Understanding rtcontrib - trouble with tregenza skypatches

Greg_Ward · August 26, 2013, 4:07pm

You need to *add* -bn Ntbins after your -f tregenza.cal argument. Don't remove the -b option -- you need that as well.

The original rtcontrib didn't absolutely require -bn, although it should have. The new rcontrib (which "rtcontrib" points to) does.

Best,
-Greg

···

From: "Secure-Mail User" <harrym@secure-mail.biz>
Date: August 26, 2013 3:08:47 AM PDT

Hi All,

I’m going through the “Understanding rtcontrib” tutorial and got stuck when trying to get the Tregenza sky patches to work (page 16). I can't figure out how to use the tregenza function and the binning with rcontrib:

DIMS=600
vw="-x $DIMS -y $DIMS -vf views/sky.vf"
oconv materials/testroom.mat objects/testroom.rad skies/sky_white.rad > testroom_whitesky.oct
vwrays -ff $vw |rcontrib @rtc.opt -ffc $(vwrays -d $vw) –V+ -f tregenza.cal -b tbin -o images/patches/p%03d.hdr -m sky_glow testroom_whitesky.oct

Which returns:

rcontrib: fatal - unspecified or illegal bin count for modifier 'sky_glow'

My setup:
Windows 7
Cygwin
NREL’s latest Radiance version

What I tried so far:

- Googling the error took me to the rcontrib.c source code... interesting but not immediately helpful
- Changing when –f ..... –b ... is specified which didn’t change the output (which is also stated in rtcontrib man page as I found out later)
- I checked sky_white.rad and compared it with what is shown in the tutorial. Tick.
- I checked my spelling multiple times..... (hopefully) Tick
- Replacing “-b tbin” with “-bn 146”, accidently with the view file back.vf, which resulted in a single, fairly dark picture. When repeating the command to look at the sky hemisphere, I get a uniform sky at around 178 cd/m²

Could anybody point me to my mistake?

Many Thanks in advance,
HM

Secure-Mail_User · August 27, 2013, 12:46am

Hi Greg,

This works perfectly Thanks a lot.

Functions in Radiance are something that I tend to have trouble with. When looking at the .cal files, I often find it difficult to understand where inputs and outputs are defined. Would anyone know a good resource I could look into that could help? Is it a linux thing? To give you a hint of where I’m coming from: I have some reasonable understanding of languages like Python, Ruby and a little C# but am fairly illiterate when it comes to Linux.

Cheers

···

— Ursprüngliche Nachricht —
Von: Greg Ward gregoryjward@gmail.com
Datum: 26.08.2013 18:07:27
An: harrym@secure-mail.biz, Radiance general discussion radiance-general@radiance-online.org
Betreff: Re: [Radiance-general] Understanding rtcontrib - trouble with tregenza skypatches

You need to add -bn Ntbins after your -f tregenza.cal argument. Don’t remove the -b option – you need that as well.

The original rtcontrib didn’t absolutely require -bn, although it should have. The new rcontrib (which “rtcontrib” points to) does.

Best,

-Greg

From: “Secure-Mail User” harrym@secure-mail.biz

Date: August 26, 2013 3:08:47 AM PDT

Hi All,

I’m going through the “Understanding rtcontrib” tutorial and got stuck when trying to get the Tregenza sky patches to work (page 16). I can’t figure out how to use the tregenza function and the binning with rcontrib:

DIMS=600

vw="-x $DIMS -y $DIMS -vf views/sky.vf"

oconv materials/testroom.mat objects/testroom.rad skies/sky_white.rad > testroom_whitesky.oct

vwrays -ff $vw |rcontrib @rtc.opt -ffc $(vwrays -d $vw) –V+ -f tregenza.cal -b tbin -o images/patches/p%03d.hdr -m sky_glow testroom_whitesky.oct

Which returns:

rcontrib: fatal - unspecified or illegal bin count for modifier ‘sky_glow’

My setup:

Windows 7

Cygwin

NREL’s latest Radiance version

What I tried so far:

     Googling the error took me to the rcontrib.c source code... interesting but not immediately helpful

     Changing when –f ..... –b ... is specified which didn’t change the output (which is also stated in rtcontrib man page as I found out later)

     I checked sky_white.rad and compared it with what is shown in the tutorial. Tick.

