[Radiance-general] First Timer: HELP ON RADIANCE INSTALLATION

[Thomas Bleicher]

Welcome Julitta.

Radiance is a bit tricky to install because it used to be an old fashioned
source only distribution. To install it you had to have a C-compiler
installed (and you had to know how to use it). Things are a bit easier these
days but you still need to change a lot of system related settings on a Mac
to get it running.

On Mon, Jul 18, 2011 at 2:38 AM, Julitta Yunus <julittayunus at live.com>wrote:

> Read and follow instruction from RAdsite lbnl website and various forum and
> other websites showing instruction on installing the software. Unfortunately
> i'm lost and totally black out.
>

Yes, these instructions are for the source code installation. For the most
part you can ignore these.


> Honestly I do not know where to start, such as... where to type a
> command... Have tried XAMPP command as suggested but failed to execute or
> unzip the mentioned files/folder.
>

XAMPP has nothing to do with Radiance. Forget about it.


> I've done the very first part of downloading the rad4R0all.tar.gz. (is it
> as simple as clicking the address, then it goes to your "downloads" folder,
> then double click, so from rad4r0_macosx-1.tar turn to a folder of
> rad4R0_macosx).


This is the source code that needs to be compiled first. You should download
the following package:

http://radsite.lbl.gov/radiance/dist/rad4R0_macosx.tar.gz

It contains binaries which can be executed immediately. Unpack the archive
("double click") until you can browse the contents in Finder.

To "install" the programs pick a folder called "Radiance" in your own
"Library" folder or in the "Applications" folder. Copy the "bin" folder from
the downloaded archive into the "Radiance" folder.

Now download the "auxiliary files" archive
http://www.radiance-online.org/software/non-cvs/rad4R0supp.tar.gz and unpack
it. Copy the "lib" folder in this archive into the "Radiance" folder as
well.


Now you have to set environment variables which allow your Terminal shell to
find the binaries and supporting files. Open TextEdit.app and type (or copy
and paste) the following content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "
http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>PATH</key>
<string>/Users/julitta/Library/Radiance/bin</string>
<key>RAYPATH</key>
        <string>/Users/julitta/Library/Radiance/lib</string>
</dict>
</plist>

If your home directory is not called "julitta" or you have chosen the
"Applications" folder adjust the paths in the file accordingly. Make sure it
is a "plain text" document (shift-cmd-T) and save it as "environment.plist"
in your home directory. There is no ".txt" after the ".plist"!

Open the Terminal.app application (in "Applications/Utilities"). You should
keep this app in the dock because it is you primary interface for Radiance.
Type the following two commands:

mkdir .MacOSX
mv environment.plist .MacOSX

Now close Terminal.app and right-click on the Dock icon and select "quit".
The white dot below the icon has to vanish. Open Terminal.app again (I told
you to keep in in the Dock ...).

Now type

echo $PATH
which rtrace

Each of these commands should show you a path that contains your Radiance
installation directory.

I hope others will jump in and explain how to use Radiance because I have to
go to work now.

Regards,
Thomas
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