--- ray/doc/notes/ReleaseNotes 2013/12/05 18:11:41 1.226 +++ ray/doc/notes/ReleaseNotes 2025/05/08 14:44:01 1.487 @@ -1807,7 +1807,7 @@ of KitWare and sponsored by NREL. This includes a qt- driver for rvu, which is built in the new subdirectory src/qtrvu. ===================== -Version 4.2 +Version 4.2 (Release date 7/31/2014) Axel Jacobs added -cp and -palettes options to falsecolor. @@ -1904,3 +1904,912 @@ Added "origin" command to rvu as requested by John Mar to place view origin at selected point in scene. Switch to Perl versions of objview and objpict written by Axel Jacobs. + +Improved rendering speed of scenes with aliases by not entering new +modifiers into table if they are the same as the previously defined +modifier for that name. + +Made it so icalc and rcalc search RAYPATH directories for *.cal files +given on command line. This simplifies script writing and makes these +utilities consistent with other tools in Radiance. + +Added triangulation routine to handle convex polygons in obj2mesh. + +****** COMPATIBILITY CHANGE ******** +Made backface visibility apply to all material types, including +transparent and translucent materials (except dielectric and interface). +This makes the option useful in cases where adjacent trans surfaces +are placed next to each other by a modeler that only understands +volumetric objects. + +Changed dctimestep so that output matrices (-n > 1) are preceded by a +header, and added support for float and double output formats with -o[fd]. + +Introduced eplus_adduvf program to compute user view factors for EnergyPlus. + +Changed image-plane sampling in rpict to use Hilbert curve, which gives +less of a brushed/striped appearance to output pixels with -u- (default). + +Added ltview and ltpict Perl scripts contributed by Axel Jacobs, inspired +by Rob Guglielmetti. + +Added header variables for NROWS, NCOLS and NCOMP to help standardize +matrix files. This functionality has been incorporated into +rcollate, gendaymtx, and dctimestep. + +Created rmtxop utility to operate on multi-component matrices. This +facilitates some daylight matrix calculations, and provides a general +tool for manipulating matrix data. + +****** COMPATIBILITY CHANGE ******** +Introduced new Hessian-based error control in irradiance caching (ambient) +calculation. Since the format of the stored ambient values is different, +the old files will be rejected with an error message and must be removed. +The programs may be compiled with the -DOLDAMB option if this is a problem. + +Added -p option to rcontrib to set function file parameters on a per-modifier +basis to simplify bin evaluation. + +Created rfluxmtx program to compute flux transfer matrices from a sender +surface to one or more receiver surfaces. (Renamed the file klems_int.cal +to klems_full.cal in the process.) + +Added "-c" option to getinfo to execute command on data segment. + +================================ +Version 5.0 (Released 9/18/2015) + +Changed rmtxop so it writes out same type as lesser of inputs unless +directed otherwise using -f? option. + +Changed order of oconv arguments in rfluxmtx so user can specify input +octree using -i option at the end instead of (or in addition to) a +list of scene files. + +Added support for argument expansion to rfluxmtx and bug fixes. + +Fixed bug in indirect hemisphere sampling for some corner cases. + +Added default specular lobe to BSDF interpolation. + +Set minimum number of shadow checks before direct optimization (4). + +(Above changes included in 4.2.1 patch release.) + +****** COMPATIBILITY CHANGE ******** +Made header input and output the default behavior for dctimestep and +genskyvec. + +****** COMPATIBILITY CHANGE ******** +Changed pabopto2bsdf default behavior to add 90-degree rotation +to bring pgII's definition of "up" in line with Klems axis +conventions. Introduced a new header variable "upphi" to +control this added rotation. Using "#upphi 90" in each +BSDF input file gets back the original behavior, where it +assumes that the up direction is 90-degrees from the X-axis. +The default value of 0 corresponds to PAB's definition of +the X-axis as being "up". + +Fixed bug in rsensor related to having many rows (altitude) and +few columns (azimuth) in sensitivity file. + +Fixed floating point round-off error in new Hessian calculation +for some sytems (Windows, primarily). + +Fixed bug in tensor tree BSDF code that caused bus error on +some systems, and may have been source of other errors as well. + +(Above changes included in 4.2.2 patch release.) + +Improved ambient extrapolation to avoid zero values. Actual +threshold set to 5% of recorded value. + +Changed anisotropic Gaussian and Ashikhmin models so that +illegal orientation vectors are dealt with more