using transdata for roller shade simulation

Hi all,
I'm a pretty new in Radiance use and I'm thinking about the possibility to use transdata in order to simulate a roller shade.
Looking into the mailing list, I found some post in which has been suggested to use the trans material to simulate roller shades, but doing so I would lose the directionality properties of the real material.
If I'm not wrong with transdata I should be able to change the A6 parameter, through a .dat file, according to the different values of beam-beam transmittance at different incidence angles.
I know that it's not possible to do the same thing with the beam-diffuse component, so I would have thought to express Td, diffuse transmissivity, as the sum of diffuse-diffuse plus beam-diffuse transmittance, the latter calculated as an average on the incidence angles.

Does it make sense for you?

Best regards,

Anna

Hi Anna,

The transdata (and transfunc) materials do not fully model material behavior as well as the newer BSDF type (or even BRTDfunc).

I have a few models of roller shades, which you might be able to modify to your purpose. I do not (currently) have any measurements to offer.

Best,
-Greg

hexcelshade.cal (347 Bytes)

shade.cal (398 Bytes)

mechoshade.cal (347 Bytes)

···

-------

# Shade material s99745 by Mechoshade, white facing front (inside)
# Measurements by Mehlika Inanici & Judy Lai 9/20/2004
# Diffuse measurements by Mike Rubin 10/7/2004
void BRTDfunc Mechoshade99745
10
  0 0 0
  .02*tspec .02*tspec .02*tspec
  0 0 0
  shade.cal
0
11
  .628 .628 .628
  .377 .377 .377
  .0225 .0225 .0225
  56 68

-------------

# Shade material #1 by Mechoshade
# Measurements from Steve Hebeisen <[email protected]>
void BRTDfunc Mechoshade6020
10
  0 0 0
  tspec tspec tspec
  0 0 0
  mechoshade.cal
0
9
  .37 .37 .37
  .56 .56 .56
  .03 .03 .03

--------------

# Shade material #2 by Hexcelshade
# Measured from sample 11/3/2003
void BRTDfunc HexcelshadeS065
10
  0 0 0
  tspec tspec tspec
  0 0 0
  hexcelshade.cal
0
9
  .26 .28 .30
  .59 .61 .60
  .02 .02 .02

-----------

From: "Atzeri Anna Maria (Student NaTec SusEn12)" <[email protected]>
Subject: [Radiance-general] using transdata for roller shade simulation
Date: May 7, 2015 12:54:12 PM PDT

Hi all,
I’m a pretty new in Radiance use and I’m thinking about the possibility to use transdata in order to simulate a roller shade.
Looking into the mailing list, I found some post in which has been suggested to use the trans material to simulate roller shades, but doing so I would lose the directionality properties of the real material.
If I’m not wrongwith transdata I should be able to change the A6 parameter, through a .dat file, according to the different values of beam-beam transmittance at different incidence angles.
I know that it’s not possible to do the same thing with the beam-diffuse component, so I would have thought to express Td, diffuse transmissivity, as the sum of diffuse-diffuse plus beam-diffuse transmittance, the latter calculated as an average on the incidence angles.

Does it make sense for you?

Best regards,

Anna

Hi Greg,
and thank you for your super quick response!
At the moment I can't implement in my simulation the BSDF type since I'm using Radiance via DIVA, and the actual Daysim version implemented in DIVA doesn't support BSDF type for the annual calculation.
This was the reason for whose I thought to use transdata.
Instead the BRTDfunc seems to work. I tried to run an annual simulation and it seems like nothing wrong happened.

So, I've only to understand how BRTDfunc exactly works. Any suggestion will be very appreciate!

Thank you,

Anna

···

From: Greg Ward [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 07 May 2015 23:48
To: Radiance general discussion
Subject: Re: [Radiance-general] using transdata for roller shade simulation

Hi Anna,

The transdata (and transfunc) materials do not fully model material behavior as well as the newer BSDF type (or even BRTDfunc).

I have a few models of roller shades, which you might be able to modify to your purpose. I do not (currently) have any measurements to offer.

