Could anyone give some advice or comparison TFCalc, OptiLayer, FilmStar and s

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Hello,
3 |4 x3 g. M- _8 x; a6 t
& J) \, Q" e" r9 K; f  B6 YThere are quite a few optical filter design
software available, such as Essential Macleod,
) P$ Z+ w; Y+ v4 |3 F' R) j* VTFCalc, OptiLayer, FilmStar and so on.

Could anyone give some advice or comparison?

Between the two, Macleod has the more normal Windows-like user interface, so
I'm more comfortable with it. Both programs have their idiosyncracies, but
1 i" m& L  C$ E: Sthey're easy enough once you get to know them. I think Macleod's program has
more optimization algorithms, and I often found that switching between them
% p3 G/ v% _& x; Lgave the best results for tough problems. As a ray bender, I also appreciated
9 {; P0 t1 C. M' b& rMacleod's ability to export coatings to Zemax.

I tried the freeware version of FilmStar many years ago when Fred was porting
to 32 bit and found it too buggy to use. I expect it's better now.

The late Phil Baumeister told me that OptiLayer was the most powerful software
2 k0 ], V1 C$ j+ O6 ?available, but more difficult to use.