gracefully. + +Created wrapBSDF tool and incorporated into genBSDF along +with new rfluxmtx computation. + +Initial check-in of Roland Schregle's photon map integration. +New 5.0a version designation as suggested by Andy McNeil. + +Added left-hand coordinate sytems to rfluxmtx to correct +problems with coordinate axis orientations pointed out by +David Geisler-Moroder. + +Added color output to genBSDF (+C option) and support for +color rendering of Klems and tensor tree data. + +Fixed another bug in rsensor that caused rays to be generated +on opposite side of hemisphere even where sensitivity was zero. + +Fixed bug discovered by Jacob Jonsson in Klems BSDF +interpolator that caused it to over-predict normal +transmittance and reflectance. + +Added ability to read input from commands in dctimestep +and rmtxop. + +Added photon map support to rad. Fixed some double-counting +issues in photon-mapping spotted by David Geisler-Moroder. + +Added photon map support to trad. + +Fixed bug in antimatter source testing when antimatter +definition follows potential obstructor in input. + +Fixed issue with missing character type identifier at head +of genBSDF XML output. + +Prompted by Roland S., added option to have pcompos -a order +rows from top rather than bottom of image. + +Changed dctimestep to accept matrix as well as BTDF input +in the VTDs invocation mode. This permits the output of +rmtxop to be used in a pinch when combining multiple BTDF +layers, although interreflection between layers is not +accounted for properly as it is in the WINDOW program. + +Added Jan Wienold et al.'s evalglare to distribution. + +Hopeful fix to deadlock issue under Mac OS X 10.10.x (Yosemite). + +Fixed early exit of rcontrib with internal error (sample behind sender) +discovered by Rob G. + +================================= +Version 5.1 (Released 8/17/2017) + +Fixed issue with vchars.mta and symbols.mta not being installed in +the appropriate metafile library location, with help from Rob G. + +Added ability to give quoted strings to output= directive in rfluxmtx. + +****** COMPATIBILITY CHANGE ******** +Added ability to digest color (CIE-XYZ) input in pabopto2bsdf. +This change alters the .sir (interpolant) format, so these files +will need to be regenerated. Use the new "#colorimetry: CIE-XYZ" tag +to enable on input. + +Rewrote bsdf2klems to support tristimulus color and call wrapBSDF. +Did the same for bsdf2ttree. Function specifications still gray only. + +Reduced a problem where rvu or rholo would be slow to quit when +run with many processes on a large model or one with a large +ambient file (taking lots of memory). We were waiting for +processes to quit one-by-one, which takes some time for each +process as it disentangles its shared memory. We now +wait for all the processes together, so they can disentangle +in parallel. It can still take up to a minute in some cases, +but not 10 minutes like it was taking before the fix. + +Enabled ambient cache value corral for all levels, not just final two. +This may reduce errors in certain pathological scenes. + +Added -in option to rcalc, rlam, and total to limit the number of +input records in hopes of circumventing Windows EOF issues on binary data. +Also added -on option to rcalc and total for logical symmetry. + +Increased modifier limit to 10,000 in rcontrib. + +Fixed issues with glrad and added zoom response to mouse wheel input. + +Added missing definition of "ashik2" material type to reference manual. + +Changed genBSDF to calculate device thickness assuming Zmax==0 so +pkgBSDF will generate correct proxy geometry. + +Created pabopto2xyz tool to combine different sensor measurements +into a single CIE-XYZ measurement file for color BSDF interpolation. + +Jan Wienold updated evalglare to version 1.30 + +Roland Schregle added out-of-core photon mapping routines, which +may be compiled using the PMAP_OOC macro. + +Added -a option to getinfo for easy addition of header lines. + +Fixed issue with multiple records on picture output in rcontrib (and rfluxmtx). +Credit to Sarith Subramaniam for pointing out the problem. + +Made mkillum more tolerant of non-planar polygons in its sampling routines. + +Added "-recover" option to genBSDF to pick up where it left off. + +Fixed genBSDF issue that was created incorrect normalization of +Klems output. Thanks to David G-M and Christian Knoflach for +discovering the error. Also improved sampling of indirect irradiance +that showed some slight bias due to poor sample collision avoidance. + +Fixed long-standing issue with -aa 0 neglecting textures in calculating +surface shading. + +Fixed bug in ranimove introduced during photon map integration. + +Added check for steep sections of BSDF in pabopto2bsdf, creating