Five-phase Method Tutorial: Errors in generating direct sun coefficient matrix

radiance-general
1

Hello,

I am pursuing the Five-phase Method Tutorial (
http://www.radiance-online.org/learning/tutorials/fivephasetutorialfiles/Tutorial-FivePhaseMethod_v2.pdf)
and I have encountered the following errors in my attempt to generate
Direct sun coefficient matrix in Example 2:

Question/Error #1:

OS: Windows 7 (64-bit)
Radiance: 5.08
Command Line Environment: Git Bash

Command:

$ vwrays -c 4 -pj 1 -fa -vf views/view_A.vf -x 600 -y 600 | rtrace -h -opn
-fa -ab 0 model_nosuns.oct | rcontrib `vwrays -vf views/view_A.vf -x 600 -y
600 -d` -fac -fo -o viewpics_ds/back_%04d.hdr -e MF:6 -f reinhart.cal -b
rbin -bn Nrbins -m solar -c 4 -I -ab 1 -ad 100 -dt 0 -dc 1 -lw 1e-2
model_suns.oct

Error:
rtrace: warning - no light sources found
rtrace: system - write error: Invalid argument

Description: I have tested the same command on Windows shell (cmd.exe), and
I receive an 'rcontrib' error in addition to the 'rtrace' errors that I
encounter in Git Bash:

OS: Windows 7 (64-bit)
Radiance: 5.08
Command Line Environment: Windows shell (cmd.exe)

Command:

vwrays -c 4 -pj 1 -fa -vf views/view_A.vf -x 600 -y 600 | rtrace -h -opn
-fa -ab 0 model_nosuns.oct | rcontrib `vwrays -vf views/view_A.vf -x 600 -y
600 -d` -fac -fo -o viewpics_ds/back_%04d.hdr -e MF:6 -f reinhart.cal -b
rbin -bn Nrbins -m solar -c 4 -I -ab 1 -ad 100 -dt 0 -dc 1 -lw 1e-2
model_suns.oct

Error:
rcontrib: fatal - missing required modifier argument
rtrace: warning - no light sources found
rtrace: system - write error: Invalid argument

Question #2:

The original command in the tutorial includes the "-n $procs" as part of
the options passed to the 'rcontrib' call. However, I do not know where I
can find the definition for "$procs" ?
According to the Radiance documentation available for rcontrib, the -n
option is specified for multiple processes to accelerate computation on a
shared memory machine. The Git Bash on Windows can handle 3200 open files
as the maximum value passed to a "ulimit" call. But apparently, windows
shell (cmd.exe) must be able to handle more open processes.

Thank you,
Alireza

2

I do not think you can have multiple processes under Windows using rcontrib, no matter which shell you use, so -n 1 (the default) is all you get.

That is true; rcontrib on Windows will silently ignore -n settings > 1. On OpenStudio, you will get a heads up about this.

···

On 3/6/16, 9:53 AM, "Greg Ward" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:

3

Hi Greg and Rob,

Thank you for your responses:

- It does not appear that the single back quotes are the source of the
problem as I tested the command following your recommendation without
passing the `vwrays -vf views/view_A.vf -x 600 -y 600 -d` to "rcontrib" and
the rtrace "invalid argument" error still appears.

- I have tested the approach to split the command into two parts as you had
suggested:

part 1: vwrays -c 4 -pj 1 -fa -vf views/view_A.vf -x 600 -y 600 | rtrace
-h -opN -fa -ab 0 model_nosuns.oct > points.txt
part 2: rcontrib -x 600 -y 600 -fac -fo -o viewpics_ds/back_%04d.hdr -e
MF:4 -f reinhart.cal -b rbin -bn Nrbins -m solar -c 4 -I -ab 1 -ad 100 -dt
0 -dc 1 -lw 1e-2 model_suns.oct < points.txt

the part 1 appears to work properly considering that a "points.txt" file is
generated. The part 2, however, does not appear to work: although I do not
receive any error messages on my command line, the rcontrib call is
completed immediately after it is run and 508 hdr images are generated in
the given directory. However, each .hdr file is only 1 KB and the attempt
to opening any of them is failed. It does not appear that the files have
actually been written successfully.

