man/man1/rad.1

.\" RCSid "$Id"
.TH RAD 1 2/1/99 RADIANCE
.SH NAME
rad - render a RADIANCE scene
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B rad
[
.B \-s
][
.B "-n|-N npr"
][
.B \-t
][
.B \-e
][
.B \-V
][
.B \-w
][
.B "\-v view"
][
.B "\-o device"
]
.B rfile
[
.B "VAR\=value .."
]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Rad
is an executive program that reads the given
.I rfile
and makes appropriate calls to
.I oconv(1),
.I mkillum(1),
.I rpict(1),
.I pfilt(1),
and/or
.I rview(1)
to render a specific scene.
Variables in
.I rfile
give input files and qualitative information about the rendering(s)
desired that together enable
.I rad
to intelligently set parameter values and control the simulation.
.PP
Normally, commands are echoed to the standard output as they are
executed.
The
.I \-s
option tells
.I rad
to do its work silently.
The
.I \-n
option tells
.I rad
not to take any action (ie. not to actually execute any commands).
The
.I \-N
option instructs
.I rad
to run as many as
.I npr
rendering processes in parallel.
The
.I \-t
option tells
.I rad
to bring rendering files up to date relative to the input
(scene description) files, without performing any actual
calculations.
If no octree exists, it is still necessary to run
.I oconv(1)
to create one, since the
.I \-t
option will not create invalid (i.e. empty) files, and
a valid octree is necessary for the correct operation of
.I rad.
The
.I \-e
option tells
.I rad
to explicate all variables used for the simulation, including
default values not specified in the input file, and print them on
the standard output.
.PP
Normally,
.I rad
will produce one picture for each view given in
.I rfile.
The
.I \-v
option may be used to specify a single desired view.
The 
.I view
argument may either be a complete view specification
(enclosed in quotes and beginning with an optional identifier)
or a number or single-word identifier to match a view defined in
.I rfile.
If the argument is one of the standard view identifiers,
it may or may not be further elaborated in
.I rfile.
(See "view" variable description, below.)\0
If the argument does not match any views in
.I rfile
and is not one of the standard views, no rendering will take place.
This may be convenient when the only action desired of
.I rad
is the rebuilding of the octree.
In particular, the argument "0" will never match a view.
.PP
If the
.I \-V
option is given,
each view will be printed on the standard output before
being applied, in a form suitable for use in a view file or
.I rpict
rendering sequence.
This is helpful as feedback or for accessing the
.I rad
view assignments without necessarily starting a rendering.
.PP
By default,
.I rad
will run
.I rpict
and
.I pfilt
to produce a picture for each view.
The
.I \-o
option specifies an output device for
.I rview
(usually "x11")
and runs this interactive program instead, using the first view in
.I rfile
or the view given with the
.I \-v
option as the starting point.
.PP
Additional variable settings may be added or overridden on the
command line following
.I rfile.
Upper case variables specified more than once will result in
a warning message (unless the
.I \-w
option is present),
and the last value given will be the one used.
.PP
The
.I \-w
option turns off warnings about multiply and misassigned variables.
.PP
Rendering variable assignments appear one per line in
.I rfile.
The name of the variable is followed by an equals sign
('=') and its value(s).
The end of line may be escaped with a backslash ('\\'), though it is
not usually necessary since additional variable values may be given
in multiple assignments.
Variables that should have only one value are given in upper case.
Variables that may have multiple values are given in lower case.
Variables may be abbreviated by their first three letters.
Comments in
.I rfile
start with a pound sign ('#') and proceed to the end of line.
.PP
The rendering variables, their interpretations and default values
are given below.
.TP 10n
.BR OCTREE
The name of the octree file.
The default name is the same as
.I rfile
but with any suffix replaced by ".oct".
(The octree must be a file --
.I rad
cannot work with commands that produce octrees.)\0
.TP
.BR ZONE
This variable specifies the volume of interest for this simulation.
The first word is either "Interior" or "Exterior", depending on
whether the zone is to be observed from the inside or the outside,
respectively.
(A single letter may be given, and case does not matter.)\0
The following six numbers are the minimum and maximum
X coordinates, minimum and maximum Y, and minimum and maximum Z
for the zone perimeter.
It is important to give the zone as it is used to determine many of
the rendering parameters.
The default exterior zone is the bounding cube for the scene as
computed by
.I oconv.
.TP
.BR EXPOSURE
This variable tells
.I rad
how to adjust the exposure for display.
It is important to set this variable properly as it is used to
determine the ambient value.
An appropriate setting may be discovered by running 
.I rview
and noting the exposure given by the "exposure =" command.
