Thorlabs Blender Optical Path

Thorlabs Blender Optical Path

Convert a 2D optical schematic into a physically explainable, independently auditable Blender scene.

Load the relevant references

• Read physical-gates.md before geometry, CAD placement, or mechanical review.
• Read evidence-contract.md before declaring any PASS or preparing a release.
• Read history-derived-rules.md when revising an existing scene or when old fixes may have regressed.
• Read project-case-study.md for the complete G1/G2 2D-to-3D example.

Authority and revision rules

• Apply system constraints first, then the newest explicit user wording or annotated screenshot, then active project rules, then this general skill, and only then older artifacts or PASS labels.
• Freeze an accepted package. Start a new revision for every correction; never overwrite the prior evidence package.
• Keep one writer for the shared Blender generator. Use helpers as read-only optical, mechanical, CAD, evidence, and visual reviewers unless an isolated write scope is explicit.
• Translate every correction into object families, world-space geometry, a measurable gate, and required evidence before editing.
• Use BLOCKED or UNVERIFIED when real geometry or evidence is missing. File existence, imported CAD, process success, labels, AABB contact, and self-reported text are not proof.

Core workflow

• Build a machine-readable map: schematic node -> experimental role -> real asset -> optical/fiber/electrical ports -> support path.
• Inventory every branch, component, beam segment, beam height, aperture, connector, and required detector endpoint.
• Acquire official CAD when licensing permits. Record part number, source URL, SHA-256, unit scale, bbox, local optical axis, surface normal, aperture, and provenance. Mark modeled or surrogate parts explicitly.
• Solve optical constraints first: centers, surface normals, reflection, splitting planes, branch endpoints, and zero-radius clearance.
• Solve mechanics post-first from verified table holes through real fasteners, clamps, holders, posts, mount faces, and device interfaces.
• Fix the shared placement or transform root cause. Prove one representative repeated assembly before propagation, then reopen and recheck every copy.
• Render bright audit views before beauty views. Use cutaways or transparency only to expose hidden, already-measured interfaces.
• Complete the saved-scene, visual, export, document, hash, and rule-compliance gates in the evidence contract.

Required semantic separation

• Treat free-space optical rays, guided fiber, and electrical/coaxial cables as different object families, materials, ports, and audit records.
• Terminate free-space light at the physical coupling surface; continue only the guided fiber from the ferrule/FC interface.
• Use open geometry for apertures and slits. A centered ray through an opaque disk is a collision, not a PASS.
• Remove duplicate surrogates and unexplained placeholders after the real or declared modeled assembly exists.

Publication rendering

After physical gates pass, produce a clean editorial scene with restrained metals, readable black-anodized edges, physically modest glass, thin emissive beam cores, soft halos, and uncluttered labels. Preserve topology and geometry while changing camera, lighting, materials, or presentation. Nature-style appearance never replaces mechanical evidence.

Completion language

• PASS: every applicable active gate has fresh evidence.
• PARTIAL/SCOPED: only a declared subset was audited.
• UNVERIFIED: required evidence is missing or cannot distinguish the claim.
• BLOCKED: a known requirement fails.

Never promote PARTIAL/SCOPED to whole-system PASS.