Increasing Process Efficiency: What’s New in LucidShape 2026
Modern exterior and interior automotive lighting development teams are under pressure to iterate faster, validate against evolving regulations, and communicate lit appearance earlier in the design cycle.
The latest LucidShape release focuses squarely on those needs with new light‑source modeling capabilities, expanded regulation libraries and benchmarks, analysis improvements for apples‑to‑apples visualization, time‑savers in the Script Gallery, and targeted updates to the Collimator and Mini Pillows design tools. Here are the key additions and how they map to typical headlamp, signal lamp, and interior lighting workflows.
Light Source Apodization — Unlimited Rays with Spatial Fidelity
A new Light Source Apodization workflow converts a measured ray file into two Light Distribution (LID) files—spatial and angular—so you can simulate an effectively unlimited number of rays while preserving the emitter’s non‑uniform spatial and angular behavior. This addresses common bottlenecks when a supplier ray file lacks sufficient rays for low‑noise luminance images, near‑field light‑guide coupling studies, or high dynamic‑range renderings.
How it works (at a glance): Load a measured ray file, let LucidShape estimate the virtual focal point, choose spatial/angle sampling, clip stray rays if needed, and export spatial and angular LIDs. Use these together in the LID File Emitter to launch an unlimited number of rays with the original source emittance intact.
Why it matters:
- Noise reduction at the sensor: Drive very high ray counts without losing emitter detail.
- Better correlation: Maintain spatial luminance and angular patterns that are critical for edge‑lit guides, coupling studies, and display lighting.
- Repeatable setup: The apodized LIDs become reusable building blocks across designs.
Apodization dialog with spatial and angle plots
Spectral Power Distribution (SPD) Export — Build Unified Spectra
You can now export the SPD from a spectral LID (e.g., a mixed white from blue + yellow sources) as a comma-separated values (CSV) and reuse it directly as a color light‑source input. This shortens the loop when you want a single, validated spectrum that represents a multi‑emitter mix.
Typical use: Combine multiple emitters into a composite white spectrum, save as CSV, then reference that American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) SPD in the Color Light Source dialog for subsequent simulations.
Why it matters:
- Ensures consistency between measured/mixed SPDs and subsequent analyses.
- Speeds what‑if evaluations of color targets or visualization of results using various Commission Internationale de l’Éclairage (CIE) standards.
Color Data Analysis dialog showing “Write SPD” with adjacent SPD plot
Color Light Source dialog showing “from ASCII file” with adjacent SPD plot
Regulation & Benchmark Updates — ECE, GB, SAE, IIHS, C‑IASI, C‑NCAP
The release integrates regulation updates across forward and signal lighting, plus benchmark tooling improvements. Highlights include Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) R149‑01/R148‑01 consolidated test tables; China Guóbiāo (国标) (GB) 4599‑2024 and GB 5920‑2024 incorporations; ECE R150‑01 and China GB 11564 retro‑reflector support via the Retro Reflect Analysis tool; Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) J595 (directional emergency warning lights); IIHS Headlight Benchmark Aiming Matrix for tilt/rotation tolerance; and China Insurance Automotive Safety Index (C‑IASI) (2020/2023) & China New Car Assessment Program (C‑NCAP) additions including cutoff position/sharpness and ADB scenarios with auto‑aiming.
Why it matters:
- Less re‑work: Up‑to‑date tables reduce manual setup and interpretation.
- Built-in tolerancing: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Aiming Matrix streamlines robustness checks before Design Verification / Product Validation (DV/PV) testing.
- China market alignment: GB updates and C‑NCAP coverage map to critical export markets.
ECE R149-01 update flow chart
GB update table
IIHS headlight evaluation tool: Aiming Matrix tolerance feature
Advanced Analysis — Luminance Clipping for True Side‑by‑Side Comparisons
Luminance Clipping lets you fix a common luminance range across multiple High Dynamic Range (HDR) images so the same absolute luminance looks the same across all views. Previously, per‑image auto‑scaling made direct visual comparison misleading.
