Extract text from optical simulation files (RAY)
To convert RAY simulation files to another format, you need Synopsys LightTools or other 3D software.
To convert other file formats to the "Optical Simulation File" file type, you need software like Synopsys LightTools or a similar tool.
The .ray file is predominantly an Optical Simulation Ray Data file utilized by optical engineering software such as Synopsys LightTools and TracePro. Engineers use these files to define light sources, model LED emissions, and calculate ray tracing paths in complex 3D environments. A secondary use for the .ray extension is as a scene description file for older raytracing engines like the SBT-raytracer or Andrew Glassner's Ray Tracer. Finally, it may occasionally appear as an X-ray analysis project file used by Bruker AXS software.
While highly accurate for photometric calculations, the .ray format is notoriously difficult to manage. It is a strictly proprietary format. Files routinely exceed several gigabytes because they map millions of individual light rays. You cannot preview them in standard web browsers, and opening them requires purchasing expensive, specialized enterprise software licenses (often costing thousands of dollars annually). Sharing these files with clients or manufacturing partners who lack the correct software is practically impossible without conversion.
To make this data usable, conversion is heavily recommended. For viewing in standard 3D or CAD software, convert the scene data to STEP or OBJ. To analyze raw numeric coordinate and vector data, convert to CSV or TXT. If you only need to store the massive datasets, compress them to ZIP or 7Z.
Convert.Guru analyzes your RAY file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted REY, RAR, JPG, ART and FS files.
If you want to convert RAY file to OBJ, FBX, DAE, 3DS, MAX, BLEND, MA, MB, C4D, STL, PLY or WRL, you can use Synopsys LightTools or similar software from the "Optical Ray Tracing Data" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert DWG, DAE, X3D, IGES, WRL, JT, SKP, 3DS, 3DM, OBJ, STEP or FBX files to RAY, try Synopsys LightTools or another comparable tool in the "Optical Ray Tracing Data" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our RAY converter.