Best,
-Greg

-------

# Shade material s99745 by Mechoshade, white facing front (inside)
# Measurements by Mehlika Inanici & Judy Lai 9/20/2004
# Diffuse measurements by Mike Rubin 10/7/2004
void BRTDfunc Mechoshade99745
10
            0 0 0
            .02*tspec .02*tspec .02*tspec
            0 0 0
            shade.cal
0
11
            .628 .628 .628
            .377 .377 .377
            .0225 .0225 .0225
            56 68

-------------

# Shade material #1 by Mechoshade
# Measurements from Steve Hebeisen <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
void BRTDfunc Mechoshade6020
10
            0 0 0
            tspec tspec tspec
            0 0 0
            mechoshade.cal
0
9
            .37 .37 .37
            .56 .56 .56
            .03 .03 .03

--------------

# Shade material #2 by Hexcelshade
# Measured from sample 11/3/2003
void BRTDfunc HexcelshadeS065
10
            0 0 0
            tspec tspec tspec
            0 0 0
            hexcelshade.cal
0
9
            .26 .28 .30
            .59 .61 .60
            .02 .02 .02

-----------

Hi Anna,

Other than the source code(!), we just have the Radiance reference manual:

  http://radsite.lbl.gov/radiance/refer/ray.html#Materials

Here's what it says about BRTDfunc:

BRTDfunc
The material BRTDfunc gives the maximum flexibility over surface reflectance and transmittance, providing for spectrally-dependent specular rays and reflectance and transmittance distribution functions.
        mod BRTDfunc id
        10+ rrefl grefl brefl
             rtrns gtrns btrns
             rbrtd gbrtd bbrtd
             funcfile transform
        0
        9+ rfdif gfdif bfdif
             rbdif gbdif bbdif
             rtdif gtdif btdif
             A10 ..
The variables rrefl, grefl and brefl specify the color coefficients for the ideal specular (mirror) reflection of the surface. The variables rtrns, gtrns and btrns specify the color coefficients for the ideal specular transmission. The functions rbrtd, gbrtd and bbrtd take the direction to the incident light (and its solid angle) and compute the color coefficients for the directional diffuse part of reflection and transmission. As a special case, three identical values of '0' may be given in place of these function names to indicate no directional diffuse component.
Unlike most other material types, the surface normal is not altered to face the incoming ray. Thus, functions and variables must pay attention to the orientation of the surface and make adjustments appropriately. However, the special variables for the perturbed dot product and surface normal, RdotP, NxP, NyP and NzP are reoriented as if the ray hit the front surface for convenience.

A diffuse reflection component may be given for the front side with rfdif, gfdif and bfdif for the front side of the surface or rbdif, gbdif and bbdif for the back side. The diffuse transmittance (must be the same for both sides by physical law) is given by rtdif, gtdif and btdif. A pattern will modify these diffuse scattering values, and will be available through the special variables CrP, CgP and CbP.

Care must be taken when using this material type to produce a physically valid reflection model. The reflectance functions should be bidirectional, and under no circumstances should the sum of reflected diffuse, transmitted diffuse, reflected specular, transmitted specular and the integrated directional diffuse component be greater than one.

···

From: "Atzeri Anna Maria (Student NaTec SusEn12)" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [Radiance-general] using transdata for roller shade simulation
Date: May 8, 2015 8:24:08 AM PDT

Hi Greg,
and thank you for your super quick response!
At the moment I can’t implement in my simulation the BSDF type since I’m using Radiance via DIVA, and the actual Daysim version implemented in DIVA doesn’t support BSDF type for the annual calculation.
This was the reason for whose I thought to use transdata.
Instead the BRTDfunc seems to work. I tried to run an annual simulation and it seems like nothing wrong happened.

So, I’ve only to understand how BRTDfunc exactly works. Any suggestion will be very appreciate!

Thank you,

Anna

From: Greg Ward [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 07 May 2015 23:48
To: Radiance general discussion
Subject: Re: [Radiance-general] using transdata for roller shade simulation

Hi Anna,

The transdata (and transfunc) materials do not fully model material behavior as well as the newer BSDF type (or even BRTDfunc).

I have a few models of roller shades, which you might be able to modify to your purpose. I do not (currently) have any measurements to offer.

Best,
-Greg

-------

# Shade material s99745 by Mechoshade, white facing front (inside)
# Measurements by Mehlika Inanici & Judy Lai 9/20/2004
# Diffuse measurements by Mike Rubin 10/7/2004
void BRTDfunc Mechoshade99745
10
            0 0 0
            .02*tspec .02*tspec .02*tspec
            0 0 0
            shade.cal
0
11
            .628 .628 .628
            .377 .377 .377
            .0225 .0225 .0225
            56 68

-------------

# Shade material #1 by Mechoshade
# Measurements from Steve Hebeisen <[email protected]>
void BRTDfunc Mechoshade6020
10
            0 0 0
            tspec tspec tspec
            0 0 0
            mechoshade.cal
0
9
            .37 .37 .37
            .56 .56 .56
            .03 .03 .03

--------------

# Shade material #2 by Hexcelshade
# Measured from sample 11/3/2003
void BRTDfunc HexcelshadeS065
10
            0 0 0
            tspec tspec tspec
            0 0 0
            hexcelshade.cal
0
9
            .26 .28 .30
            .59 .61 .60
            .02 .02 .02

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

Hi Greg,
I read the description. Thank you for the references.
I have only a question about the shades description that you sent me with your first email. In all the cases the color coefficients for the directional diffuse, which I suppose should be the beam to diffuse component of the incident light, have been imposed equal to 0.
If I wanted modify them according to the incident angle values, I have "simply" to insert the specific correlation inside the .cal file?