In addition, could you elaborate about your suggestion to *" Replace the
"-x 600 -y 600" with the output of "vwrays -vf views/view_A.vf -x 600 -y
600 -d*" " in part 2 of the command?
Finally, I was wondering where the definition for the "solar" modifier as
the target light source passed to the 'rcontrib' call (-m solar) is made in
the previous steps of the tutorial?

Thank you for your help.
Best Regards,

Alireza

···

On Mon, Mar 7, 2016 at 8:17 AM, Guglielmetti, Robert < [email protected]> wrote:

On 3/6/16, 9:53 AM, "Greg Ward" <[email protected]<mailto: > [email protected]>> wrote:

I do not think you can have multiple processes under Windows using
rcontrib, no matter which shell you use, so -n 1 (the default) is all you
get.

That is true; rcontrib on Windows will silently ignore -n settings > 1.
On OpenStudio, you will get a heads up about this.

_______________________________________________
Radiance-general mailing list
[email protected]
http://www.radiance-online.org/mailman/listinfo/radiance-general

4

Andy,

Thank you for your response. I have migrated to Mac in order to complete
this step of the Five phase method tutorial.
I have pursued the tutorial with the exact scene descriptions and
simulation settings.
I have encountered the following warning/error as follows:

after increasing the limit on the open files in Terminal via the "ulimit -n
9999" command, I have called the following command as shown in the tutorial:

Five-phase Method Tutoiral | Example 2 - Rendering | Direct Sun Coefficient
Matrix (page 19) :

command:

$ vwrays -c 4 -pj 1 -fa -vf views/back.vf -x 500 -y 500 | \
rtrace -h- -opn -faa -ab 0 octs/model_nosuns.oct | \
rcontrib `vwrays -vf views/back.vf -x 500 -y 500 -d` -n $procs -fac -fo \
-o viewpics_ds/back_%04d.hdr -e MF:6 -f reinhart.cal -b rbin -bn Nrbins -m
solar \
-c 4 -I -ab 1 -ad 100 -dt 0 -dc 1 -lw 1e-2 octs/model_suns.oct

Warnings:

rcontrib: warning - BSDF "bsdf/fullwindow_t45" has 169.4 front reflection rcontrib: warning \- BSDF &quot;bsdf/fullwindow\_t45&quot; has 218\.8 rear reflection

Error Description:

Although the given rcontrib warnings do not terminate the command call, it
does not appear to me that any progress is made leaving the command running
for over 24 hours.

Question:

1- What would be the reason for the tensor-tree BSDF file
(fullwindow_t45.xml) generated in the previous steps of the tutorial to
have over 100% reflection as shown in the rcontrib warnings?
2- How can I remedy this problem in this stage of the tutorial to generate
the 5185 direct sun coefficient images?

Best Regards,
Alireza

···

On Wed, Mar 9, 2016 at 7:25 AM, Andy McNeil <[email protected]> wrote:

Alireza,

This behavior is consistent with running up against limitations on open
files. I don't know how to change the limit on Windows, but found this:

c++ - Is there a limit on number of open files in Windows - Stack Overflow

Andy

On Mar 9, 2016, at 12:53 AM, Alireza Hashemloo <[email protected]> wrote:

Hi Greg and Rob,

Thank you for your responses:

- It does not appear that the single back quotes are the source of the
problem as I tested the command following your recommendation without
passing the `vwrays -vf views/view_A.vf -x 600 -y 600 -d` to "rcontrib" and
the rtrace "invalid argument" error still appears.

