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The interface

RayRF Studio is a full-GUI desktop app (with CLI capability too). This section covers all key sections of the main window: the title bar, menus, bottom panel, and 5 tabs (Edit, Simulate, S-Parameters, Radiation Pattern, and Field Viewer).

Title bar

The menu bar provides dropdowns for project saving/loading, settings, and help. It also shows account and license information, as well as dynamic simulation run info.

  • Menus. File (new, open, open recent, welcome panel, save, save as, the Export and Import submenus, and exit), Edit (undo, redo), Window (shown only in Live mode, customize the layout), Help (about), and Settings (usage telemetry, check for updates, project settings, and the Benchmark submenu).
  • Simulation status. During simulation runs a RUNNING indicator shows on the right-hand side with the elapsed time and throughput in GCell/s. It reads PREPARING RESULTS during postprocessing, then COMPLETE when a converged run's results are ready. The final solve time covers the FDTD loop and not export, launch, or result loading.
  • Update indicator. When a new release (which has not been skipped) is available, an Update <version> available indication appears at the top, click it to open the update dialog.
  • Account. Shows your email and plan status when signed in, or Sign in when not. Click to view the options: manage account (go to dashboard), refresh plan status (if you changed plans and don't want to restart to see the change), deactivate machine (remove from used seats), and sign out.
  • Project name. The file label shows the current .rfsim file name, or Untitled for an unsaved project. The window title carries the same name and a trailing * while there are unsaved changes.

The 5 tabs

The tab bar runs left to right in a fixed order. Edit is the workspace. The four to its right hold results.

  • Edit is the geometry editor: the stackup and layers, shapes, ports, and the 2D canvas. See Stackup and layers.
  • Simulate holds the mesh, boundary conditions, and run controls, and shows live progress during a run. See Auto mode.
  • S-Parameters plots S11 and the Smith chart from the last run. See S-parameters.
  • Radiation Pattern shows the far-field pattern when NF2FF output is enabled. See Radiation pattern.
  • Field Viewer shows the 3D fields and surface currents when those exports are enabled. See Field viewer.

When a run finishes, a dot prefixes each result tab that received new output, so you can see which views changed without opening them. S-Parameters and Simulate always dot. Radiation Pattern dots only when NF2FF was enabled, Field Viewer only when field or surface-current export was enabled. Opening a dotted tab clears its dot.

Live mode

The LIVE button is at the right end of the tab bar. Live mode re-runs the simulation continuously as you edit the geometry: it docks the result views into one surface and updates them in lockstep with each change, so S-parameters and fields track the edit. Two consecutive failed runs turn it off. The Running simulations page covers it in full.

Bottom panel

A two-tab panel is below the tabs, split from the main view by a draggable divider.

  • Console is the timestamped run log: solver output, status lines, and app messages.
  • Notices lists what the current project has raised, at three levels. An error blocks a run until it is fixed. A warning asks before the run starts, and can be dismissed from its right-click menu, either the one specific warning or all warnings of that type. Dismissals persist with the project, and a dismissal is keyed to the value that triggered it, so the same warning re-surfaces when that value changes materially. A note is context, never a problem: a reference frequency quoted outside the simulated band reads as one. Clicking Run or Preview Mesh completes the list and brings this tab forward once, so nothing needs a dialog of its own. Dismissed warnings are hidden from the list. Check Show dismissed to list them, and Reset Dismissals clears every dismissal so those warnings show again.

A seat-decision banner appears above the tabs when your plan allows fewer machines than are activated. Its button opens the account page to choose which machines to keep.

Undo and redo

Undo and redo are per tab. The Edit tab keeps up to 50 geometry states. Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y apply to whichever tab has focus, and each result tab manages its own history for the edits made in it.

Project files

A project is one .rfsim JSON file that holds the whole design: stackup, geometry, ports, settings, view state, and the last run's results. There is no autosave. Edits set the dirty marker, the * in the title, and you save explicitly with Ctrl+S. An older release refuses to open a project saved by a newer one. A project can be configured to write its results to a separate .rfsimout sidecar next to the .rfsim, so the project can be committed to version control while the results stay out of it. See File formats.

The included examples

The Welcome Panel that opens on launch offers four included examples alongside a blank project and your recent files: a patch antenna, a Vivaldi antenna, a grounded coplanar line, and a bandpass filter. Each opens with its S-parameter results, and running it fills the radiation and surface-current views. They are the fastest way to open a complete design and see every tab populated. The filter and the coplanar line size their geometry from variables and constraints, and the Vivaldi draws its arms with script shapes.