Thank you

Anna

Anna Maria Atzeri
Ph.D. Student in Sustainable Energy and Technologies
Free University of Bozen-Bolzano
Faculty of Science and Technology Office K 0.11
Piazza Università 5 I - 39100 Bolzano
Tel. +39 0471 017634 - Cell. +393285616787 - [email protected]

···

From: Greg Ward [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 08 May 2015 19:58
To: Radiance general discussion
Subject: Re: [Radiance-general] using transdata for roller shade simulation

Hi Anna,

Other than the source code(!), we just have the Radiance reference manual:

            http://radsite.lbl.gov/radiance/refer/ray.html#Materials

Here's what it says about BRTDfunc:

BRTDfunc
The material BRTDfunc gives the maximum flexibility over surface reflectance and transmittance, providing for spectrally-dependent specular rays and reflectance and transmittance distribution functions.

        mod BRTDfunc id

        10+ rrefl grefl brefl

             rtrns gtrns btrns

             rbrtd gbrtd bbrtd

             funcfile transform

        0

        9+ rfdif gfdif bfdif

             rbdif gbdif bbdif

             rtdif gtdif btdif

             A10 ..
The variables rrefl, grefl and brefl specify the color coefficients for the ideal specular (mirror) reflection of the surface. The variables rtrns, gtrns and btrns specify the color coefficients for the ideal specular transmission. The functions rbrtd, gbrtd and bbrtd take the direction to the incident light (and its solid angle) and compute the color coefficients for the directional diffuse part of reflection and transmission. As a special case, three identical values of '0' may be given in place of these function names to indicate no directional diffuse component.

Unlike most other material types, the surface normal is not altered to face the incoming ray. Thus, functions and variables must pay attention to the orientation of the surface and make adjustments appropriately. However, the special variables for the perturbed dot product and surface normal, RdotP, NxP, NyP and NzP are reoriented as if the ray hit the front surface for convenience.

A diffuse reflection component may be given for the front side with rfdif, gfdif and bfdif for the front side of the surface or rbdif, gbdif and bbdif for the back side. The diffuse transmittance (must be the same for both sides by physical law) is given by rtdif, gtdif and btdif. A pattern will modify these diffuse scattering values, and will be available through the special variables CrP, CgP and CbP.

Care must be taken when using this material type to produce a physically valid reflection model. The reflectance functions should be bidirectional, and under no circumstances should the sum of reflected diffuse, transmitted diffuse, reflected specular, transmitted specular and the integrated directional diffuse component be greater than one.

From: "Atzeri Anna Maria (Student NaTec SusEn12)" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>

Subject: Re: [Radiance-general] using transdata for roller shade simulation

Date: May 8, 2015 8:24:08 AM PDT

Hi Greg,
and thank you for your super quick response!
At the moment I can't implement in my simulation the BSDF type since I'm using Radiance via DIVA, and the actual Daysim version implemented in DIVA doesn't support BSDF type for the annual calculation.
This was the reason for whose I thought to use transdata.
Instead the BRTDfunc seems to work. I tried to run an annual simulation and it seems like nothing wrong happened.

So, I've only to understand how BRTDfunc exactly works. Any suggestion will be very appreciate!

Thank you,

Anna

From: Greg Ward [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 07 May 2015 23:48
To: Radiance general discussion
Subject: Re: [Radiance-general] using transdata for roller shade simulation

Hi Anna,

The transdata (and transfunc) materials do not fully model material behavior as well as the newer BSDF type (or even BRTDfunc).

I have a few models of roller shades, which you might be able to modify to your purpose. I do not (currently) have any measurements to offer.