- I have tested the approach to split the command into two parts as you
had suggested:

part 1: vwrays -c 4 -pj 1 -fa -vf views/view_A.vf -x 600 -y 600 | rtrace
-h -opN -fa -ab 0 model_nosuns.oct > points.txt
part 2: rcontrib -x 600 -y 600 -fac -fo -o viewpics_ds/back_%04d.hdr -e
MF:4 -f reinhart.cal -b rbin -bn Nrbins -m solar -c 4 -I -ab 1 -ad 100 -dt
0 -dc 1 -lw 1e-2 model_suns.oct < points.txt

the part 1 appears to work properly considering that a "points.txt" file
is generated. The part 2, however, does not appear to work: although I do
not receive any error messages on my command line, the rcontrib call is
completed immediately after it is run and 508 hdr images are generated in
the given directory. However, each .hdr file is only 1 KB and the attempt
to opening any of them is failed. It does not appear that the files have
actually been written successfully.

In addition, could you elaborate about your suggestion to *" Replace the
"-x 600 -y 600" with the output of "vwrays -vf views/view_A.vf -x 600 -y
600 -d*" " in part 2 of the command?
Finally, I was wondering where the definition for the "solar" modifier as
the target light source passed to the 'rcontrib' call (-m solar) is made in
the previous steps of the tutorial?

Thank you for your help.
Best Regards,

Alireza

On Mon, Mar 7, 2016 at 8:17 AM, Guglielmetti, Robert < > [email protected]> wrote:

On 3/6/16, 9:53 AM, "Greg Ward" <[email protected]<mailto: >> [email protected]>> wrote:

I do not think you can have multiple processes under Windows using
rcontrib, no matter which shell you use, so -n 1 (the default) is all you
get.

That is true; rcontrib on Windows will silently ignore -n settings > 1.
On OpenStudio, you will get a heads up about this.

_______________________________________________
Radiance-general mailing list
[email protected]
http://www.radiance-online.org/mailman/listinfo/radiance-general

_______________________________________________
Radiance-general mailing list
[email protected]
http://www.radiance-online.org/mailman/listinfo/radiance-general

_______________________________________________
Radiance-general mailing list
[email protected]
http://www.radiance-online.org/mailman/listinfo/radiance-general

5

Hi Greg,

Thank you for your response.

1- I was unsuccessful in my attempt to download the files via the "curl"
call. I received the error : "No such file or directory" followed by "curl:
(23) Failed writing body (0 != 1460)". May I ask if you could send me the
two xml files as
an attachment to my email address?

2- The tensor tree xml file (fullwindow_t45.xml) is generated via the
following command:

$ genBSDF +f +b -geom meter -dim 0.5 3.5 1 2 -.3 0 -t4 5
bsdf/fullwindow.rad > bsdf/fullwindow_t45.xml

I can send you the related input files via a Google Drive link to your
email address if that works for you in order to diagnose the cause for high
reflection values.

3- Generating the direct sun coefficient images, how can I generate a BSDF
file with Klems' subdivision scheme with higher resolution (each Klems'
patch subdivided into four smaller patches) as a replacement to using a
tensor-tree file?

Thank you,
Alireza

···

On Sun, Mar 20, 2016 at 3:12 PM, Greg Ward <[email protected]> wrote:

Hi Alireza,

Did you generate the XML files yourself? The ones I downloaded via the
current version of the 5-phase bash script don't report this warning, which
I would say indicates a problem. You can download the XML files using:

curl -o bsdf/fullwindow_t45.xml
http://www.radiance-online.org/learning/tutorials/fivephasetutorialfiles/fullwindow_t45.xml
curl -o bsdf/fullwindow.xml
http://www.radiance-online.org/learning/tutorials/fivephasetutorialfiles/fullwindow.xml

I can't speculate what is going wrong with your genBSDF command if you
created these yourself, unless you send me the related input files.

Cheers,
-Greg

*From: *Alireza Hashemloo <[email protected]>

*Subject: *Re: [Radiance-general] Five-phase Method Tutorial: Errors in
generating direct sun coefficient matrix

*Date: *March 20, 2016 1:54:42 PM PDT

Andy,

Thank you for your response. I have migrated to Mac in order to complete
this step of the Five phase method tutorial.
I have pursued the tutorial with the exact scene descriptions and
simulation settings.
I have encountered the following warning/error as follows:

after increasing the limit on the open files in Terminal via the "ulimit
-n 9999" command, I have called the following command as shown in the
tutorial:

