FRED Introductory + Scripting Tutorial

Our FRED Introductory + Scripting tutorial course is designed to bring you quickly up to speed with the FRED optical engineering software through a full 4-days of hands-on experience augmented by lectures and discussions with the course instructor.  Optionally, if you don’t quite have the time or budget for the full 4-day class, then it is possible to attend the Introductory (3-day) or Scripting (1-day) classes alone.

 

These classes are available both in-person and as an on-demand self-paced online class. The pricing for in-person and online classes is the same. The choice is yours!

In-Person FRED Tutorial Details

  • $2,100.00 per student registration for the Introductory tutorial
  • $690.00 per student registration for the Scripting tutorial
  • Course runs from 8am to 5pm with a break for lunch
  • Transportation, hotel accommodations and meal expenses are not included in the registration fee
  • Students receive both printed and PDF copies of the materials, along with sample files.
  • Refunds are granted when cancellation is made 14 days prior to the course starting date

The in-person class benefits from being held in a small group setting in our Tucson office, which allows interaction and real-time support between students and instructor. We recommend in-person attendance where possible for this reason, as we feel students gain a lot more from live interactive classes!

In-person FRED Tutorial Registration

  1. Download the In-Person FRED Tutorial registration form
  2. Complete and return this form to Photon Engineering at fredsales@photonengr.com

Licenses will be provided in the room for the duration of the class for those that need them. We can also provide a machine for the course if needed for an additional fee (see registration form).

Online FRED Tutorial Details

  • $2,100.00 per student registration for the Introductory tutorial (non-refundable)
  • $690.00 per student registration for the Scripting tutorial (non-refundable)
  • Immediate 30-day access to video content hosted on the Teachable platform
  • Downloadable PDF lecture notes and example files
  • Access to FRED technical support

The online tutorial format is built around a hands-on learning experience and accompanied by nearly 30 hours of pre-recorded lecture and demonstration videos to help guide your FREDucation.   You will also have access to the course instructors (via technical support) should you need additional assistance during the class.  The online class benefits those who need schedule flexibility or need to keep overall costs down (no travel expenses).

Online FRED Tutorial Registration

  1. Download the Online FRED Tutorial Registration Form
  2. Complete and return this form to Photon Engineering at fredsales@photonengr.com
  3. Submit Credit Card payment information to our Sales team over the phone  at 1-520-733-9557.  Quotations can be provided upon request.

Once enrolled in the class, Photon Engineering will provide additional instructions via email for logging into the tutorial platform and accessing the course content, as well as a temporary FRED license if required.

Requirements (In-person and Online)

The introductory tutorial assumes no knowledge of FRED on behalf of the attendee prior to attending the course.

 

The scripting tutorial assumes a working knowledge of FRED, such as that found from attending the introductory class, or having worked with FRED already for some time.

FRED Introductory Tutorial Content (In-person and Online)

  1. Introduction to FRED and its Graphical User Interface
  2. Maksutov Telescope – Get comfortable with the interface and perform basic raytracing and analysis
  3. DLP Integrator – Keep practicing with the interface and learn multiple ways of analyzing ray distributions
  4. Charts Discussion – Learn about customizing the look and feel of analysis plots
  5. Inteferometer – Get exposed to coherent field propagation by calculating fringes in a Michelson interferometer
  6. LED and Hybrid Lens – Build geometry using curves and construct an LED model using multiple techniques
  7. Raytrace Properties Discussion – Learn about the important role of Raytrace Properties in your models
  8. Apertures and Trimming – Understand how surface and curve trimming operations can be used to create custom objects by building an imaging prism
  9. Materials Discussion – Learn how FRED keeps track of materials assignments during raytracing
  10. Coherence Discussion – Get insight into the algorithm that FRED uses when propagating coherent fields
  11. Laser Diode Collimator – Use coherent field propagation, polarization, and birefringence to construct a beam combining system with an imported collimating lens
  12. Raypath Discussion – What exactly is a “raypath”?
  13. Triplet – Perform a ghost stray light analysis on an imported lens system and practice using raytrace path analysis tools
  14. Detector Entity Discussion – Understand the differences between Detector Entities and Analysis Surfaces
  15. Barcode Scanner – Introduction to CAD imports and resulting object structure though construction of a barcode scanning system
  16. Scatter and Stray Light – Learn about BSDF representations and scatter modeling by building a refractive telescope model

FRED Scripting Tutorial Content (In-person and Online)

  1. Introduction
    • Why we use scripts
    • Where we can write scripts
    • How to run scripts
    • Where to het help
  2. Fundamentals
    • Basics of Winwrap Basic
    • Fundamentals of FRED Scripting
  3. Raytracing and Analyses
    • Raytrace Commands
    • Energy Calculations
  4. Model Building
    • Adding simple geometry
    • Adding primitives
    • Positioning geometry
    • Deleting geometry
    • Scripting surface attributes
  5. Ray Data & Advanced Raytracing
    • Extracting ray data
    • Advanced raytrace
    • Raypath functions
  6. ARN’s & Ray Filters
    • Displaying / Saving ARN’s
    • Accessing / Modifying ARN’s
    • Ray filters