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Revision: 1.27
Committed: Thu Oct 23 23:34:59 2025 UTC (2 weeks, 1 day ago) by greg
Branch: MAIN
CVS Tags: HEAD
Changes since 1.26: +2 -6 lines
Log Message:
docs: Added rxfluxmtx man page and updated others accordingly

File Contents

# User Rev Content
1 greg 1.27 .\" RCSid "$Id: rcontrib.1,v 1.26 2025/04/23 15:09:03 greg Exp $"
2 greg 1.2 .TH RCONTRIB 1 5/25/05 RADIANCE
3 greg 1.1 .SH NAME
4     rcontrib - compute contribution coefficients in a RADIANCE scene
5     .SH SYNOPSIS
6     .B rcontrib
7     [
8     .B "\-n nprocs"
9     ][
10     .B \-V
11     ][
12 greg 1.18 .B "\-t secs"
13     ][
14 greg 1.1 .B "\-c count"
15     ][
16     .B \-fo
17     |
18     .B \-r
19     ][
20     .B "\-o ospec"
21     ][
22 greg 1.10 .B "\-p p1=V1,p2=V2"
23     ][
24 greg 1.1 .B "\-b binv"
25     ][
26     .B "\-bn nbins"
27     ]
28     {
29     .B "\-m mod | \-M file"
30     }
31     ..
32     [
33     .B $EVAR
34     ]
35     [
36     .B @file
37     ]
38     [
39     rtrace options
40     ]
41     .B octree
42     .br
43     .B "rcontrib [ options ] \-defaults"
44 greg 1.21 .br
45     .B "rcontrib \-features [feat1 ..]"
46 greg 1.1 .SH DESCRIPTION
47 greg 1.3 .I Rcontrib
48 greg 1.1 computes ray coefficients
49     for objects whose modifiers are named in one or more
50     .I \-m
51     settings.
52     These modifiers are usually materials associated with
53     light sources or sky domes, and must directly modify some geometric
54     primitives to be considered in the output.
55     A modifier list may also be read from a file using the
56     .I \-M
57     option.
58     The RAYPATH environment variable determines directories to search for
59     this file.
60     (No search takes place if a file name begins with a '.', '/' or '~'
61     character.)\0
62     .PP
63     If the
64     .I \-n
65     option is specified with a value greater than 1, multiple
66     processes will be used to accelerate computation on a shared
67     memory machine.
68     Note that there is no benefit to using more processes
69     than there are local CPUs available to do the work, and the
70     .I rcontrib
71     process itself may use a considerable amount of CPU time.
72     .PP
73     By setting the boolean
74     .I \-V
75     option, you may instruct
76     .I rcontrib
77     to report the contribution from each material rather than the ray
78     coefficient.
79     This is particularly useful for light sources with directional output
80     distributions, whose value would otherwise be lost in the shuffle.
81     With the default
82     .I -V-
83     setting, the output of rcontrib is a coefficient that must be multiplied
84     by the radiance of each material to arrive at a final contribution.
85     This is more convenient for computing daylight coefficeints, or cases
86     where the actual radiance is not desired.
87     Use the
88     .I -V+
89     setting when you wish to simply sum together contributions
90     (with possible adjustment factors) to obtain a final radiance value.
91     Combined with the
92     .I \-i
93     or
94     .I \-I
95     option, irradiance contributions are reported by
96     .I \-V+
97     rather than radiance, and
98     .I \-V-
99     coefficients contain an additonal factor of PI.
100     .PP
101     The
102     .I \-c
103     option tells
104     .I rcontrib
105     how many rays to accumulate for each record.
106 greg 1.6 The default value is one, meaning a full record will be produced for
107 greg 1.1 each input ray.
108 greg 1.6 For values greater than one, contributions will be averaged together
109 greg 1.1 over the given number of input rays.
110     If set to zero, only a single record will be produced at the very
111     end, corresponding to the sum of all rays given on the input
112     (rather than the average).
113     This is equivalent to passing all the output records through a program like
114     .I total(1)
115     to sum RGB values together, but is much more efficient.
116     Using this option, it is possible to reverse sampling, sending rays from
117     a parallel source such as the sun to a diffuse surface, for example.
118 greg 1.6 Note that output flushing via zero-direction rays is disabled with
119     .I \-c
120     set to zero.
121 greg 1.1 .PP
122 greg 1.19 Output flushing at fixed intervals may be enabled with the
123     .I \-x
124     option, which specifies the number of records
125     (-c accumulations) before each flush.
126     If the
127     .I \-y
128     option is also set, then periodic flushing is disabled and the
129     output size for an RGB image is the taken from the x and y dimensions.
130     In lieu of periodic flushing, a flush may be forced as mentioned above
131     by sending a sample with a zero direction vector, although you
132     must still send a full record of rays before output occurs.
