Hi John,
The best way to do this is to create a Makefile that manages the creation of auxiliary files needed during rendering (such as meshes). That way, you only run obj2mesh when you really need to -- i.e., when the input file has changed. Some have used the trick of inserting inline commands in their Radiance scenes that don't actually produce any output, but update some file (such as a luminaire), but I don't recommend this practice as it makes loading of the scene just that much slower, and it generates a warning message, besides.
A simple Makefile might look like the following:
# John's first Makefile
view: myscene.oct
rad -o x11 myscene.rif
pics: myscene.oct
rad myscene.rif
myscene.oct: myscene.rif myobject.rtm
rad -v 0 myscene.rif
myobject.rtm: myobject.obj
obj2mesh myobject.obj > myobject.rtm
# End of John's first Makefile
To use the Makefile, simply type "make" followed either by "view" or "pics" depending on whether you want to run rview or rpict. (If you just type "make" you'll get the first target -- "view" -- by default.)
I hope this isn't too confusing. Consult the make man page if you really want a good time. Just don't type "make love".
-Greg
From: "John Sutherland" <js0754@bris.ac.uk>
Date: March 23, 2004 4:46:50 PM PST
Question : Would it be possible to automate the running of obj2mesh in a rif file? Or would it need to be done with C running radiance commands?
I want to do this so I can set up maya with some mel scripts to output obj files and radiance parameters, then I need to run obj2mesh on some models before compiling, so that any old dummy can use my maya file to get some radiance results.
Cheers for all the help you guys have been giving me recently…..
John Sutherland