narrower +peakes in those places and mitigating some normalization issues. + +Added view360stereo.cal by Mark Stock to handle 360-degree over/under +stereo views. + +Added MAX2SHADE macro to place limit on number of light sources +to precheck for obstructions. (Currently set to 200.) This +avoids excessive start-up times for scenes with many light sources. +Thanks to Axel Jacobs for pointing out the problem. + +Added -v option to obj2mesh to print out mesh statistics. + +Rewrote bsdf2rad from ground up and made it a standard part of build. + +Fixed bug in orientation of Reinhart/Tregenza sample generator in rfluxmtx. + +Added ability to perform shadow-testing through unproxied BSDFs with strong +through (direct-direct) component. + +Added {+|-}a options to genBSDF and bsdf2ttree for switching off reciprocity +averaging. + +Added bias to see through BTDFs with a strong "through" component +rather than scattering view rays. This is in lieu of peak extraction, +which looked to be too difficult from an implementation standpoint. + +Added bsdfview tool analogous to objview but for BSDF files (XML and SIR), +which calls bsdf2rad then rad with a few useful default views. + +========================= +Version 5.2 (Release October 8, 2018) + +Created psketch program to apply non-photorealistic rendering to selected +objects, identified by modifier name(s). + +Added '*' and '/' operations to rmtxop for element-wise multiplication and +division of same-sized matrices. + +Changed falsecolor so "-s" option is adjusted to match legend if one. + +Falsecolor legend changes and improvements by David G-M and Stephen W. + +Fixed bug in peak extraction code that generated +"Bad call to SDqueryTreProjSA" error, reported by Lars Grobe. + +Increased maximum luminance to 10^7 in pcond to fix issue noticed +by Axel Jacobs where veiling glare not added for the sun under +some conditions. + +Increased maximum number of open files in rcontrib to the system upper +limit of 2048 rather than the default 512 under Windows. + +Added top-level resources directory with files from Rob Guglielmetti. + +Improved accuracy for peaky BSDFs and small light sources. + +Fixed issue with pmapdump noted by Axel Jacobs. + +Improved accuracy of bsdf2ttree when converting scattering interpolation +representatons with strong peaks. + +Tweaked peak-extraction code to work more reliably. + +Georg Mischler updated SCons build system. + +Rob Guglielmetti and Alex Swindler updated CMake build system. + +Modified pcomb so the first view seen in the inputs is written into header. + +Wrote rtpict script to run rtrace in parallel mode and simulate rpict with +-n option. + +Added ability to move forwards/backwards specified distance in rvu "origin" +command. Feature requested by John Mardaljevic, who essentially owns this +command, now. + +Reduced bias in ambient super-sampling method. + +Fixed bugs associated with zero transmission in chromatic tensor trees. +Thanks to Lars Grobe for pointing out issues. + +Added RAYPATH searching for -f options to genrev, gensurf, genworm, +bsdf2klems, bsdf2ttree, and pcomb. This makes behavior consistent +with rcalc, calc, and rendering tools. + +Worked with Randolph Fritz to fix some issues with ies2rad and newer +IESNA63 standards. + +Resurrected original bsdf2rad test program, renaming it bsdf2rado. Still an +optional build in src/cv/. + +Fixed bug in rcontrib with virtual sources, where pretest was adding +to modifier accumulation buffers. Reported by Mostapha. + +Added an "aBSDF" material type that explicitly checks for peak extraction. +Its arguments are the same as the original "BSDF" type, but without the +thickness parameter, as proxy geometry is not supported by this new type. +The old "BSDF" type no longer does peak extraction under any circumstances, +since this behavior is superfluous for proxied geometry. + +Added -r option to bsdf2rad (and bsdfview) to fix BSDF min and max range +for comparing BSDFs. + +Fixed issue with pfilt -m option and uneven image size changes pointed +out by Rob Shakespeare. + +Updates to evalglare and gendaylit from Jan Wienold, including new +colored sky option. + +========================= +Version 5.3 (Released September 1, 2020) + +Created radcompare program to compare Radiance tool output to reference outputs +during unit-testing. + +Fixed issue reading very large files (> 2 GBytes) in rcollate. + +Made picking function in rvu ignore transparent and void surfaces. + +Added -orRxX options to rtrace to enable output of mirrored and unmirrored +contributions and distances to enable new types of reprojections. This also +cleaned up and unified handling of effective ray lengths throughout code. + +Bug fixes from Jan Wienold for evalglare. + +Changed indexed (numbered) output from dctimestep to start from 0 rather +than 1, to make it more consistent with expected input naming. + +Increased default sampling in bsdf2klems (-n option) to 1024. + +Fixed an issue noticed by David G-M that was causing genBSDF to bias +isotropic tensor tree samples resulting in subsequent failure of +peak extraction with "aBSDF" type. + +Introduced max() and min() functions to .cal library. + +Added random incident patch sampling to bsdf2klems to improve accuracy +with scattering interpolation representation input (e.g., from +pabopto2bsdf). The other input types already sampled incident patch area. + +Added gendaymtx -A option to compute average sky over all the input +time steps. + +Added ability to output color image from rtrace with any of -ovrx options. +Also fixed inconsistency of -oN output when ray casting versus full trace. +Before, it would flip normal to front side unless ray casting. Now, -oN +always reports the unflipped normal. + +Changed rlam behavior so -iaN reads N lines from a stream rather than N +characters. This seems more useful, since -ibN is somewhat redundant with +the old behavior. + +Created rsplit program as compliment to rlam and to handle more complex +rtrace output into separate files or streams. + +Improved getinfo so that it can also hop over resolution string with -c +and header elide mode. Use +d to include resolution string in output, +and -d to elide with - and -c options. + +Made pvalue -u option mean "uncompressed" with -r. Also, allow skipping +bytes on standard input. + +Created rcode_depth tool to convert to and from a 16-bit/pixel portable +depth image encoding that uses a mix of linear and reciprocal distance +with explicit representations of 0 and infinity. Code for loading these +depth maps is in src/common/depthcodec.{h,c}. + +Created rcode_norm tool to convert to and from 32-bit/pixel portable +surface normal representation, matching the one in src/common/dircode.c. +Code for loading normal maps is in src/common/normcodec.{h,c}. + +Created rcode_ident tool to create indexed identifier files. +Code for loading these files is in src/common/idmap.{h,c}. + +Added -o* option to rtpict to produce layered images that handle most +output types from rtrace (colors, surface normals, distances, IDs). + +Created rcode2bmp script to create images from new rcode_* output maps. + +Improved efficiency of rmtxop in cases where matrix multiplication is +faster evaluated right-to-left, as when the final component is a +column vector. Also added ability to apply trailing unary operators +(-t, and -s or -c) to resulting matrix. + +Added new depth, normal, and ID file types to radcompare. + +Added BigEndian= header line for automatic byte-swapping in rmtxop +and radcompare. + +Added new "turbo" palette to falsecolor (thanks to Taoning). + +Nathaniel Jones created the "dcglare" program for annual glare +simulations when the sun and sky are visible through the window. +Tutorial is posted at +"https://github.com/nljones/Accelerad/wiki/The-Imageless-Method-for-Spatial-and-Annual-Glare-Analysis". + +Added support for loading RGBE images into matrices in dctimestep. + +Added -y option to gensky and gendaylit to support more accurate Michalsky +solar position calculation. + +Changed rsplit, so specifying a space as the separator parses words +between whitespace. + +Added ability of vwrays, pinterp, and pmblur2 to read encoded depth files. + +Added -o RxCxR1xC1 facility to perform blocking in rcollate. + +Made it so number of segments in genworm, genrev, and gensurf can be +given as expressions of previously defined variables, etc. + +Added -D and -n option to gendaymtx to output sun description and skip +matrix output on request. A -M option was also added to output solar +modifiers for rcontrib. Support also added for leap days in WEA input. +Enhancements sponsored by Ladybug Tools. + +Updated eplus_uvf to work with IDF version 9.x, checking version number. + +Fix to glarendx issues with dgi calculation. + +Made it so rmtxop and dctimestep undo any exposure applied to Radiance +pictures they may load. + +Added robjutil utility to manipulate Wavefront .OBJ files. + +Fixed a crash related to rtrace -om or -oM with mesh instances containing +materials. + +Improved rtrace flushing function to handle any value for -x without +deadlock on controlling process. + +Eliminated unnecessary start-up procedures for rtrace when only ray-casting +is needed (i.e., no tracing or value output). + +Improved isotropic sampling method in bsdf2ttree using "zipper" approach +applied in genBSDF. + +Added limit to memory used by high-resolution tensor tree BSDFs for +cumulative cache during MC sampling (rendering). Limit set to 250MBytes +per BSDF for standard