it in. Further, once the name has been correctly entered then pressing the <Enter> key is sufficient to initiate the save operation.
Save All
This command is most useful when a number of windows are open and all have to be closed. If they have not been saved since the last alteration then the usual alert box will be presented for each in turn.
Export
The Essential Macleod can export designs for use in Zemax, FRED, LinkSIM and CODE V.
The submenu Add to Zemax File converts designs to Zemax format for use with the Zemax lens design program. See page 39 for more information on this command.
The Command FRED File is used to export the design for use with the FRED optical modeling program. See page 43 for more information on this command.
The command LinkSIM Filter File is used to export the design for use with the LinkSIM simulation program. See page 43 for more information on this command.
The command CODE V Sequence File is used to create a sequence file for CODE V.
See page 42 for more information on this command.
The command Spektrum Design... is used to create a file that can be read by the Spektrum program from Laser Zentrum Hannover. After selecting the command, the only information required is the file where the data will be stored is entered.
There may also be entries for Monitorlink enhancements that export the design formatted for the deposition controller being used. For more information, see the Monitorlink chapters.
Page Setup...
Page Setup... applies to the printed page not the screen. (The screen equivalent is the Display Setup > command below.) The dialog box shows the columns that will be printed when the Print command is chosen. Access to the margin settings is given.
Printer Setup...
A typical example of the dialog box is shown below. A printer can be chosen and the paper orientation changed. The Options... button gives access to the parameters that apply to the active printer.
Print prints the design table to the current Windows printer. The format of the printed output is controlled by the report template DefaultDesign.rpx stored in the current materials folder. See the Report Generator chapter for more information on the formats of the report template.
Print Preview
This command shows you, in a separate window, how the design would appear if it were printed out.
Print Report
Print Report prints the design table to the current Windows printer formated
according to the selected report template. After selecting this command a file chooser will appear that allows you to select the report template to be used, See the Report Generator chapter for more information on the formats of the report template.
Preview Report
This command shows you, in a separate window, how the design would appear if were printed using the selected report template.
Display Setup >
The default display has a limited number of columns that represent the information that is required for most applications. These are shown in the design table reproduced above. Layers, however, may have a packing density other than unity assigned to them and they may be either locked or linked in the refinement processes. (See the note on packing density in the earlier section on the Structure of the Essential Macleod). There are several ways in which packing density may be altered. For straightforward manual entry the packing density column in the design display may be edited in the same way as any of the other columns. To reveal the column so that the entries may be changed, the item simply has to be checked in the sub-menu that is opened by this command.
Locking and linking are described in detail below. Although they can be edited by activating the appropriate columns there are other ways involving the Link/Lock menu that will usually be easier.
When layers have a non-unity packing density, a material can be specified for the void and the packing density of the material within the void can also be specified. The
columns used are Void Material and Void Density. They may be displayed by selecting the appropriate sub-menu items.
Layers may also have an inhomogeneity factor. This specifies a change in refractive index through the layer. This is described in the Inhomogeneity Factor section below.
During refinement, minimum and maximum limits can be placed on the thickness of each layer. Selecting the Minimum Physical Thickness and Maximum Physical
Thickness items displays the columns for defining the limits in terms of physical thickness. Selecting the Minimum Optical Thickness and Maximum Optical Thickness items displays the optical thickness limit columns. For Simplex refinement, limits can also be placed on the packing density of each layer. Selecting the Minimum Packing Density and Maximum Packing Density items displays the packing density limit columns.
The sub-menu will remain open until either the Close item is selected or the mouse is clicked outside the sub-menu.
1 2 3 4
The last four files that have been opened or saved by the program are displayed here.
Any of these files can be opened simply by selecting the file. It is not necessary to use the regular Open... command.
More…
More opens a dialog showing a longer list of recently opened files. Double-click on a file in this list to open it. You can also change the displayed order of the files and remove files from the list. Selecting a file and clicking on Move Up moves the filename towards the top of the list. Similarly, clicking on Move Down moves the filename towards the bottom of the list. Clicking on Remove will remove the filename from the list.
Exit
Exit unloads the Essential Macleod inviting first the saving of any open files that have been altered since the last save.