APEX®: High-Performance Stray Light Analysis Within SOLIDWORKS®

The most challenging stray light issues often originate not from the lenses, but from the mechanical environment surrounding them. APEX® is a powerful optical engineering add-in that integrates rigorous simulation capabilities directly into SOLIDWORKS®, allowing engineers to identify and mitigate optomechanical noise without ever leaving their familiar CAD environment.

Seamless Optomechanical Integration for Stray Light

In traditional workflows, moving data between CAD and optical software can lead to geometry errors and lost details. APEX® eliminates this gap. Since it lives inside SOLIDWORKS®, your mechanical housings, baffles, and lens mounts are treated as native optical surfaces, ensuring that every potential stray light path is captured with absolute fidelity.

• Unified CAD-Optical Workflow

  Forget about broken IGES or STEP files. As a SOLIDWORKS® add-in, APEX® allows you to define optical properties—including complex surface scattering—directly on your CAD parts.

  
  

• Powered by the ASAP® Engine

  APEX® leverages the industry-proven ASAP® non-sequential ray-tracing engine. This ensures that your ghosting, flare, and stray light simulations are backed by decades of proven optical physics.

  
  

• Rapid Design Iterations

  Catching stray light early saves millions in hardware re-spins. By simulating directly in the CAD environment, you can modify a baffle or move a mechanical edge and immediately see the impact on your system's optical integrity.

  
  

• Advanced Surface Scattering (BSDF)

  Easily assign realistic scattering properties to mechanical components. APEX® allows for precise modeling of how light interacts with anodized surfaces, textured plastics, and darkened housings to accurately predict system-level noise.

  
  

Expand Your Engineering Capability

APEX® is designed to handle the most demanding optomechanical validation tasks. It can be further extended with specialized modules for Advanced Thermal Analysis, allowing you to understand how temperature-induced mechanical shifts impact your stray light and image quality.

Bridge the Gap with MentorOptix Expertise

At MentorOptix, we specialize in helping teams bridge the divide between mechanical design and optical performance. As an Official BRO Partner, we provide the training and consulting needed to turn your SOLIDWORKS® environment into a world-class optical laboratory.

Whether you need an independent stray light audit of your SOLIDWORKS® model or are looking to integrate APEX® into your internal design cycle, our expertise ensures your project is mission-ready.