architectures. + +Added -n and -s options to bsdf2ttree to provide some user control +over super-sampling. + +Improved surface normal codec used by ambient file to store orthonormal +directions exactly. + +Improved peak extraction method, which was undervaluing transmission +in many cases. + +New version of evalglare from Jan Wienold. + +Added -u option to gendaymtx to elide data columns (time steps) when +the sun is not visible above the horizon. + +========================= +Version 5.4 + +Added rcollate -c option to force operation to continue even if it +seems unnecessary. Made tool more robust. + +Added -t option to rcontrib (and rfluxmtx) to report progress after the +given number of seconds. + +Added "test" target to makeall to run unit tests. + +Modified bsdf2ttree to allow different parameters per input SIR file. + +Fixed issues with very large matrix files (> 2GB) in dctimestep, rmtxop, +and rcollate. + +Added -rf and -rb options to rmtxop to load front or back reflectance +matrix data from XML file rather than transmission. (Lars Grobe suggested.) + +Improved behavior for coincident surfaces with different materials. +Rather than returning one surface or the other based on floating-point +vagaries, opaque materials are now preferred over transparent ones. +If the materials are both transparent or both opaque, then whichever +surface appeared later in the scene description will be selected. +This came of a request for consistent behavior with legal CAD output +from Peter Apian-Bennewitz. + +Added explicit tests for on-edge intersections with polygons. This should +eliminate stray rays and tiny light leaks that often appear even in +well-constructed geometry. + +Added "-s up" option to pabopto2bsdf to allow for 180 degree symmetry, +meaning that data repeats after 180 degree rotation (as distinguished +from "-s bilateral" whose data is mirrored about a vertical plane). +Thanks to Helen Rose Wilson for the suggestion and informing me that +such a thing exists. + +Removed upper limit on number of modifiers in rcontrib. + +Put cap on maximum ambient gradient to avoid over-extrapolation of +poorly computed irradiance cache values. + +Added robjutil +T option to triangulate all faces in .OBJ description. + +Altered BSDF library to have both front and back diffuse transmittance +values, which can be different. This was necessary to avoid issues +caused by measurement and modeling discrepancies. + +Added pabopto2bsdf -g option to cull near-grazing scattering to avoid +issues with noise and negative values. + +Increased default dynamic range from 32 to 100 in pcond and normtiff. + +Added -o and -n options to genbox to create .OBJ output and segment +edges and corners for transparent materials. Also added -s option +to control smoothing for .OBJ and Radiance with segmented rounding. + +Made it so robjutil with the +r option for Radiance output now +produces normal smoothing unless normals are removed with -n. + +Added exposure preservation to pcompos when possible (i.e., when +there is only one input or inputs agree on exposure). + +Added -DSHARP_RGB compile-time option to use sharp RGB color space +rather than historic default. This can make for more accurate color +calculations, but requires that materials be recalibrated. The +PRIMARIES= line is also produced on output from rpict or rvu with +the correct set of primaries based on how the system was compiled. + +Added automatic flushing to the output of total, except when the -r +(running subtotals) option is used. + +Improved behavior of little-used -aw option, so that it avoids sea-level +rise caused by adding its own estimate back into the ambient level remainder. +It ended up being simple enough to derate the final average by the factor +corresponding to average surface absorpition, thus removing the average +from the final bounce estimate. + +Introduced ies2rad upgrades by Randolph Fritz. Randolph says it +fixes the following problems: + + 1. Generates correct Radiance geometry for spheres in 1995, 2002, + and 2019 IES files. + + 2. Generates correct Radiance geometry for vertical cylinders that + are taller than they are wide. + + 3. Ignores the file source ("File Generation Type") field in the + 2019 version of the file, which would otherwise be incorrectly used + as an output multiplier. + + It also offers the following enhancements: + + 1. Shape information is included in the .rad file comments. + + 2. 