As in
.I rview
and
.I pfilt,
the exposure setting may be given either as a multiplier or as a
number of f-stop adjustments (eg. +2 or -1.5).
There is no default value for this variable.
If it is not given, an average level will be computed by
.I pfilt
and the ambient value will be set to 10 for exterior zones
and 0.01 for interior zones.
.TP
.BR EYESEP
The interocular spacing for stereo viewing.
I.e., the world distance between the pupils of the left and right eyes.
The default value is the sum of the three "ZONE" dimensions divided by 100.
.TP
.BR scene
This variable is used to specify one or more scene input files.
These files will be given together with the materials file(s)
and any options specified by the "oconv" variable to
.I oconv
to produce the octree given by the "OCTREE" variable.
In-line commands may be specified in quotes instead of a file,
beginning with an exclamation mark ('!').
If the "scene" variable is not present, then the octree must already exist
in order for
.I rad
to work.
Even if this variable is given,
.I oconv
will not be run unless the octree is out of date with respect to
the input files.
Note that the order of files in this variable is important for
.I oconv
to work properly, and files given in later variable assignments will
appear after previous ones on the
.I oconv
command line.
.TP
.BR materials
This variable is used to specify files that, although they must
appear on the 
.I oconv
command line, do not affect the actual octree itself.
Keeping the materials in separate files allows them to be modified
without requiring the octree to be rebuilt (a sometimes costly
procedure).
These files should not contain any geometry, and the
.I \-f
option must not be given in the "oconv" variable for this to work.
.TP
.BR illum
This variable is used to specify files with surfaces to be converted into
illum sources by
.I mkillum(1).
When this variable is given, additional octree files will be created
to contain the scene before and after illum source conversion.
These files will be named according to the (default) value of the
.I OCTREEE
variable, with either a '0' or a '1' appearing just before the file
type suffix (usually ".oct").
.TP
.BR objects
This variable is used for files that, although they do not appear
on the
.I oconv
command line, contain geometric information that is referenced
indirectly by the scene files.
If any of these files is changed, the octree will be rebuilt.
(The
.I raddepend(1)
command may be used to find these dependencies automatically.)\0
.TP
.BR view
This variable is used to specify a desired view for this zone.
Any number of "view" lines may be given, and each will result in a
rendered picture (unless the
.I \-v
or
.I \-o
option is specified).
The value for this variable is an optional identifier followed by
any number of view options (see
.I rpict(1)
for a complete listing).
The identifier is used in file naming and associating a desired view
with the
.I \-v
command line option.
Also, there are several standard view identifiers defined by
.I rad.
These standard views are specified by strings of the form
"[Xx]?[Yy]?[Zz]?[vlcah]?".
(That is, an optional upper or lower case X followed by an optional
upper or lower case Y followed by an optional upper or lower case Z
followed by an optional lower case V, L, C, A or H.)\0
The letters indicate the desired view position, where upper case X
means maximum X, lower case means minimum and so on.
The final letter is the view type, where 'v' is perspective (the
default), 'l' is parallel, 'c' is a cylindrical panorama,
'a' is angular fisheye, and 'h' is hemispherical fisheye.
A perspective view from maximum X, minimum Y would be "Xy" or "Xyv".
A parallel view from maximum Z would be "Zl".
If "ZONE" is an interior zone, the standard views will
be inside the perimeter.
If it is an exterior zone, the standard views will be outside.
Note that the standard views are best used as starting points,
and additional arguments may be given after the
identifier to modify a standard view to suit a particular model.
The default view is "X" if no views are specified.
A single specified view of "0" means no views will be automatically
generated.
.TP
.BR UP
The vertical axis for this scene.
A negative axis may be specified with a minus sign (eg. "-Y").
There is no default value for this variable, although the standard
views assume Z is up if no other axis is specified.
.TP
.BR RESOLUTION
This variable specifies the desired final picture resolution.
If only a single number is given, this value will be used for both
the horizontal and vertical picture dimensions.
If two numbers are given, the first is the horizontal resolution and
the second is the vertical resolution.
If three numbers are given, the third is taken as the pixel aspect
ratio for the final picture (a real value).
If the pixel aspect ratio is zero, the exact dimensions given will
be those produced.
Otherwise, they will be used as a frame in which the final image
must fit.
The default value for this variable is 512.
.TP
.BR QUALITY
This variable sets the overall rendering quality desired.
It can have one of three values, "LOW", "MEDIUM" or "HIGH".
These may be abbreviated by their first letter, and may be
in upper or lower case.
Most of the rendering options will be affected by this setting.
The default value is "L".
