[Radiance-general] Three-Phase Method - subdivision of window with sensor located close to the window

[Greg Ward]

Hi Anne,

I agree that you should try the glow window.  If you are using the rsensor program as your script seems to indicate, rays will be distributed over the window independently from how you've defined it.  Only the secondary bounces will care if it's a light source or a glow and whether it's subdivided, and those should not matter to the results.  This leaves the puzzle of why your output varies so much in the first place.  

Have you tried generating hemispherical fisheye views from the sensor position under the different simulation conditions?  This is always my favorite way of debugging such problems.

Best,
-Greg

> From: David Geisler-Moroder <david.moroder at gmail.com>
> Date: April 28, 2011 11:24:17 AM PDT
> 
> Hi Anne,
> 
> give Andy's suggestion using the glow material a try - I usually do that for large windows (i.e. in most cases) to avoid the 
> subsampling problem of the "window lights". Even if you do not put sensors close to the window, you mostly have walls 
> somewhere close to the window where the same issue arises. 
> Manually subdividing is only necessary - as Andy states - if it's needed because of changes in the exterior illumination.
> 
> Cheers,
> David