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Comparing ray/src/util/trad.hlp (file contents):
Revision 2.4 by greg, Sat Nov 5 09:31:49 1994 UTC vs.
Revision 2.25 by greg, Wed May 27 13:16:11 2015 UTC

# Line 1 | Line 1
1 <        $Id$
1 >        trad.hlp 2.18 10/20/98
2  
3   This help file is associated with the trad interface to the Radiance
4   rad(1) program.  Trad consists of trad.wsh and one do_*.tcl file for
5 < each screen.  There are currently seven such screens:  Action, File,
6 < Options, Results, Scene, Views and Zone.
5 > each screen.  There are currently seven such screens:  File, Scene,
6 > Zone, Views, Options, Action and Results.
7  
8   .Trad.Intro
9  
# Line 48 | Line 48 | the left mouse button while holding the control key ov
48   curiosity in the main trad window.
49   (In general, only active windows are given help file links -- click
50   on these rather than the text labels.)
51 + Additional search capabilities are available over all topics using
52 + the "Grep" button.
53  
54   For help on the help facility itself, Control-click on the problem
55   help widget or on the window title in the upper right corner for
# Line 55 | Line 57 | more general information.
57   (To get back to trad-specific help, press the "HELP" button in the
58   main trad window or Control-click on a trad widget.)
59  
58 Once the help window has been displayed, it is usually best to
59 lower or iconify it rather than dismissing it if further help is
60 needed.
61 This way, you will not have to wait for the help file to be read in
62 all over again every time you have a question.
63
60   .Trad.Messages
61  
62   Informative messages, commands executed by rad, and errors
# Line 402 | Line 398 | long as the overall size of the given box is close to
398   size of the space.
399  
400   The Zone entry windows may be manipulated in the following ways.
405 Control-U clears the current window.
401   Control-V pastes the contents of the current selection at the
402   insertion point.
403   Return moves the focus to the next window in the chain.
404  
405 + The "Auto" button may be used to set these values based on the bounding
406 + box of one or more Radiance scene files.
407 +
408 + .Zone.Auto
409 +
410 + Use this button to automatically determine the bounding box for this
411 + zone, based on the output of the "getbbox" command run on one or
412 + more Radiance scene files.
413 + The appropriate scene files are entered via a file
414 + selection dialogue box, which comes up after the button is pressed.
415 +
416 + The reason for selecting specific files rather than running getbbox
417 + on the entire scene is that a zone usually does not include large
418 + external objects, which may be present in the complete scene
419 + description.
420 +
421   .Zone.Detail
422  
423   The "Detail" setting indicates the relative level
# Line 476 | Line 487 | an important parameter for rendering accuracy.
487  
488   There are two basic ways to compute the exposure value.
489   The first is by trial and error, where the value is adjusted up and
490 < down within rview using the "e = value" command.
490 > down within rvu using the "e = value" command.
491   Though it sounds flaky, this is the most reliable way to set the
492   exposure (and ambient level) in general lighting situations.
493  
# Line 494 | Line 505 | tot_flux is given in watts.
505   (Divide total lumens by 179 lumens/watt to get watts.)
506  
507   The exposure value may either be given as a positive real value, or
508 < as a real value preceeded by a '+' or '-' indicating a positive or
508 > as a real value preceded by a '+' or '-' indicating a positive or
509   negative number of f-stops (powers of two) from the original value.
510  
511   If no exposure is given, pfilt will automatically compute the
# Line 534 | Line 545 | and/or parameters, and press the "Change" button.
545   To remove an unwanted view, select it and press the "Delete" button.
546   To undo this action, simply press the "Add" button again.
547  
548 < The first view in the list is the default given to rview during
548 > The first view in the list is the default given to rvu during
549   interactive rendering, and is the first view rendered in a batch run.
550   To change the default view, select the newly desired view and press
551   the "Set Default" button.