.TP
.BR PENUMBRAS
This is a boolean variable indicating whether or not penumbras are
desired.
A value of "TRUE" will result in penumbras (soft shadows), and a
value of "FALSE" will result in no penumbras (sharp shadows).
True and false may be written in upper or lower case, and may be
abbreviated by a single letter.
Renderings generally proceed much faster without penumbras.
The default value is "F".
.TP
.BR INDIRECT
This variable indicates how many diffuse reflections are important in the
general lighting of this zone.
A direct lighting system (eg. fluorescent troffers recessed in the
ceiling) corresponds to an indirect level of 0.
An indirect lighting system (eg. hanging fluorescents directed at a
reflective ceiling) corresponds to an indirect level of 1.
A diffuse light shelf reflecting sunlight onto the ceiling would
correspond to an indirect level of 2.
The setting of this variable partially determines how many interreflections
will be calculated.
The default value is 0.
.TP
.BR PICTURE
This is the root name of the output picture file(s).
This name will have appended the view identifier (or a number if no
id was used) and a ".pic" suffix.
If a picture corresponding to a specific view exists and is not out
of date with respect to the given octree, it will not be
re-rendered.
The default value for this variable is the root portion of
.I rfile.
.TP
.BR RAWFILE
This is the root name of the finished, raw
.I rpict
output file.
If specified,
.I rad
will rename the original
.I rpict
output file once it is finished and filtered
rather than removing it, which is the default action.
The given root name will be expanded in the same way as the
"PICTURE" variable, and if the "RAWFILE" and "PICTURE" variables
are identical, then no filtering will take place.
.TP
.BR ZFILE
This is the root name of the raw distance file produced by the
.I \-z
option of
.I rpict.
To this root name, an underscore plus the view name plus a ".zbf"
suffix will be added.
If no "ZFILE" is specified, none will be produced.
.TP
.BR AMBFILE
This is the name of the file where "ambient" or diffuse interreflection
values will be stored by
.I rpict
or
.I rview.
Although it is not required, an ambient file should be given whenever
an interreflection calculation is expected.
This will optimize successive runs and minimize artifacts.
An interreflection calculation will take place when the
"QUALITY" variable is set to HIGH, or when the "QUALITY"
variable is set to MEDIUM and "INDIRECT" is positive.
There is no default value for this variable.
.TP
.BR DETAIL
This variable specifies the level of visual detail in this zone,
and is used to determine image sampling rate, among other things.
If there are few surfaces and simple shading, then this should be set
to LOW.
For a zone with some furniture it might be set to MEDIUM.
If the space is very cluttered or contains a lot of geometric detail
and textures, then it should be set to HIGH.
The default value is "M".
.TP
.BR VARIABILITY
This variable tells
.I rad
how much light varies over the surfaces of this zone, and is
used to determine what level of sampling is necessary in the
indirect calculation.
For an electric lighting system with uniform coverage, the value
should be set to LOW.
For a space with spot lighting or a window with sky illumination
only, it might be set to MEDIUM.
For a space with penetrating sunlight casting bright patches in a
few places, it should be set to HIGH.
The default value is "L".
.TP
.BR OPTFILE
This is the name of a file in which
.I rad
will place the appropriate rendering options.
This file can later be accessed by
.I rpict
or
.I rview
in subsequent manual runs using the at-sign ('@') file insert option.
(Using an "OPTFILE" also reduces the length of the rendering
command, which improves appearance and may even be necessary on some
systems.)\0
There is no default value for this variable.
.TP
.BR REPORT
This variable may be used to specify a reporting interval for
batch rendering.
Given in minutes, this value is multiplied by 60 and passed to
.I rpict
with the
.I \-t
option.
If a filename is given after the interval, it will be used as the
error file for reports and error messages instead of the standard error.
(See the
.I \-e
option of
.I rpict(1).\)\0
There is no default value for this variable.
.TP
.BR oconv
This variable may be used to specify special options to
.I oconv.
See the
.I oconv(1)
manual page for a list of valid options.
.TP
.BR mkillum
This variable may be used to specify additional options to
.I mkillum.
See the
.I rtrace(1)
manual page for a list of valid options.
.TP
.BR render
This variable may be used to specify additional options to
.I rpict
or
.I rview.
These options will appear after the options set automatically by
.I rad,
and thus will override the default values.
.TP
.BR pfilt
This variable may be used to specify additional options to
.I pfilt.
See the
.I pfilt(1)
manual page for details.