133     .PP
134 greg 1.18 If progress reports are desired, the
135     .I \-t
136     option specifies a time interval in seconds for reports sent to
137     standard error.
138 greg 1.19 This requires that the number of input samples is known, meaning a
139     .I \-y
140     parameter has been specified.
141 greg 1.18 .PP
142 greg 1.1 The output of
143     .I rcontrib
144     has many potential uses.
145     Source contributions can be used as components in linear combination to
146     reproduce any desired variation, e.g., simulating lighting controls or
147     changing sky conditions via daylight coefficients.
148     More generally,
149     .I rcontrib
150     can be used to compute arbitrary input-output relationships in optical
151     systems, such as luminaires, light pipes, and shading devices.
152     .PP
153 greg 1.3 .I Rcontrib
154 greg 1.4 sends the accumulated rays tallies
155     to one or more destinations according to the given
156 greg 1.1 .I \-o
157     specification.
158     If a destination begins with an exclamation mark ('!'), then
159     a pipe is opened to a command and data is sent to its standard input.
160     Otherwise, the destination is treated as a file.
161     An existing file of the same name will not be clobbered, unless the
162     .I \-fo
163     option is given.
164     If instead the
165     .I \-r
166     option is specified, data recovery is attempted on existing files.
167     (If
168     .I "\-c 0"
169     is used together with the
170     .I \-r
171     option, existing files are read in and new ray evaluations are added
172     to the previous results, providing a convenient means for
173     progressive simulation.)\0
174     If an output specification contains a "%s" format, this will be
175     replaced by the modifier name.
176     The
177     .I \-b
178     option may be used to further define
179     a "bin number" within each object if finer resolution is needed, and
180     this will be applied to a "%d" format in the output file
181 greg 1.13 specification if present.
182     (The final integer will be offset incrementally
183     if the output is a RADIANCE picture and more than one modifier has
184     the same format specification.)\0
185 greg 1.1 The actual bin number is computed at run time based on ray direction
186     and surface intersection, as described below.
187 greg 1.5 The number of bins must be specified in advance with the
188 greg 1.1 .I \-bn
189     option, and this is critical for output files containing multiple values
190     per record.
191     A variable or constant name may be given for this parameter if
192     it has been defined via a previous
193     .I \-f
194     or
195     .I \-e
196     option.
197 greg 1.6 Since bin numbers start from zero, the bin count is always equal to
198     the last bin plus one.
199 greg 1.1 The most recent
200 greg 1.10 .I \-p,
201 greg 1.1 .I \-b,
202     .I \-bn
203     and
204     .I \-o
205     options to the left of each
206     .I \-m
207 greg 1.24 name are the ones used for that modifier.
208     Any
209     .I \-cs
210     option changing the number of spectral color
211     samples must appear before the first modifier.
212 greg 1.1 The ordering of other options is unimportant, except for
213     .I \-x
214     and
215     .I \-y
216     if the
217     .I \-c
218 greg 1.6 is zero, when they control the resolution string
219 greg 1.1 produced in the corresponding output.
220     .PP
221     If a
222     .I \-b
223     expression is defined for a particular modifier,
224     the bin number will be evaluated at run time for each
225 greg 1.4 ray contribution.
226 greg 1.1 Specifically, each ray's world intersection point will be assigned to
227     the variables Px, Py, and Pz, and the normalized ray direction
228     will be assigned to Dx, Dy, and Dz.
229     These parameters may be combined with definitions given in
230     .I \-e
231     arguments and files read using the
232     .I \-f
233     option.
234 greg 1.10 Additional parameter values that apply only to this modifier may be specified
235     with a
236     .I \-p
237     option, which contains a list of variable names and assigned values, separated
238 greg 1.17 by commas, colons, or semicolons.
239 greg 1.1 The computed bin value will be
240     rounded to the nearest whole number.
241 greg 1.9 (Negative bin values will be silently ignored.)\0
242 greg 1.8 For a single bin, you may specify
243     .I "\-b 0",
244     which is the default.
245 greg 1.1 This mechanism allows the user to define precise regions or directions
246     they wish to accumulate, such as the Tregenza sky discretization,
247     which would be otherwise impossible to specify
248     as a set of RADIANCE primitives.
249     The rules and predefined functions available for these expressions are
250     described in the
251     .I rcalc(1)
252     man page.
253 greg 1.26 Like the other rendering tools,
254 greg 1.1 .I rcontrib
255 greg 1.26 will search the
256     .I RAYPATH
257     library directories for each file given in a
258 greg 1.1 .I \-f
259     option.
260 greg 1.26 However, a special evaluation context is set for the
261     .I \-f
262     and
263     .I \-e
264     definitions, so attach a back-quote ('`') to variable and function names
265     you wish these to apply at the global evaluation level and used by all
266     materials and modifiers during rendering.
267 greg 1.1 .PP
268     If no
269     .I \-o
270     specification is given, results are written on the standard output in order
271     of modifier (as given on the command line) then bin number.
