Radiance mgf2rad program

MGF2RAD(1)                                                          MGF2RAD(1)

NAME

       mgf2rad  -  convert  Materials  and  Geometry  Format  file to RADIANCE
       description

SYNOPSIS

       mgf2rad [ -m matfile ][ -e mult ][ -g dist ] [ input ..  ]

DESCRIPTION

       Mgf2rad converts one or more Materials and Geometry Format (MGF)  files
       to  a RADIANCE scene description.  By definition, all output dimensions
       are in meters.  The material names and properties for the surfaces will
       be those assigned in MGF.  Any materials not defined in MGF will result
       in an error during translation.  Light sources are described inline  as
       IES luminaire files, and mgf2rad calls the program ies2rad(1) to trans-
       late these files.  If an IES file in turn contains an  MGF  description
       of  the  local fixture geometry, this may result in a recursive call to
       mgf2rad, which is normal and should be  transparent.   The  only  side-
       effect  of this additional translation is the appearance of other RADI-
       ANCE scene and data files produced automatically by ies2rad.

       The -m option may be used to put all the translated  materials  into  a
       separate  RADIANCE  file.   This  is not always advisable, as any given
       material name may be reused at different points in the MGF description,
       and  writing  them  to a separate file loses the contextual association
       between materials and surfaces.  As long as unique material  names  are
       used  throughout  the  MGF  description and material properties are not
       redefined, there will be no problem.  Note that this is the only way to
       get all the translated materials into a single file, since no output is
       produced for unreferenced materials;  i.e.  translating  just  the  MGF
       materials does not work.

       The  -e  option  may be used to multiply all the emission values by the
       given mult factor.  The -g option may be used to establish a glow  dis-
       tance  (in  meters)  for  all emitting surfaces.  These two options are
       employed principally by ies2rad, and are not generally useful  to  most
       users.

EXAMPLE

       To  translate  two  MGF  files into one RADIANCE materials file and one
       geometry file:

         mgf2rad  -m  materials.rad  building1.mgf  building2.mgf   >   build-
         ing1+2.rad

       To create an octree directly from two MGF files and one RADIANCE file:

         oconv '\!mgf2rad materials.mgf scene.mgf' source.rad > scene.oct

FILES

       tmesh.cal Used to smooth polygonal geometry
       *.rad          RADIANCE source descriptions created by ies2rad
       *.dat          RADIANCE source data created by ies2rad
       source.cal     Used for IES source coordinates

AUTHOR

       Greg Ward

SEE ALSO

       ies2rad(1), mgf2meta(1), obj2rad(1), oconv(1), rad2mgf(1), xform(1)

       MGF web site "http://radsite.lbl.gov/mgf/HOME.html"


RADIANCE                            4/12/95                         MGF2RAD(1)