Xmd5a 2 hours ago

>Who this guide is NOT for: [...] People that are okay with becoming a lens design zombie.

https://web.archive.org/web/20230914035459/https://caoyuan.s...

A $500 DIY near-IR spectrometer that would sell for $10,000, Yuan Cao

>The placement of the cylindrical lens (position & angle) affects the focal point for different wavelength. I did not do a rigorous calculation here —— I simply resorted to a trial-and-error method to figure out the optimal placement.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37498142

alexbock 7 hours ago

If you want to play with any of these lens descriptions (or look at code for simulating them), I made a free and open source visual web UI for lens design. The default project when you visit it is a double gauss lens similar to the one shown in the article.

https://alexbock.github.io/open-optical-designer/

  • cwmoore 5 hours ago

    Is there a framework or template base for these kind of (usually scientific) demonstration apps? It’s a common design language of inputs and output that I’ve seen in many pages, often self-explanatory. I like it.

    • alexbock 3 hours ago

      Thanks. I did not use any frameworks/libraries/dependencies for this project. It's vanilla JavaScript/HTML/CSS from scratch. The general concept of a spreadsheet-like data editor next to a visual view is a standard paradigm in commercial lens design software like Quadoa/OSLO/CODE V.

  • Rotundo 6 hours ago

    Took a look and I'm impressed how easy it is to use. Thanks for sharing this.

  • librasteve 5 hours ago

    amazing tool - thanks for sharing

NKosmatos 4 hours ago

I remember playing around with a lenses and light sources simulator, but can’t find the link :-( If I’m not mistaken it was posted here on HN but couldn’t find it by searching with various related keywords. If anyone has it please share :-)