# Line 573 | Line 584 | An invented name should be kept as short as possible,
584   added to the picture file name along with the standard ".pic" suffix.
585  
586   The standard views are specified by strings of the form
587 < "[Xx]?[Yy]?[Zz]?[vlah]?".
587 > "[Xx]?[Yy]?[Zz]?[vlahsc]?".
588   (That is, an optional upper or lower case X followed by an optional
589   upper or lower case Y followed by an optional upper or lower case Z
590 < followed by an optional lower case V, L, A or H.)
590 > followed by an optional lower case view type.)
591   The letters indicate the desired view position, where upper case "X"
592   means maximum X, lower case "y" means minimum Y and so on.
593   The final letter is the view type, where 'v' is perspective (the
594 < default), 'l' is parallel, 'a' is angular fisheye, and 'h' is
595 < hemispherical fisheye.
596 < A perspective view from maximum X, minimum Y would be "Xy" or
597 < "Xyv".
594 > default), 'l' is parallel, 'a' is angular fisheye, 'h' is
595 > hemispherical fisheye, 's' is for planisphere (stereographic) fisheye,
596 > and 'c' is for cylindrical panorama.
597 > A perspective view from maximum X, minimum Y would be "Xy" or "Xyv".
598   A parallel view from maximum Z would be "Zl".
599   If "ZONE" is an interior zone, the standard views will
600   be inside the perimeter.
# Line 603 | Line 614 | Otherwise, it is usually necessary to specify a set of
614   define a view.
615  
616   The simplest view specification is of the form "-vf viewfile", where
617 < "viewfile" is a file created with the rview "view" command, or a
617 > "viewfile" is a file created with the rvu "view" command, or a
618   Radiance picture.
619   This method of naming views, although convenient, is not the best
620   since it is difficult to know exactly where such a view is by
# Line 622 | Line 633 | interaction mode for trad.
633   Consult the rpict(1) manual page for a full description of the various
634   view options, all of which begin with "-v".
635   Just briefly, the "-vt?" option sets the view type, where "?" is
636 < replaced by one of the letters "v, l, a or h", corresponding to
637 < perspective, parallel, angular and hemispherical fisheye, respectively.
636 > replaced by one of the letters "v, l, a, h, s or c", corresponding to
637 > perspective, parallel, angular fisheye, hemispherical fisheye
638 > and cylindrical panorama, respectively.
639   The "-vp x y z" option sets the view position (eyepoint), where "x y z"
640   is replaced by the position in 3-space.
641   The "-vd xd yd zd" option sets the view direction, where "xd yd zd"
# Line 685 | Line 697 | The "Clear" button simply clears the "Name" and "Optio
697   for the convenience of entering a new view.
698   It has no effect on the rad input variables.
699  
688 Note that Control-U will always clear an entry box whose cursor is
689 active.
690
700   .Views.Default
701  
702   The "Set Default" button may be used to make the selected view the
703   default view for rendering.
704   This simply moves the view to the top of the list in the rad input file.
705 < The default view will be the one normally rendered by rview when rad
705 > The default view will be the one normally rendered by rvu when rad
706   is started interactively, and is the first view rendered in a batch
707   process.
708  
# Line 710 | Line 719 | The standard view up vector may be set to the positive
719   the positive Y axis (+Y), the positive Z axis (+Z), the negative
720   X axis (-X), the negative Y axis (-Y), or the negative Z axis (-Z).
721  
722 < This setting may always be overriden by the "-vu xd yd zd" option,
722 > This setting may always be overridden by the "-vu xd yd zd" option,
723   and will be altered for a particular view if it happens to be
724   parallel to the view direction.
725  
726 + .Views.Eyesep
727 +
728 + The eye separation is used for generating stereo views of
729 + the scene.
730 + It is the measured distance between a viewer's pupils in world
731 + coordinate units.
732 + It is not used directly by rad, but should be set for other programs
733 + that need it, such as rholo and glrad.
