1.2 KostaCLOUD
General Information about UI Layout
Here we will discuss the layout and basic operation of KostaCLOUD. There are a few items which we will talk about here that you should be aware of:
- Object/Properties Pane - Object Pane lists the objects in a Workspace and the Properties Pane lists editable properties within an object.
- Scale Bar - Allows you to see the scale of objects (Also be aware that inserting a geometry will be correlated to the scale).
- Workspace Footer - Allows you to create a new Workspace in the current Version within the Project as well as switch between Workspaces.
🚨🚨🚨 A few important quick-notes:
- Inserting an object into KostaCLOUD defaults to the center of where your Workspace Viewer Camera is located, as well as based on the scale of your scale bar. For example if you zoom in, then the relative scale of an object gets smaller if you insert zoomed in. If you pan your camera to the right, then the object will be inserted to the right of where you were.
- The fastest way to convert any field (such as radius of curvature, thickness, etc.) in KostaCLOUD to an Independent Variable is click within the properties text-box and to use the quick-key ctrl+q.
- If you want to tile windows like you can in other programs, feel free to open the same KostaCLOUD Workspace in a new tab by copying the URL to a new Tab, and tiling them with the Operating System (OS), or use the tabs built into the browser.
Below we can see an example of a design in KostaCLOUD:
KostaCLOUD Double Gauss Example
Top Access Panel
There are quite a few buttons/Items to know about that are located in the Top Access Panel. From left to right we have:
- 1.Project Tools Menu () - This is used to rename a Project or edit Project properties
- 2.Project Name - If you have rename project permissions, you can click on the project name, and edit the name directly.
- 4.
- 7.Mode - A dropdown select that will in the near future switch between different design modes, such as Ray Optics Mode and Wave Optics Mode.
- 8.Compute Unit (CU) Indicator () - Provides information about consumed monthly CPU usage.
- 9.Copy Selected Item () - If an item is selected in KostaCLOUD this will copy this item to the Server-side clipboard. This allows you to switch between workspaces and later paste.
- 10.Paste Item from Clipboard () - If there is an item on the Server-side clipboard, then pastes the item based on the current camera location.
- 11.
- 12.Redo Last Action () - If the previous action was an undo, restore the next Versioning to the Workspace.
Navigation Bar
In the Navigation Bar there are a few tabs you can switch between which dictate operating modes of KostaCLOUD which are are:
- Parameter - Which allows you to optimize a design, or setup parameters for particular aspects of a design such as Computed Metrics (Like Effective Focal Length), or independent variables which the optimizer optimizes, or dependent variables.
- Simulation - Which allows you to simulate and setup system parameters for your system in context to the design mode. (For example set F/# in Imaging)
- Data - Which allows you to upload data files or select a live-stream of data which can be used in a simulation or in analysis.
Below you can see the Objects and Properties Panes as they look in KostaCLOUD by switching tabs. The goal for each pane is:
- Objects Pane - To list all of the Objects within the current Workspace to make it easier to select objects (by clicking)that may be difficult or impossible to select otherwise.
- Properties - To list an extensive list of all properties for a selected Object.
Objects
Properties
Element List under Objects Pane
Properties List for a Lens in the Properties Pane
The Workspace Viewer is as simple as it gets. You get to see your design using it.
Example of Double Gauss lens in Workspace Viewer
The View Cube gives you Axes references, and allows you to click on a face which aligns the Workspace viewer in that plane. One can drag the 
icon to move the view-cube.
View Cube
The Scale Bar provides the user a reference of scale for the system. The number denoted is the length of the entire scale bar.
Scale Bar
By clicking 
you can either create a new Blank Workspace or Import a file such as a .ZMX file. If you have multiple workspaces, they will appear as tabs similar to the ones shown below. To switch workspaces simply click on the tab.
Examples of a few designs in the Workspace Footer