.SH EXAMPLES
A minimal input file for
.I rad
might look like this:
.IP "" .3i
.nf
::::::::::
sample.rif
::::::::::
# The octree we want to use:
OCTREE= tutor.oct               # w/o this line, name would be "sample.oct"
# Our scene input files:
scene= sky.rad outside.rad room.rad srcwindow.rad
# The interior zone cavity:
ZONE= I  0 3  0 2  0 1.75               # default would be scene bounding cube
# The z-axis is up:
UP= Z                           # no default - would use view spec.
# Our exposure needs one f-stop boost:
EXPOSURE= +1                    # default is computed ex post facto
.fi
.PP
Note that we have not specified any views in the file above.
The standard default view "X" would be used if we were to run
.I rad
on this file.
If we only want to see what default values
.I rad
would use without actually executing anything, we can invoke it thus:
.IP "" .2i
rad -n -e sample.rif
.PP
This will print the variables we have given as well as default
values
.I rad
has assigned for us.
Also, we will see the list of commands that
.I rad
would have executed had the
.I \-n
option not been present.
(Note if the octree, "tutor.oct", is not present, an error will
result as it is needed to determine some of the opiton settings.)\0
.PP
Different option combinations have specific uses, ie:
.IP "" .2i
.br
rad -v 0 sample.rif OPT=samp.opt        # build octree, put options in "sample.opt"
.br
rad -n -e -s sample.rif > full.rif      # make a complete rad file
.br
rad -n sample.rif > script.sh   # make a script of commands
.br
rad -V -v Zl -n -s sample.rif > plan.vf # make a plan view file
.br
rad -t sample.rif               # update files after minor change to input
.br
rad -s sample.rif &             # execute silently in the background
.PP
If we decide that the default values
.I rad
has chosen for our variables are not all appropriate, we can add
some more assignments to the file:
.IP "" .3i
.nf
QUAL= MED               # default was low
DET= low                # default was medium - our space is almost empty
PEN= True               # we want to see soft shadows from our window
VAR= hi         # daylight can result in fairly harsh lighting
view= XYa -vv 120       # let's try a fisheye view
PICT= tutor             # our picture name will be "tutor_XYa.pic"
.fi
.PP
Note the use of abbreviations, and the modification of a standard
view.
Now we can invoke
.I rad
to take a look at our scene interactively with
.I rview:
.IP "" .2i
rad -o x11 sample.rif
.PP
.I Rad
will run
.I oconv
first to create the octree (assuming it doesn't
already exist), then
.I rview
with a long list of options.
Let's say that from within
.I rview,
we wrote out the view files "view1.vp" and "view2.vp".
We could add these to "sample.rif" like so:
.IP "" .2i
.nf
view= vw1 -vf view1.vp          # Our first view
view= vw2 -vf view2.vp          # Our second view
RESOLUTION= 1024                # Let's go for a higher resolution result
.fi
.PP
To start
.I rview
again using vw2 instead of the default, we use:
.IP "" .2i
rad -o x11 -v vw2 sample.rif
.PP
Once we are happy with the variable settings in our file, we can run
.I rad
in the background to produce one image for each view:
.IP "" .2i
rad sample.rif REP=5 >& errfile &
.PP
This will report progress every five minutes to "errfile".
.SH FILES
$(PICTURE)_$(view).unf  Unfinished output of
.I rpict
.SH AUTHOR
Greg Ward
.SH BUGS
Incremental building of octrees is not supported as it would add
considerable complexity to
.I rad.
Complicated scene builds should still be left to
.I make(1),
which has a robust mechanism for handling hierarchical
dependencies.
If
.I make
is used in this fashion, then only the
"OCTREE" variable of
.I rad
is needed.
.PP
The use of some
.I pfilt
options is awkward, since the "EXPOSURE" variable results in a
single pass invocation (the
.I \-1
option of
.I pfilt\)
and two passes are necessary for certain effects, such as star
patterns.
The way around this problem is to specify
a "RAWFILE" that is the same as the "PICTURE" variable so that no
filtering takes place, then call
.I pfilt
manually.
This is preferable to leaving out the
"EXPOSURE" variable, since the exposure level is needed to
accurately determine the ambient value for
.I rpict.
.PP
The use of upper and lower case naming for the standard views may be
problematic on systems that don't distinguish case in filenames.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
glrad(1), make(1), mkillum(1), objview(1), oconv(1),
pfilt(1), raddepend(1), ranimate(1),
rholo(1), rpict(1), rtrace(1), rview(1), touch(1), vgaimage(1), ximage(1)
Revision:	1.2
Committed:	Thu Jul 3 15:00:19 2003 UTC (20 years, 10 months ago) by greg
Branch:	MAIN
Changes since 1.1:	+8 -1 lines
Log Message:	Added -N option to rad for parallel rendering (preliminary w/o using -PP)