734 +
735   .Views.Picture
736  
737   The root picture file name is given in the "Picture" entry window.
# Line 749 | Line 767 | to maintain a specific pixel aspect ratio (1 by defaul
767  
768   The default value for this variable is "512".
769  
770 + .Views.Rawfile
771 +
772 + The "Rawfile" entry window determines if and where the raw output picture
773 + from rpict will be saved.
774 + If the entry is empty, the file will be removed after rendering and
775 + filtering.
776 + This is the normal action, since the raw file
777 + takes up disk space and is not generally useful.
778 + However, if you wish to perform some special filtering function,
779 + this file can be renamed instead of removed by giving a
780 + root file name in this entry window.
781 + The final name in this case will be the given root plus and
782 + underscore plus the view name followed by a ".pic" suffix.
783 +
784 + In the special case when the raw file name and picture file name are
785 + the same, the raw file is saved and no filtering takes place.
786 +
787 + .Views.Zfile
788 +
789 + The "Zfile" entry window gives the root name of the file in which to
790 + store the raw (binary floating point) distances to pixels in the
791 + original generated image.
792 + If this entry is empty, then no z-file will be saved.
793 +
794 + The final z-file name will be the given root plus an underscore plus
795 + the view name plus a ".zbf" suffix.
796 +
797 + To convert this image to human-readable form, the program "od" will
798 + work on some systems, or the Radiance "pvalue" program may be used
799 + to first convert it to a greyscale Radiance picture using the
800 + options "-r -h -b -df `getinfo -d < pictname`" where "pictname" is
801 + replaced by the raw picture file name.
802 + (Getinfo simply gets the original image dimensions, which are not
803 + stored in the z-file.)
804 +
805   .Views.Copy
806  
807   The "Copy" button in the Views screen permits those variables
# Line 785 | Line 838 | The "Report" variable may be used to specify a time in
838   minutes) between progress reports.
839  
840   Other windows allow the user to customize the options to oconv(1),
841 < mkillum(1), rview(1) and rpict(1), and pfilt(1).
841 > mkillum(1), rvu(1) and rpict(1), and pfilt(1).
842  
843   .Options.Quality
844  
# Line 830 | Line 883 | will be treated as points.
883   It only means that some accuracy and possibly some smoothness
884   will be traded for speed in the shadow calculations.
885  
886 + .Options.Pgmap
887 +
888 + The "Pgmap" specifies the file to hold the global photons computed
889 + by the "mkpmap" command, followed by the number of photons to generate
890 + (required).
891 + A typical photon count for a global map is on the order of 100-200K.
892 + (A 'K', 'M', or 'G' may follow the value to indicate 1000's, millions,
893 + or billions of photons.)
894 + By convention, photon map files are given a ".pmp" suffix.
895 + An optional third parameter specifies the bandwidth to use
896 + for the global photons during rendering, and this value should be
897 + around 50.
898 +
899 + .Options.PgmDelete
900 +
901 + The "Delete" button next to the "Pgmap" window on the Options
902 + screen allows you to remove the named global photon map file.
903 + This is usually done when a change is made to the "mkpmap" options,
904 + as the file will be regenerated automatically after most scene changes.
905 +
906 + .Options.Pcmap
907 +
908 + The "Pcmap" specifies the file to hold the caustic photons computed
909 + by the "mkpmap" command, followed by the number of photons to generate
910 + (required).
911 + A typical photon count for a global map is on the order of 1000K (1M).
912 + (A 'K', 'M', or 'G' may follow the value to indicate 1000's, millions,
913 + or billions of photons.)
914 + By convention, photon map files are given a ".pmp" suffix.
915 + An optional third parameter specifies the bandwidth to use
916 + for the global photons during rendering, and this value should be
917 + around 50.
918 + (See the "Pgmap" topic under the current help category.)