Where it helps: Comparing multiple lamp functions on the same assembly and doing uniformity studies where background appearance must remain constant.
Four luminance images of a tower taillamp with identical background brightness (fixed range)
Script Gallery — Automation & Batch Output
New tools:
- Red-Green-Blue (RGB) Histogram for tone‑mapping feedback
- RGB Light Source Calibration (Excel) to compute R/G/B flux for a target color
- Save Isolines Images for batch LID exports
- Reverse Bird’s‑Eye View to derive intensity distributions from road‑plane targets
- First Steps in LucidShape Script to jump‑start automation
Why it matters: Moves repetitive output and simple data transformations into scripts so teams spend more time on design decisions.
Script Gallery example, RGB Histogram tool
Design Module — Collimator & Mini Pillows Enhancements
Collimator: More Control, Better Targeting
What’s new: Near/Far‑field targets per surface path with independent control for front‑center entry and reflector (including per‑quadrant four‑curve control); front‑shape awareness so the solver considers the flat front exit when shaping curves; and Non‑Uniform Rational B‑Splines (NURBS) curve weights (N/E/S/W) for manual biasing.
Why it matters: Collimators used in DRLs, turn indicators, and edge‑lit signatures often traverse three surface interactions; the updated algorithm keeps the intended focal spot or spread while providing per‑direction tuning and robustness to front‑surface additions.
Mini Pillows: Round‑Trip Editing via CSV
What’s new: Save/Load CSV of facet parameters (e.g., spreads), enabling mass edits in Excel/scripts and quick load to LucidShape. This also opens a path to apply iconography or spatial patterns programmatically.
Why it matters: Tailored lit textures and last‑meter uniformity fixes go faster when hundreds/thousands of facets are editable offline and reloaded in one step.
Mini Pillows dialog with Save/Load CSV controls and sample CSV snippet
Helpful Resources
For installers, licensing, documentation, and self-paced training, bookmark these Keysight portals (registration may be required):
- Keysight Support Portal (KSP): Request support and case tracking.
- Keysight Software Manager (KSM): Licenses and installers for Optical Design Engineering products.
- Knowledge Centre – Optical: Documentation, knowledge articles, example models.
- E-Learning Portal: Webinars and tutorials for LucidShape and related tools.
Support for VisionSym — Physics-Based, Graphics Processor Unit (GPU) Photorealistic Visualization
LucidShape is now interoperable with VisionSym to produce physically accurate lit appearance with interactive feedback, including GPU Monte Carlo rendering, progressive updates, HDR (EXR) output, light groups/dimming, view presets, and a direct path into Advanced Analysis for quantitative checks. You can use VisionSym interactively in LucidShape, or queue background jobs from the host.
Where it helps: Early lit appearance reviews (uniformity, hot‑spots, lenticular textures) before hard tooling, and regulatory color/uniformity pre‑checks directly from HDR images.
VisionSym viewer with multi‑view layout and light groups panel
Conclusion — How This Release Streamlines Automotive Lighting Work
Across concept, design, and verification, the new LucidShape features target the tasks that typically consume cycles:
- Faster, higher‑fidelity source modeling with apodization—no ray‑count ceilings while preserving spatial/angular truth.
- Color workflow continuity via SPD export/import for consistent spectra.
- Regulatory confidence earlier with expanded ECE/GB/SAE tables and updated IIHS/C‑IASI/C‑NCAP tools, including aiming tolerance and ADB scenarios.
- Apples‑to‑apples visuals using Luminance Clipping for fair comparisons across lamp functions and iterations.
- Design control where it counts: Collimator enhancements and CSV‑driven Mini Pillows edits accelerate convergence under real constraints.
- Photorealistic decisions: With VisionSym, engineers and stylists can evaluate lit appearance quantitatively and qualitatively before committing to hardware.
Net result: fewer loops, earlier clarity, and smoother handoffs across optical design, styling, and compliance—so your headlamps, Daytime Running Lights (DRLs), turn indicators, tails, and interior accents hit uniformity and color targets with fewer prototype spins.
