Working with the LSST Optical Simulator at UC Davis, we desired to build a set of masks containing simulated stars and galaxies that can be projected onto the CCDs we are testing. I wrote some Python code that placed sub resolution spots in such a way as to simulate galaxy light profiles. The code generates .gds files that can be sent to the mask vendor. I am posting it here in case others find it useful. The files spot_mask_test.py, galaxy_test.py, draw_scene.py, and draw_block.py are tests of increasing complexity I used to develop the code.
The file draw_block_9Oct17.py is the actual code I used to draw a mask containing 2700 simulated stars and 5400 simulated galaxies drawn from distributions. The galaxies have Sersic light profiles of various size, brightness, Sersic index, ellipticity, and orientation. A catalog of the objects is generated concurrently with the .gds file. We will be ordering a mask of this type soon.
Acknowledgements: This research was supported by DOE grant DE-SC0009999 and NSF/AURA grant N56981C.