919 +
920 + .Options.PcmDelete
921 +
922 + The "Delete" button next to the "Pcmap" window on the Options
923 + screen allows you to remove the named caustic photon map file.
924 + This is usually done when a change is made to the "mkpmap" options,
925 + as the file will be regenerated automatically after most scene changes.
926 +
927   .Options.Ambfile
928  
929   The "Ambfile" is the file used to store Radiance ambient values for
# Line 863 | Line 957 | effort.
957  
958   The "Optfile" setting assigns a file to hold rendering options,
959   which may be a convenience when these options are reused for
960 < rtrace(1) or rpiece(1), or manual invocations of rview or rpict.
960 > rtrace(1) or rpiece(1), or manual invocations of rvu or rpict.
961   Using an options file also reduces the size of the command line,
962   making it a little easier on the eye.
963  
# Line 879 | Line 973 | a given rendering has progressed.
973   Normally, progress reports and errors during batch renderings
974   are sent to the error file given by the root of the rad input
975   file name followed by the ".err" suffix.
976 < (See the "Errors" topic under the "Action" screen category.)
976 > (See the "CheckErr" topic under the "Action" screen category.)
977   If you wish these reports and errors to be directed to a different
978   file, follow the time interval by a space and a file name.
979  
# Line 914 | Line 1008 | indicate this by not specifying any illum or scene fil
1008   .Options.Mkillum
1009  
1010   The "mkillum opts" window may be used to specify options to the
1011 < mkillum(1) command, whose options are actually passed to rtrace(1).
1011 > mkillum(1) command.
1012   These options apply only if there are one or more "Illum" files
1013   named on the Scene screen.
1014  
1015   It is very important to set mkillum options sensibly,
1016   since rad does not have the intelligence to do it for you.
1017  
1018 + .Options.Mkpmap
1019 +
1020 + The "mkpmap opts" window may be used to specify options
1021 + to the mkpmap(1) command.
1022 + There are no default values, and rad does not set these
1023 + options intelligently.
1024 +
1025   .Options.Render
1026  
1027   The "render opts" window is used to specify additional options to
1028 < the rview(1) and rpict(1) rendering programs.
1028 > the rvu(1) and rpict(1) rendering programs.
1029   Most of the important parameters are computed by rad, so this
1030   window is usually used to override specific parameters or to give
1031   additional information, such as which materials to exclude from the
# Line 973 | Line 1074 | This screen is where the actual Radiance programs are
1074   run, usually via rad(1).
1075   The top row of buttons is used to update the octree following a
1076   change to one or more input files.
1077 < The "rview" button starts an interactive rendering in the
1077 > The "rvu" button starts an interactive rendering in the
1078   foreground.
1079   The next set of buttons provides for the control of a batch
1080   rendering process, taking place in the background.
# Line 1051 | Line 1152 | by the "Touch" button.
1152   (This will still cause the ambient file to be removed,
1153   unfortunately.)
1154  
1155 < .Action.Rview
1155 > .Action.Rvu
1156  
1157 < The "rview" button on the Action screen starts an interactive
1157 > The "rvu" button on the Action screen starts an interactive
1158   rendering for the selected view, indicated by the menu button
1159   just to the right.
1160 < Other views may be accessed within rview using the "L name"
1160 > Other views may be accessed within rvu using the "L name"
1161   command, and new views can be added with the "V name"
1162   command.
1062 (See the rview(1) man page and the "View" topic in the current
1063 help category for more information.)
1163  
1164 + When using the "V" command to change an existing view, do not
1165 + give it an existing name because the previous view will not be overridden.
1166 + Instead, give it a new name (or no name, which will show up as
1167 + a number later), then use the Views screen to override the previous
1168 + view definition with the new one.
1169 + (See the "View" topic in the current
1170 + help category, the "Change" topic under "Views" and the rvu(1)
1171 + manual page for more information.)