1995, 2002, and 2019-version luminous opening geometry is + accounted for. + + 3. The 2002 and 2019 IES file versions are recognized and + processed appropriately. + + 4. I have made an attempt to do something intelligent with less + common "luminous opening" shapes in the 1995, 2002, and 2019 versions + of the standard, though I have not implemented any support for new + geometry; approximations are substituted and warning messages issued. + Unfortunately, this code is not tested, since I don't have any IES + files that use these shapes. + +Added support for depth-of-field blurring in vwrays using -pd option. +Also, made -c count work with vwrays -i, producing multiple samples +per indicated pixel position. At the same time, support for the -pd +option was added to rtpict, which calls on vwrays for its samples. + +Fixed issue with BSDFs that didn't obey reciprocity, where direct +sampling wasn't following exactly with indirect sampling. This was +discovered and reported by Jon Sargent. + +Created checkBSDF tool to test XML BSDF reciprocity and perform similar +sanity checks. + +Added -O option to pvalue and pextrem to report watts/sr/m^2 even if +picture is XYZE. + +Made subtle changes to header i/o routines to preserve alignment in +binary file formats to enable memory-mapping. Implemented memory-mapped +matrix loading in rmtxop for binary double files. + +Removed ambient value sorting, which was written when ambient caches +could overwhelm available memory. This is rarely the case these days, +and the added code complexity and updating of cache values with LRU +counts dirties pages that would otherwise remain clean, so it was +often a loss even when VM was an issue. + +Added iso2klems script to compute a Klems BSDF based on specular +and diffuse measurements as a function of incident angle. + +Fixed issue with over-counting diffuse component during aBSDF +peak extraction. + +Added dctimestep -x and -y options to specify image dimensions +for multiple outputs corresponding to result vectors. + +Added -P option to rcalc to pass formatted input when cond is <= 0. + +Created rcrop utility for cropping matrices and pictures more +conveniently, correcting view information. Expect it to be handy +for extracting rows and columns from matrices, mostly. + +Changed pcomb so -o option elides original exposure values +from indented source headers. + +Added getinfo -r option, which is similar to -a except it will +replace indicated lines with new ones. + +Slight change to vwrays -d option to not spit out "-ld-", and to +produce "-ld+" without requiring input picture as argument. + +Added automatic overture calculation to rtpict with -n > 1 if +ambient cache is on and file is named. If straight image output +is requested, we randomize all samples and avoid cache collisions. + +Added cnt -s option to shuffle output. + +Fixed issue with divide-by-zero errors in the ambient super-sampling +routine discovered by Jon Sargent of Solemma. This affected regions +that had zero radiance, such as black backgrounds or unlit areas +with -av 0 0 0, when super-sampling was effectively disabled, causing +some loss in accuracy of the results. + +Updated Klems Half- and Quarter-bases to match angles currently used +in WINDOW. + +Eliminated most aiming failures for triangular light sources, at the +expense of conservative sampling near the centroid. Thanks to +David Geisler-Moroder for his help on this. + +Increased maximum set size to 8191 to avoid set overflow errors. + +Added source obstruction test to statistics being kept on which +sources were visible in adaptive shadow testing code. Previous +behavior was likely over-estimating source contributions. + +Added diffuse components into maximum directional hemispherical +reported by checkBSDF, so comparing to 100% is easier for each +component. + +Fixed incorrect calculations in iso2klems script, thanks to +help from Jacob Jonnson. + +Updated official copyright and license according to new wording +provided by Jean Haemmerle at the LBNL Intellectual Property Office. +Both were copied verbatim from e-mail I received from Taoning Wang +on 8/20/2022. + +Added -features option to rpict, rtrace, and rcontrib to check +which features are present or look for specific feature support. +This addition was suggested by Peter Apian-Bennewitz as an easier +way to determine which version of Radiance is installed and what +it supports, and is timely as we begin our refactoring of the +rendering code. There are no current plans to add this to rvu. + +Added falsecolor -odim, -orct, and -c0 options to overlay grid of +values on image. This was requested by Rob Shakespeare. + +Added -i* and -o* options in rhcopy for reading rays from the +standard input and writing rays from holodeck to standard output. +This will hopefully be useful in combining rholo with rcontrib. + +Added further checking for coincident (overlapping) flat surfaces, +preferring front sides to back sides in the ray intersection +calculation. This only applies to rings and faces, as the other +surface types would have required additional