Hi!
Cramer Silkworth wrote:
echo $RAYPATH currently yields nothing, so maybe that's the problem (but PATH does include usr/local/bin). My problem is, i'm not really a linux guy, and googling how to set it returns no fewer than a gazillion different places that PATHs are set. Can you tell me where the best place would be, and what exactly the line is (in Ubuntu 9.10)? Sorry, I know it's a newbie question, but there doesn't seem to consensus on the internet (not that there ever really is) on how to do this.
This is required ONLY for those not using an installer or package manager. Typically these are developers or advanced Radiance users who do not need this advice. I however add this to complete the thread on installing Radiance.
The RAYPATH variable contains directories that are searched by Radiance at runtime for all scene-related files. This can be geometry, octrees, procedural cal-files, textures,... It is NOT used to search for binaries - the system's standard PATH variable is used for that.
1) To do anything useful with Radiance, one should have the directory containing the cal-files coming with Radiance included in RAYPATH. This is the lib-directory in the installation target - the default makeall script would probably use /usr/local/ray/lib (you are asked for the library location when running makeall). So this is the first.
2) Many of us will maintain their own library for textures, cal-files, octrees to be used as instances. This one should be the second directory included, say, /usr/share/radiance/objlib
3) There may be a directory containing a similar library, but only for use with one project. This may be a subdirectory of the project, say, /home/cramer/project/theater1/lib
4) Many of us like to have the current directory in their RAYPATH as a default. May lead to messing up the system, but is comfortable while developing e.g. a cal-file that is not ready to go into the library yet.
So - the RAYPATH should always include 1, 2, and 4, but 3 on a per-project base. If you are using the Bash as a shell (probably you do on Linux), add the RAYPATH to your Bash-configuration in your home directory:
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cd
gedit ,bashrc
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(if you do not want the Gnome-GUI use nano instead of gedit) and add the following line to the end
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export RAYPATH=$RAYPATH:/usr/local/ray/lib:/usr/share/radiance/objlib:.
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This APPENDS the directories to the RAYPATH instead of overwriting it.
For point 3, you can just include it before starting a simulation by typing
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export RAYPATH=$RAYPATH:/home/cramer/project/theater1/lib
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at the command line before starting a simulation, or you add it to the beginning of a small script that you may use for calling the necessary commands for your simulation.
I hope this helps. It should at least explain why you found many different RAYPATH-setting in the archives - it really depends on where people keep their stuff.
Cheers,
Lars.