Hi all,
I need some advice for a new workstation set up and possibly some software. About three months ago I had an accident which resulted in me breaking my neck [C-4 total] which means I now have very limited/no movement in my hands and arms. I have some gross shoulder movement on my left, as well as a little bit of biceps, that allows me to manipulate the joystick on an electric wheelchair but I have no dexterity at all in my hand.
It’s all a bit shit, but I need to keep working and I am hoping that I can create a set up that allows me to continue to use sketch up efficiently.
So I would like to ask the community for some advice;

1-I currently run on Macintosh, but I suspect I will be changing platforms. There just seems to be so many more options available for windows e.g.; Voice to CAD style software. I am totally ignorant of what to look for when it comes to a Windows box, should I prioritize CPU, RAM, GPU, etc.? Would a high-end gaming set up be suitable? Are there things that I specifically should look for or avoid? Any help or advice in this area would be greatly appreciated.

2-manipulating a cursor on the screen is going to be a challenge. I’ve tried some head and I tracking software, but been unimpressed. A friend is currently playing with sticking some accelerometer Shields on Micro processes [excuse all the typos, I am voice dictating this on the Mac which is a slow and in accurate process] with the view that I can mount it on my head and control the cursor with my head movements. I’m also trying to get my hands on a large tracking BALL, hoping that I can manipulate it with enough precision to enable good accuracy with the mouse—though this clashes with my next point.

3-another friend is breaking out a logitech Mouse and connecting all the buttons to some large arcade style buttons that he’s going to mount in a box. I’m hoping this will give me the ability to mash the buttons with my hand, therefore giving me all the custom functions I’ve assigned to the Mouse buttons as well as the left and right click. This part I think it’s fairly straightforward, though holding down certain function keys while moving the cursor won’t work. Maybe latching buttons might work, though I would have to constantly latch then unlatch each time I wanted to use a function key. Any ideas on how this might work or be improved?

4-this leaves how to assign tools. I’m hoping this aspect might be taken care of with some voice control. So my idea is to say the tool, hit a button with my left hand, and move my head to move the cursor. Again, does anyone have any ideas or recommendations in this area?

I am open to all and any suggestions, maybe there even people on the forum who are in a similar position to me—I would love some advice. Thanks all in advance,

Cheers,

Alex

Well, spent a bit of time with algadoo – thanks Pilou! – and while it's pretty amazing (actually it kicks sketchyphysics butt – and it does have some simple ray trace abilities using 'lasers', it becomes difficult/impossible when you want to create custom parabola/hyperbola reflectors. Looks like a lot of fun though – I've sent links to all my younger cousins/family members…

Oxer, IES files aren't a problem, I have what I need for the LED's I'm using. I'm at the design stage where I need to see the ray paths to determine/tweak reflector and lens parameters before I get to the render. Nice renders — I'll probably repost when I get to that point with questions re rendering. I didn't expect the ray trace side of things to be so hard…

Slightly off topic; while looking for suitable programs, I came across this which is awesome (a definite benefit of all this time spent searching the web);

GeoGebra - the world’s favorite, free math tools used by over 100 million students and teachers

Free digital tools for class activities, graphing, geometry, collaborative whiteboard and more

GeoGebra (www.geogebra.org)

Thanks for the help so far! I'm still looking

Cheers

Alex

Pilou,

I also had a few issues initially, but eventually got it working. Here's a screen grab;

I need to be able to draw reflector profiles, lenses that display diffraction (1.56) and possibly other components. Essentially if I can draw it in S/U then I'm happy with that level of precision—it's all non imaging optics, so there's no issues with chromatic aberration, coma, astigmatism etc.

Would love it to be in 3D, but am happy with 2D.

Deaneau, again, it looks interesting, but it's not what I'm thinking of.

Here's a couple of software packages that do it all, and priced accordingly;

http://www.lambdares.com/applications/lighting

(www.opticad.com)

I haven't actually seen a simple, optical, ray tracing program or even web interface that does the basics

Cheers

Alex

Ok, Lightup looks awesome, but it's not suitable for my needs; it doesn't provide for the ability to draw up a freeform reflectors or lenses (no refraction) unfortunately. It does look pretty cool though

Any other ideas?

Cheers

Alex

That looks interesting - i'll have a look and see, but from the promo it seems it relies on data libraries for the light source info. I hope it can utilise manual input optics. I'll post a response soon.
Thanks

Alex

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone might have seen some software, or knows a way to do this within S/U.

I'm designing some freeform reflectors to be used in a lighting project but am having no luck finding an application that will easily show light/ray paths. I thought initially that I'd simply do it manually by hand in S/U, but after numerous iterations and realising that there's too much guess work involved, am moving onto looking for something a bit more targeted to the process—if there is such a thing. There are extremely $$ options available, but I don't need 99% of the features and the cost is prohibitive.

There's an online java page that comes sort of close to what I'm after;

http://webphysics.davidson.edu/applets/Optics/intro.html

Of course, 3D would be better, but the important aspect is the visual ray paths.

I need to model some TIR's, lenses and reflectors, which I can all draw up, and the level of precision in S/U would be sufficient for my needs.

The other question i had, can I use a renderer to emulate the light output? I'm thinking of something like the image in this link for eg, where the reflector is aimed at a wall and the resultant hot spot, corona etc can be seen;

301 Moved Permanently

(www.ledil.com)

I've not used any render packages available for S/U, so if it is possible to do this, an easy to use/low learning curve option would be nice

Any help appreciated,

Alex

Sorry, but the download link isn't working for me? Any ideas?
I hate online 'flipping page' viewers... sorry

Cheers

Alex