calculations to +make them work. Material transparency is still the primary +consideration, now followed by ray hit side, followed by +modifier definition order in the input. + +Increased octree and object limits to allow scenes with billions +of primitives. + +Made reciprocity averaging default to "off" in bsdf2ttree, as it seems +to create more problems than it solves. + +==================== +Version 6.0 + +Extensive changes to enable spectral rendering, which defaults to "off" +to maintain backwards-compatibility with previous versions, with the +exception of the ambient file format, which is changed. The MAXCSAMP +macro, which defaults to 24, sets the maximum number of spectral samples. +The actual number of samples is set by the "-cs" option, which defaults +to 3 for rpict, rtrace, and rcontrib. The latter two programs support +straight spectral output, but rpict is initially restricted to +tristimulus output pictures. New pattern primitives "spectrum", +"specfile", and "specfunc" have been added as a means to specify +spectral reflectance, emittance, etc. to materials that still have +only 3 color channels. Those RGB channels will still affect the +spectrum if used. Unfortunately photon-mapping is currently broken when +spectral sampling is enabled, but we will fix this as soon as possible. +Calculation overhead appears to be approximately 10-15% for RGB +renderings compared to version 5.4a. + +Added spectral rendering to rvu as well, and made -cs and -cw +options standard across the rendering library. I also brought +mkillum, ranimove, rsensor, and mksource into the fold. These +tools were broken in the initial release. (Hopefully, they are +working now, but none have been tested as yet.) +There was also an indexing bug in the spectral->RGB conversions +that made reds into blues and vice versa, which has been fixed. + +Added i/o for spectral pictures to rmtxop, the first program that can +ingest them. (Only rtrace, rcontrib, and rfluxmtx can render them.) +New symbolic rmtxop -c options, such as RGB, XYZ, S (for scotopic) +and M (for melanopic) make color conversions simpler. Alternatively, +a reference matrix or picture may be given and the color space of +that file will be used. The -C option takes either a symbolic +color space or reference file and is "sticky," so it applies to +all subsequent input files that do not have their own -c right ahead +of them. + +Added spectral picture support to rcrop and radcompare. + +Added new utility, rcomb, which is something like a combination +of rmtxop and pcomb, it works with all the inputs and +outputs that rmtxop handles, but allows for general expressions +like those in pcomb for putting matrices together, working on +an element at a time. (No resizing of matrices or accessing +neighboring elements, as permitted in pcomb.) It saves memory +over rmtxop by operating on a row at a time, so can handle +input and output matrices with any number of rows. It does +provide for a single matrix-multiplication operation at the end, +which only requires memory for that final matrix. + +Added support for filtering hyperspectral images to pfilt. + +Added support for 1- and 3-component float matrix i/o to +pcomb to allow for better interoperability. + +Added support for -co+ option to rtpict, so it can directly +produce hyperspectral images. + +Added new "specdata" and "specpict" primitives to support +interpolated spectral data files and hyperspectral images +as patterns. + +Added support for multispectal sampling in rsensor, which will +put out as many color channels as specified in any -cs option +(default is 3 for RGB). + +Added ability of mgf2rad to convert spectral data at least +for light, glow, plastic, and metal primitive types. Need +to use new '-s' option to get new output. + +Added handling of spectral images to rcode2bmp script. + +Minor change to rcollate to allow explicit byte records to +be any specified length without checks against header input. + +Added new hemisphere type to rfluxmtx, "h=cie" for CIE sky +scanner positions. These are 145 patches with identical +row counts to Tregenza, but starting from a different +azimuth and reversing row directions at adjacent altitudes. + +Added optimization for long argument lists and arrays in +the calcomp routines used for rendering and in rcalc, etc. + +Added error estimate spreading to ambient super-sampling +algorithm (-as) to improve performance especially in +scenes with sharp cut-offs. + +Added -i option to gendaymtx to match -i option of gendaylit. +Thanks to Yongqing for initial implementation. + +Changed rcrop so negative #rows or #cols counts back from end. + +Added rcomb -n option for multi-processing of very large matrices. + +Made it so rsplit and rlam can handle