     I checked my spelling multiple times..... (hopefully) Tick

      Replacing “-b tbin” with “-bn 146”, accidently with the view file back.vf, which resulted in a single, fairly dark picture. When repeating the command to look at the sky hemisphere, I get a uniform sky at around 178 cd/m²

Could anybody point me to my mistake?

Many Thanks in advance,
HM

powered by Secure-Mail.biz - anonymous and secure e-mail accounts.

Greg_Ward · August 28, 2013, 3:47pm

Yes, you've no doubt identified one of the main difficulties in understanding a functional language. Everything is defined in terms of everything else, and there's no explicit "flow" to a program, which is really just a set of equations. Only when something is evaluated does anything happen, then whatever variables and functions that evaluation requires causes a cascade that leads to inputs that are somehow predefined in the environment.

In the case of .cal files used in a Radiance rendering, most of these variables and functions are given or described in rayinit.cal. Similarly, the direction vector (Dx,Dy,Dz) and world position (Px,Py,Pz) variables are the ones used primarily by .cal files given on the rcontrib command line. You will see these mentioned in the comments and main section of tregenza.cal.

The best introduction to .cal files is probably still Chapter 4 of "Rendering with Radiance," which you can order from Randolph Fritz if you don't already have a copy.

Best,
-Greg

···

From: "Secure-Mail User" <harrym@secure-mail.biz>
Date: August 26, 2013 5:46:06 PM PDT

Hi Greg,

This works perfectly Thanks a lot.

Functions in Radiance are something that I tend to have trouble with. When looking at the .cal files, I often find it difficult to understand where inputs and outputs are defined. Would anyone know a good resource I could look into that could help? Is it a linux thing? To give you a hint of where I'm coming from: I have some reasonable understanding of languages like Python, Ruby and a little C# but am fairly illiterate when it comes to Linux.

Cheers

--- Ursprüngliche Nachricht ---
Von: Greg Ward <gregoryjward@gmail.com>
Datum: 26.08.2013 18:07:27
An: harrym@secure-mail.biz, Radiance general discussion <radiance-general@radiance-online.org>
Betreff: Re: [Radiance-general] Understanding rtcontrib - trouble with tregenza skypatches

You need to *add* -bn Ntbins after your -f tregenza.cal argument. Don't remove the -b option -- you need that as well.

The original rtcontrib didn't absolutely require -bn, although it should have. The new rcontrib (which "rtcontrib" points to) does.

Best,
-Greg

From: "Secure-Mail User" <harrym@secure-mail.biz>
Date: August 26, 2013 3:08:47 AM PDT

Hi All,

I’m going through the “Understanding rtcontrib” tutorial and got stuck when trying to get the Tregenza sky patches to work (page 16). I can't figure out how to use the tregenza function and the binning with rcontrib:

DIMS=600
vw="-x $DIMS -y $DIMS -vf views/sky.vf"
oconv materials/testroom.mat objects/testroom.rad skies/sky_white.rad > testroom_whitesky.oct
vwrays -ff $vw |rcontrib @rtc.opt -ffc $(vwrays -d $vw) –V+ -f tregenza.cal -b tbin -o images/patches/p%03d.hdr -m sky_glow testroom_whitesky.oct

Which returns:

rcontrib: fatal - unspecified or illegal bin count for modifier 'sky_glow'

My setup:
Windows 7
Cygwin
NREL’s latest Radiance version

What I tried so far:

- Googling the error took me to the rcontrib.c source code... interesting but not immediately helpful
- Changing when –f ..... –b ... is specified which didn’t change the output (which is also stated in rtcontrib man page as I found out later)
- I checked sky_white.rad and compared it with what is shown in the tutorial. Tick.
- I checked my spelling multiple times..... (hopefully) Tick
- Replacing “-b tbin” with “-bn 146”, accidently with the view file back.vf, which resulted in a single, fairly dark picture. When repeating the command to look at the sky hemisphere, I get a uniform sky at around 178 cd/m²

Could anybody point me to my mistake?

Many Thanks in advance,
HM