ZEMAX offers two methods for customizing the optical design experience: Macros and Extensions. 

Macros are simple programs, written in the ZEMAX Programming Language (ZPL), that allow the user to make quick work of laborious tasks.  Macros can be written quickly from within ZEMAX, and the ZPL allows access to every aspect of ZEMAX, making Macros the perfect way to perform tedious or time-consuming tasks with ease.  We have written custom Macros to perform all kinds of tasks, from 3-D image creation (for animation) to repetitive raytraces for radiometric calculations.  We use ZPL on a daily basis to drastically reduce the amount time required to do our design and analysis work, and we also offer our services to write custom macros for you.

Extensions are custom programs, external to ZEMAX, that use the Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) protocol.  Extensions either use ZEMAX as a "behind-the-scenes" engine and provide the user a custom Graphical User Interface (GUI), or they perform custom calculations and analyses “behind the scenes” and provide the user with an upgraded ZEMAX experience.

For example, we can produce an Extension to be used by optometrists for evaluating measured cornea maps.  This Extension would use ZEMAX to perform all the raytracing calculations, but the user would only see a custom GUI, designed specially for use by optometrists.

We can also write an extension to perform Finite Element Analysis (such as thermal modeling or stress analysis) on an opto-mechanical system such as a mirror, and then feed that shape data into ZEMAX, in order to exactly model the effects of thermal loading or stress bending on an entire opto-mechanical system.