[Radiance-general] Radiance Vs Radiosity

[Peter Apian-Bennewitz]

Rob Guglielmetti wrote:

> ...
>
>> Then, something I always thought was a hole missing from Radiance, 
>> and perhaps is really just a limitation in my own radiance knowledge 
>> is this.  All other lighting programs that I am aware of allow you to 
>> place calculation grids, run calcs, and then display the grid point 
>> results in relation to the calculation model (though most can't 
>> do false color images).  Most programs will even export the results 
>> to DXF for incorporation into CAD programs.  It seems rshow can do 
>> some of this?
>
>
> Agreed, it's a missing link.  There are a few examples of using the 
> cnt utility to create a grid, but it's not point and click.  rshow is 
> supposed to have this functionality but I have not been able to 
> compile that on my machines yet.  Certainly anyone with programming 
> savvy could rwite something to place the calculated values (derived 
> from rtrace and a supplied, cnt-generated grid of points) on a 
> Radiance image, but it would have to be written.  That PAB paper sums 
> it up the best, something about Radiance's greatest strength is also 
> its greatest hindrance.  The open, unix toolbox approach to the suite 
> allows for incredible flexibility, but you gotta roll up your sleeves 
> and build the tools yourself.

rshow offered (offers, once I finally get the new version sorted out) a 
display of 2D grid values together with the 3D Radiance scenery. It also 
generates such a grid inside a planar surface which is defined by an 
offset from a Radiance polygon.  There's no export to CAD format, as 
rshow is intended to be a visualization tool and tries hard to stay away 
from any CAD feature.
-Peter

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