Material Catalog and Substitute Material Catalog in QUADOA® Optical CAD
In QUADOA® Optical CAD you can build your own material catalog, for example with your preferred or in-house glasses, and use it as the substitute material list for glass optimization. A user-defined catalog is saved on your computer and is available in all models and QUADOA® versions, even after a reinstallation. The substitute list, in contrast, belongs to the individual model.
Key points
- Open the catalog with Materials in the Setup tab.
- Right-click a catalog → Duplicate Catalog, then rename it.
- Add glasses from other catalogs with right-click → Send Copy To; delete unwanted ones.
- Save Changes stores the catalog permanently for all models and versions.
- The substitute list (Optimization tab) is stored with the individual model.
Terms used in this article
- Material catalog
- A collection of optical materials with their dispersion and thermal data.
- Substitute material list
- The materials the optimizer may use when substituting glasses in one model.
- User data folder
- The folder where QUADOA® stores user-defined catalogs; set in the global settings.
How to create your own material catalog
- In the Setup tab, click Materials.
- Right-click an existing catalog, for example SCHOTT, and choose Duplicate Catalog.
- Right-click the copy and rename it, for example to “my best materials”.
- Delete glasses you don’t need with a right-click.
- To add a glass from another catalog, for example OHARA, right-click it and choose Send Copy To → your catalog.
- Click Save Changes.
The catalog is saved on the hard drive, in the user data folder set in the global settings, and is available in all QUADOA® models and versions, even after a reinstallation.
How to use it as substitute catalog
- In the Optimization tab, click Substitute Materials.
- Scroll to your catalog, select it and click Add. All its glasses appear in the list on the right.
- Click OK.
Note: The substitute list belongs to the current model only. The user catalog itself is available everywhere, but each model needs its own substitute list. How the list is used in the optimization is shown in material substitution.
Background: lens and coating material catalogs
- The lens material catalogs contain optical glasses as well as common optical polymers and liquids. They can be filtered by index, Abbe number or name, shown as a tree with index and Abbe bar charts, or as an Abbe diagram.
- Coating material catalogs contain materials for thin-film coatings, such as fluorides, oxides and some metals.
- Catalog files can also be added manually: lens materials to the glass folder, coating materials to the coat folder of the installation. The file format, including Sellmeier and other dispersion formulas and thermal coefficients, is described in the manual. Reload Catalogs in the Setup tab scans for new files.
- The substitute list is also used by the Model Material Offset goal and by Replace Model, which replaces model materials with the closest real glass.
Video tutorial: material and substitute catalogs
This 3-minute video creates a user-defined glass catalog and uses it as substitute catalog.
Video length: 2:56 min · Also on YouTube: User-Defined Material Catalogs and Substitute Catalogs in QUADOA® Optical CAD
Frequently asked questions
Open Materials in the Setup tab, right-click a catalog and choose Duplicate Catalog, rename it, edit the glasses and click Save Changes.
Right-click the glass in its catalog and choose Send Copy To, then select your catalog.
Yes. It is saved on the computer and available in all models and QUADOA® versions, even after a reinstallation.
No. The substitute list belongs to the individual model; each model has its own list.