CODE V 2026 New Features

CODE V 2026 introduces a broad set of updates designed to enhance optical design workflows, improve simulation accuracy, and expand automation capabilities for lens and imaging system development. This release focuses on practical engineering efficiency, offering new tools and data‑driven features that support early‑stage design, tolerancing, image simulation, and stray‑light analysis.

A key addition in CODE V 2026 is AI Start Expert, an AI‑assisted tool that generates starting point lens designs based on a small set of user‑defined specifications. The feature is intended to reduce the time typically required to identify viable initial configurations, providing designers with multiple candidate solutions that align with performance goals. While these designs are not intended for immediate production use, they offer a foundation that can shorten early design cycles and support rapid exploration of optical architectures.

The release also includes an expanded framework for custom tolerancing, built on a parallelized macro structure. This system supports multi‑step alignment workflows, user‑defined performance metrics, and simultaneous tracking of results across multiple runs. A guided setup wizard assists users in defining alignment steps, tolerances, compensators, and precision settings. The updated tolerancing environment is designed to streamline complex analyses and provide clearer statistical insight into system sensitivity and manufacturability.

CODE V 2026 introduces Lens Performance Data File Export, enabling integration with ImSym 2026 and other external imaging system simulators. This export includes point spread functions, distortion characteristics, and other performance‑related data, allowing image simulation without requiring access to the underlying lens construction parameters. The capability supports batch simulations, virtual prototyping across different sensor configurations, and the generation of datasets for AI‑based imaging workflows. It also provides a controlled method for sharing optical performance information with collaborators and customers.

The release expands analytical capabilities through a set of new macros. These include ghost analysis macros for visualizing ghost paths and footprint plots, wave aberration macros for intrinsic and induced aberration evaluation, VIE labeling macros for annotating lens views, and a Calc_TGR macro for estimating transform grid sizes used in PSF‑based analysis. These tools are intended to help designers identify sources of aberrations, evaluate stray‑light behavior, and automate common analysis tasks.

Additional updates include support for the OASIS file format in layout export, enabling smaller file sizes and faster output, as well as an expanded library of example models. New examples cover topics such as AI Start Expert usage, automotive head‑up display design, polarization‑sensitive metalenses, Zernike fitting workflows, and advanced tolerancing methods. Each example includes supporting documentation to help users adopt new features efficiently.

Overall, CODE V 2026 provides a collection of enhancements aimed at improving design speed, analysis depth, and workflow integration. The release emphasizes practical engineering tools, data‑driven simulation capabilities, and expanded automation to support the development of modern optical systems across a range of applications.