1172 +
1173   If the octree is out-of-date, it will be rebuilt before rendering
1174   begins.
1175  
1176   .Action.View
1177  
1178   The Action screen contains two menus for selecting views.
1179 < The top menu, next to the "rview" button, sets the view to start
1180 < with in rview, and is selected from the current view list.
1179 > The top menu, next to the "rvu" button, sets the view to start
1180 > with in rvu, and is selected from the current view list.
1181   The second view menu, next to the "Start" button for batch
1182   rendering, selects the view or views to render in batch mode.
1183   If the special entry "ALL" is selected, then every view in the
1184   current list will be rendered if it hasn't been already.
1185  
1186 + The view menu next to the "rvu" button will be disabled if there
1187 + is only one view to choose from.
1188 + The view menu next to the "Start" button will be disabled if there
1189 + is a batch job in progress, and thus the view cannot be changed.
1190 +
1191   The batch rendering view menu also selects the view or views
1192   to use in producing a script during a dry run.
1193  
1194 + .Action.Processes
1195 +
1196 + The "Number of processes" slider controls how many independent
1197 + processes are initiated by the "rvu" and "Start" buttons above
1198 + and below.
1199 + This should be set no greater than the number of virtual cores
1200 + on your system.
1201 +
1202 + For interactive rendering, the "new" command within rvu may
1203 + be used to change the number of processes running.
1204 +
1205 + For rendering in the background, the number of processes will
1206 + never be greater than the number of views if all views are
1207 + being rendered.
1208 + If only a single view is selected for rendering, rad
1209 + will call rpiece to render it in tiles using the given
1210 + number of processes.
1211 +
1212   .Action.Start
1213  
1214   The "Start" button for batch rendering on the Action screen
# Line 1095 | Line 1226 | disabled, and rendering progress can be monitored by c
1226   the error file periodically.
1227   (This file is named by the root of the rad input file followed by
1228   ".err".)
1229 < When a batch process is started or already running, this button
1230 < will be disabled.
1229 > When a batch process is started or already running, or when a
1230 > process is on another host and its status is unknown,
1231 > this button will be disabled.
1232  
1233   The background process can be killed during this or later
1234   invocations of trad using the "Kill" button.
1235 + If the process was started on another machine and the status is unknown,
1236 + it will be necessary to run trad from the other host or remove the error
1237 + file manually before starting a background process on this machine.
1238 + This is to protect you from the great confusion that results when two
1239 + machines are working from the same project file.
1240  
1241   .Action.Kill
1242  
# Line 1114 | Line 1251 | screen, no data is lost by killing and restarting a ba
1251   rendering, though some new startup costs will be incurred.
1252  
1253   The "Kill" button is disabled if no running batch process is
1254 < detected.
1254 > detected on the current host machine.
1255  
1256   .Action.CheckErr
1257  
# Line 1220 | Line 1357 | has completed since the Results screen was brought up.
1357  
1358   The "Delete" button on the Results screen is used to remove the
1359   selected picture files from the filesystem.
1360 + Associated raw picture and z-buffer files
1361 + will also be deleted if they exist.
1362   Verification is required before any action is taken.
1363  
1364   .Results.Display
# Line 1307 | Line 1446 | details.)
1446   The print command window on the Results screen contains the system
1447   command to use in printing out finished Radiance pictures.
1448   The "%s" format field, which must appear somewhere in the command,
1449 < is replaced by the selected Radiance picture file name(s).
1449 > is replaced by the selected Radiance picture file name.
1450 > This command is executed multiple times if multiple files are
1451 > selected.
1452  
1453   The default command is "ra_ps %s | lpr", which converts the Radiance
1454   picture to a black and white PostScript file and sends it to the lpr
1455   print spooler.
1456 + Add a "-c" option to "ra_ps" if the printer supports color.
1457   If your printer does not understand PostScript, or your system does
1458   not support lpr, this command must obviously be changed.

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