PyZOS 0.0.60

Python interface for Zemax OpticStudio COM API (ZOS-API)

.. image:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pyzos/pyzos/master/Doc/images/pyzos_banner_small.png

Python Zemax OpticStudio API
----------------------------

Current revision
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0.0.6 (Last significant update on 02/26/2016)

Philosophy / Design Goals
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Problems
~~~~~~~~

The ZOS-API is an excellent interface for OpticStudio. However, using the ZOS COM API in
Python directly through PyWin32 is not conducive and feels very unpythonic for the following
reasons:

* the large set of *property* attributes of the ZOS objects are not introspectable,
* several interface objects require appropriate type casting before use, and
* the interface is quite complex (albeit flexible) requiring a significant amount of coding.
* ZOS-API only works in standalone (headless) mode. This prevents one to interact with a
running OpticStudio user-interface and observe changes made to the design instantly.

Solutions
~~~~~~~~~

The philosophy behind PyZOS is to make ZOS-API easier to use in Python by:

1. enabling interactivity with a running OpticStudio user-interface (`see demo <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot5CrjMXc_w>`__)
2. providing better introspection of objects' properties and methods
3. reducing complexity by
* providing a set of custom helper-methods that accomplishes common tasks in single or fewest possible steps
* providing a framework for easily adding custom methods that seamlessly couple with existing ZOS objects
* managing appropriate type casting of ZOS objects so that we can concentrate on solving optical design problem
4. do 1-3 without limiting or obscuring the ZOS-API in any way
5. do 1-3 with as minimum coding as possible (i.e. do a lot by doing very little)

These *enhancements* to ZOS-API using PyZOS library are documented in this (work in progress)
`Jupyter notebook <http://nbviewer.jupyter.org/github/pyzos/pyzos/blob/master/Examples/jupyter_notebooks/00_Enhancing_the_ZOS_API_Interface.ipynb>`__.


Example usage
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.. code:: python

import pyzos.zos as zos
osys = zos.OpticalSystem(sync_ui=True) # enable interactivity with a running UI
sdata = osys.pSystemData
sdata.pAperture.pApertureValue = 40
sdata.pFields.AddField(0, 2.0, 1.0)
wave = zos.Const.WavelengthPreset_d_0p587
sdata.pWavelengths.SelectWavelengthPreset(wave)
...
osys.zPushLens(1) # copy lens from ZOS COM server to the visible UI app
...
osys.zGetRefresh() # copy changes from the visible UI app to the ZOS COM server
...

See more example use of PyZOS used within Jupyter notebooks `here <https://github.com/pyzos/pyzos/tree/master/Examples/jupyter_notebooks>`__.


Install PyZOS from PyPI
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Use the following command from the command line to install PyZOS from PyPI:

.. code:: python

pip install pyzos



Interested in contributing?
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You can contribute in may ways:

1. using the library and giving feedback, suggestions and reporting bugs
2. adding custom functions you wrote for your project that others can use
3. helping to write the unit-test, adding test cases
4. letting others know about PyZOS (if you found it useful)


Dependencies
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The core PyZOS library only depends on the standard Python Library.

1. Python 3.3 and above / Python 2.7; 32/64 bit version
2. `PyWin32 <http://sourceforge.net/projects/pywin32/>`__

All the dependencies can be installed by using the Anaconda Python distribution.

License
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The code is under the `MIT License <http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT>`__.