272     Concatenated data is also sent to a single destination (i.e., an initial
273     .I \-o
274     specification without formatting strings).
275     If a "%s" format appears but no "%d" in the
276     .I \-o
277     specification, then each modifier will have its own output file, with
278     multiple values per record in the case of a non-zero
279     .I \-b
280     definition.
281     If a "%d" format appears but no "%s", then each bin will get its own
282     output file, with modifiers output in order in each record.
283     For text output, each RGB coefficient triple is separated by a tab,
284     with a newline at the end of each ray record.
285     For binary output formats, there is no such delimiter to mark
286     the end of each record.
287     .PP
288     Input and output format defaults to plain text, where each ray's
289     origin and direction (6 real values) are given on input,
290     and one line is produced per output file per ray.
291     Alternative data representations may be specified by the
292     .I \-f[io]
293     option, which is described in the
294     .I rtrace
295     man page along with the associated
296     .I \-x
297     and
298     .I \-y
299     resolution settings.
300     In particular, the color ('c') output data representation
301     together with positive dimensions for
302     .I \-x
303     and
304     .I \-y
305     will produce an uncompressed RADIANCE picture,
306     suitable for manipulation with
307     .I pcomb(1)
308     and related tools.
309     .PP
310     Options may be given on the command line and/or read from the
311     environment and/or read from a file.
312     A command argument beginning with a dollar sign ('$') is immediately
313     replaced by the contents of the given environment variable.
314     A command argument beginning with an at sign ('@') is immediately
315     replaced by the contents of the given file.
316 greg 1.12 .PP
317     .I Rcontrib
318 rschregle 1.14 supports light source contributions from photon maps generated by
319 greg 1.12 .I mkpmap(1)
320     with its
321     .I -apC
322 rschregle 1.15 option. Enabling photon mapping is described in the
323     .I rtrace
324     man page along with its relevant settings. In photon mapping mode,
325 greg 1.12 .I rcontrib
326     only supports contributions from light sources, not arbitrary modifiers.
327     The
328     .I -b
329     option is supported along with its associated ray variables, as
330     discussed above. Ray coefficients are also supported via the
331     .I \-V-
332     option. Using fewer photons than there are light sources for the photon
333     density estimates results in omitted contributions, thus the bandwidth
334 rschregle 1.15 is clamped accordingly and a warning is issued.
335 greg 1.1 .SH EXAMPLES
336     To compute the proportional contributions from sources modified
337 greg 1.20 by "light1" vs. "light2" on a set of irradiance values:
338 greg 1.1 .IP "" .2i
339     rcontrib \-I+ @render.opt \-o c_%s.dat \-m light1 \-m light2 scene.oct < test.dat
340     .PP
341     To generate a pair of images corresponding to these two lights'
342     contributions:
343     .IP "" .2i
344     vwrays \-ff \-x 1024 \-y 1024 \-vf best.vf |
345     rcontrib \-ffc `vwrays \-d \-x 1024 \-y 1024 \-vf best.vf`
346     @render.opt \-o c_%s.hdr \-m light1 \-m light2 scene.oct
347     .PP
348     These images may then be recombined using the desired outputs
349     of light1 and light2:
350     .IP "" .2i
351     pcomb \-c 100 90 75 c_light1.hdr \-c 50 55 57 c_light2.hdr > combined.hdr
352     .PP
353 greg 1.20 To compute an array of irradiance contributions according to a Tregenza sky:
354 greg 1.1 .IP "" .2i
355 greg 1.7 rcontrib \-I+ \-f tregenza.cal \-b tbin \-bn Ntbins \-o sky.dat \-m skyglow
356     \-b 0 \-o ground.dat \-m groundglow @render.opt scene.oct < test.dat
357 greg 1.12 .PP
358     To perform an annual simulation of 365 daily sun positions in photon mapping
359     mode:
360     .IP "" .2i
361     rcontrib \-I+ \-h \-V \-fo \-o c_%s.dat \-M lights \-ap contrib.pm 365
362     scene.oct < test.dat,
363 greg 1.1 .SH ENVIRONMENT
364     RAYPATH path to search for \-f and \-M files
365 greg 1.16 .SH BUGS
366     We do not currently compute contributions or coefficients properly
367     in scenes with participating media.
368     A single warning will be issued if a scattering or absorbing medium
369     is detected.
370 greg 1.1 .SH AUTHOR
371     Greg Ward
372     .SH "SEE ALSO"
373 greg 1.25 cnt(1), dctimestep(1), genklemsamp(1), getinfo(1), mkpmap(1), pcomb(1), pfilt(1),
374     pvsum(1), ra_rgbe(1), rcalc(1), rcomb(1), rfluxmtx(1), rmtxop(1), rpict(1),
375 greg 1.27 rsensor(1), rtrace(1), rxfluxmtx(1), total(1), vwrays(1), ximage(1)
376 greg 1.12