Five-phase Method Tutoiral | Example 2 - Rendering | Direct Sun
Coefficient Matrix (page 19) :

command:

$ vwrays -c 4 -pj 1 -fa -vf views/back.vf -x 500 -y 500 | \
rtrace -h- -opn -faa -ab 0 octs/model_nosuns.oct | \
rcontrib `vwrays -vf views/back.vf -x 500 -y 500 -d` -n $procs -fac -fo \
-o viewpics_ds/back_%04d.hdr -e MF:6 -f reinhart.cal -b rbin -bn Nrbins -m
solar \
-c 4 -I -ab 1 -ad 100 -dt 0 -dc 1 -lw 1e-2 octs/model_suns.oct

Warnings:

rcontrib: warning - BSDF "bsdf/fullwindow_t45" has 169.4 front reflection rcontrib: warning \- BSDF &quot;bsdf/fullwindow\_t45&quot; has 218\.8 rear reflection

Error Description:

Although the given rcontrib warnings do not terminate the command call, it
does not appear to me that any progress is made leaving the command running
for over 24 hours.

Question:

1- What would be the reason for the tensor-tree BSDF file
(fullwindow_t45.xml) generated in the previous steps of the tutorial to
have over 100% reflection as shown in the rcontrib warnings?
2- How can I remedy this problem in this stage of the tutorial to generate
the 5185 direct sun coefficient images?

Best Regards,
Alireza

On Wed, Mar 9, 2016 at 7:25 AM, Andy McNeil <[email protected]> > wrote:

Alireza,

This behavior is consistent with running up against limitations on open
files. I don't know how to change the limit on Windows, but found this:

c++ - Is there a limit on number of open files in Windows - Stack Overflow

Andy

On Mar 9, 2016, at 12:53 AM, Alireza Hashemloo <[email protected]> wrote:

Hi Greg and Rob,

Thank you for your responses:

- It does not appear that the single back quotes are the source of the
problem as I tested the command following your recommendation without
passing the `vwrays -vf views/view_A.vf -x 600 -y 600 -d` to "rcontrib" and
the rtrace "invalid argument" error still appears.

- I have tested the approach to split the command into two parts as you
had suggested:

part 1: vwrays -c 4 -pj 1 -fa -vf views/view_A.vf -x 600 -y 600 |
rtrace -h -opN -fa -ab 0 model_nosuns.oct > points.txt
part 2: rcontrib -x 600 -y 600 -fac -fo -o viewpics_ds/back_%04d.hdr -e
MF:4 -f reinhart.cal -b rbin -bn Nrbins -m solar -c 4 -I -ab 1 -ad 100 -dt
0 -dc 1 -lw 1e-2 model_suns.oct < points.txt

the part 1 appears to work properly considering that a "points.txt" file
is generated. The part 2, however, does not appear to work: although I do
not receive any error messages on my command line, the rcontrib call is
completed immediately after it is run and 508 hdr images are generated in
the given directory. However, each .hdr file is only 1 KB and the attempt
to opening any of them is failed. It does not appear that the files have
actually been written successfully.

In addition, could you elaborate about your suggestion to *" Replace
the "-x 600 -y 600" with the output of "vwrays -vf views/view_A.vf -x 600
-y 600 -d*" " in part 2 of the command?
Finally, I was wondering where the definition for the "solar" modifier
as the target light source passed to the 'rcontrib' call (-m solar) is made
in the previous steps of the tutorial?

Thank you for your help.
Best Regards,

Alireza

On Mon, Mar 7, 2016 at 8:17 AM, Guglielmetti, Robert < >> [email protected]> wrote:

On 3/6/16, 9:53 AM, "Greg Ward" <[email protected]<mailto: >>> [email protected]>> wrote:

I do not think you can have multiple processes under Windows using
rcontrib, no matter which shell you use, so -n 1 (the default) is all you
get.

That is true; rcontrib on Windows will silently ignore -n settings > 1.
On OpenStudio, you will get a heads up about this.

_______________________________________________
Radiance-general mailing list
[email protected]
http://www.radiance-online.org/mailman/listinfo/radiance-general