Reminder: TracePro is a non-sequential ray-tracing program — for analyzing light propagation, illumination, optical efficiency and stray light. Lens design, aberrations and MTF are handled by OSLO.
Section View — what it changes
Complex optical systems — light guides, fiber assemblies, LED enclosures, parts with internal channels — are hard to verify "from the outside". Section View gives you a rendered cross-section of the TracePro model: you can cut the model along the XY, XZ or YZ plane, move the cutting plane through the geometry, add transparency, snap the view to an orthographic projection, and zoom to fit the whole model.
A key convenience: selection works both ways — an object selected in Section View is simultaneously selected in the model window (and vice versa). This makes it easier to locate components that are hard to find in Silhouette or Rendered view, especially in dense, nested assemblies.
In practice, this means a quick check that internal surfaces and connections are correct before you run ray tracing; easier detection of geometry errors (gaps, solid interpenetrations, incorrect surface orientations); and a clearer picture of how the system behaves — you can see exactly where light travels inside a part. Fewer surprises at the ray-tracing stage means fewer design iterations.
The rest of the 26.3 updates
Automation and model control. A new Scheme macro command, view:reload-source-tree, refreshes the source tree after changes made by other commands, without a manual refresh — which makes scripted workflows more reliable. Also fixed: file saving in the Sequence Editor, interpretation of OSLO lens files, Interactive Optimizer results, and handling of lenses whose second surface has different semi-diameter, decentration or tilt settings.
CAD interoperability and optical data. Fixes to importing/exporting engineering data: wavelength conversion for private glass data imported from Code V, preserving custom object colors on STEP export/import, protecting the names of existing parts when inserting STEP data, repairing damaged geometry from ACIS SAT files, and restoring SOLIDWORKS colors when opening OML files from RayViz. The OHARA glass catalogs were updated; the release ships with KOSMOS 8.0.17985.
Analysis and visualization. Accuracy and display fixes: smoothed 3D irradiance maps, display of absorbed flux, octree voxels in TracePro LC, candela and Polar Iso-Candela plots. Keyboard navigation was improved in analysis tables (Flux Report, Property Report, Incident Ray Table, Ray History, Path Sort Table), along with the display of silhouette edges, toroidal surfaces and ray tracing at edges.
Who this matters to in Poland and the CEE region
This is especially relevant for teams designing LED lighting and optics, R&D departments in automotive, appliances and medical devices (light guides, fiber assemblies), and universities and laboratories working on non-imaging optical systems.
How to move to TracePro 26.3
We are Lambda Research's authorized representative for Poland and the CEE region.
🔄 Already have active maintenance? The upgrade to 26.3 is included — we'll help you upgrade. → contact us
🧪 Want to try it first? Request a trial version → trial form (or trial@spectropol.pl)
💬 Don't have TracePro yet? Ask for a quote → request a quote
Release information source: Lambda Research Corporation. The material above is our own editorial coverage for the PL/CEE market.