any number of input files +up to active open file descriptor limit. + +Taoning Wang added genssky tool for generating spectral sky +descriptions. + +Taoning added gensdaymtx utility based on gendaymtx, and +added epw2wea -a option to include required information. + +Fixed bug introduced in Auguest 2022 (5.4 release) in distant +light source sampling, which caused aiming failures. (Thanks +to Mike DiPompeo of LightStanza for reporting the issue.) + +Added rxpict rendering tool based on C++ RpictSimulManager class. +Multi-processing and spectral output are supported. + +Wrote rxpiece tool that will render pictures using tiling and +can handle different output formats and hyperspectral pictures. +Only runs on a single machine, however -- no NFS locking on +shared volumes. Mainly a demonstration tool for RpictSimulManager +C++ class, but may have its uses. + +Fixed a bug in BSDF sampling of sources pointed out by +David Geisler-Moroder, which tended to overestimate specular +contributions for some BSDFs. + +Added crude ability to read and convert spectra to RGB in ximage, +ra_bmp, ra_ps, and ra_rgbe programs. Also updated fast tone-mapping +library to handle spectral HSR inputs at the same time. HSR +input handling was added in a similar fashion to pcond and pvalue +for convenience. + +Added handling of hyperspectral images to normtiff, a handy program +for quickly tone-mapping Radiance RGBE, XYZE, and now hyperspectral +pictures, as well as IEEE float or LogLuv TIFFs. + +Added handling of hyperspectral pictures to pextrem, though +results are still reported in RGB. + +Added accurate conversion of hyperspectral pictures to ra_xyze. + +Added hyperspectral picture conversion to ra_tiff, with accurate +color when targeting 16-bit/comp., LogLuv, and float utput, +and the approximate method for 24-bit RGB. + +Taoning added genssky -L option to specify global and diffuse +illuminance values for output calibration. + +Created C++ class for rcontrib and example tool rxcontrib, which +is an optional compile in the src/rt directory. The output +model is more general in some respects and the operations more +efficient, but standard output is not supported, nor is ASCII +results data. + +Added strnstr.c compatibility module in ray/src/common, since +it isn't present on Linux derivatives. + +Added WGMDfunc material type with programmable roughness and +separate modifier paths for the different components. + +Added gensurf -i option at the request of Peter Apian-Bennewitz +to reverse surface normals, mostly for data input, when it is +a bit more difficult to adjust. + +Added rad -N option to rholo call for multiprocessing when +mkillum and/or mkpmap are involved in octree prep. + +Added ability of gendaymtx to read EPW as well as WEA files. +When EPW input is provided, the 3-hour average dew point is +used to compute a more accurate precipitable water content +value. It currently does not use these data directly from +the EPW input, relying instead on a dew-point-to-W calculation. +This follows the request and recommendations of David G-M. + +Removed limitation in rfluxmtx, which was disallowing distant +and local receivers. Found this to be a perfectly valid approach +for some annual daylighting scenarios. + +Wrote new pvsum tool to handle cases dctimestep can't, like +spectral input pictures. It also adds a -N option for multi- +processing on Unix machines, which utilizes memory-mapped +inputs for efficient i/o sharing. + +Made it so genBSDF can use spectral rendering for a +more accurate photometric result. + +Changed default matrix representation to float rather than +double, which uses less RAM and supports faster operations +in general. Build with compiler flag: + -DDTnativeDTrmx_native=DTdouble +to get back higher precision representation. + +Taoning Wang updated genssky and gensdaymtx to provide illuminance +calibration and accept EPW files directly as input. + +Added -e expr and -f file.cal options to all rendering tools, not +just rcontrib/rxcontrib. Feature request from Peter A-B. + +Fixed slight bias in indirect calculation caused by ambient +collision detection, pointed out by Jon Sargent. New code +keeps track of rejected samples and sells them back to +later calls to get something closer to a true Poisson +sampling method. + +Altered rvu "origin" command to take shift amounts forward, +right, and up rather than taking an explicit origin, which +can be done easily enough with the "view" command. Peter A-B +requested (sort of). + +Added genglaze tool created by Taoning Wang to generate +spectral glazing materials based on CGDB data and models. + +Fixed bug that caused inf and nan errors with -cw setting +where longer wavelength was substantially less than limits +of specified spectra.