Best,
-Greg

-------

# Shade material s99745 by Mechoshade, white facing front (inside)
# Measurements by Mehlika Inanici & Judy Lai 9/20/2004
# Diffuse measurements by Mike Rubin 10/7/2004
void BRTDfunc Mechoshade99745
10
            0 0 0
            .02*tspec .02*tspec .02*tspec
            0 0 0
            shade.cal
0
11
            .628 .628 .628
            .377 .377 .377
            .0225 .0225 .0225
            56 68

-------------

# Shade material #1 by Mechoshade
# Measurements from Steve Hebeisen <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
void BRTDfunc Mechoshade6020
10
            0 0 0
            tspec tspec tspec
            0 0 0
            mechoshade.cal
0
9
            .37 .37 .37
            .56 .56 .56
            .03 .03 .03

--------------

# Shade material #2 by Hexcelshade
# Measured from sample 11/3/2003
void BRTDfunc HexcelshadeS065
10
            0 0 0
            tspec tspec tspec
            0 0 0
            hexcelshade.cal
0
9
            .26 .28 .30
            .59 .61 .60
            .02 .02 .02

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

Hi Anna,

The "directional diffuse" portion is in fact not diffuse from beam; it is the scattering that is *neither* purely specular nor purely diffuse. If you wish to manipulate the amount of diffuse scattering, use the first 9 real arguments of the BRTDfunc type for the different components, front diffuse reflection, back diffuse reflection, and diffuse transmission.

The "directional diffuse" portions have to be defined as functional procedures using the *.cal language, and should not be necessary in this case.

Cheers,
-Greg

···

From: "Atzeri Anna Maria (Student NaTec SusEn12)" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [Radiance-general] using transdata for roller shade simulation
Date: May 11, 2015 7:13:46 AM PDT

Hi Greg,
I read the description. Thank you for the references.
I have only a question about the shades description that you sent me with your first email. In all the cases the color coefficients for the directional diffuse, which I suppose should be the beam to diffuse component of the incident light, have been imposed equal to 0.
If I wanted modify them according to the incident angle values, I have "simply" to insert the specific correlation inside the .cal file?

Thank you

Anna

Anna Maria Atzeri
Ph.D. Student in Sustainable Energy and Technologies
Free University of Bozen-Bolzano
Faculty of Science and Technology Office K 0.11
Piazza Università 5 I - 39100 Bolzano
Tel. +39 0471 017634 – Cell. +393285616787 - [email protected]

From: Greg Ward [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 08 May 2015 19:58
To: Radiance general discussion
Subject: Re: [Radiance-general] using transdata for roller shade simulation

Hi Anna,

Other than the source code(!), we just have the Radiance reference manual:

            http://radsite.lbl.gov/radiance/refer/ray.html#Materials

Here's what it says about BRTDfunc:

BRTDfunc
The material BRTDfunc gives the maximum flexibility over surface reflectance and transmittance, providing for spectrally-dependent specular rays and reflectance and transmittance distribution functions.
        mod BRTDfunc id
        10+ rrefl grefl brefl
             rtrns gtrns btrns
             rbrtd gbrtd bbrtd
             funcfile transform
        0
        9+ rfdif gfdif bfdif
             rbdif gbdif bbdif
             rtdif gtdif btdif
             A10 ..
The variables rrefl, grefl and brefl specify the color coefficients for the ideal specular (mirror) reflection of the surface. The variables rtrns, gtrns and btrns specify the color coefficients for the ideal specular transmission. The functions rbrtd, gbrtd and bbrtd take the direction to the incident light (and its solid angle) and compute the color coefficients for the directional diffuse part of reflection and transmission. As a special case, three identical values of '0' may be given in place of these function names to indicate no directional diffuse component.
Unlike most other material types, the surface normal is not altered to face the incoming ray. Thus, functions and variables must pay attention to the orientation of the surface and make adjustments appropriately. However, the special variables for the perturbed dot product and surface normal, RdotP, NxP, NyP and NzP are reoriented as if the ray hit the front surface for convenience.

A diffuse reflection component may be given for the front side with rfdif, gfdif and bfdif for the front side of the surface or rbdif, gbdif and bbdif for the back side. The diffuse transmittance (must be the same for both sides by physical law) is given by rtdif, gtdif and btdif. A pattern will modify these diffuse scattering values, and will be available through the special variables CrP, CgP and CbP.

Care must be taken when using this material type to produce a physically valid reflection model. The reflectance functions should be bidirectional, and under no circumstances should the sum of reflected diffuse, transmitted diffuse, reflected specular, transmitted specular and the integrated directional diffuse component be greater than one.

From: "Atzeri Anna Maria (Student NaTec SusEn12)" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [Radiance-general] using transdata for roller shade simulation
Date: May 8, 2015 8:24:08 AM PDT

Hi Greg,
and thank you for your super quick response!
At the moment I can’t implement in my simulation the BSDF type since I’m using Radiance via DIVA, and the actual Daysim version implemented in DIVA doesn’t support BSDF type for the annual calculation.
This was the reason for whose I thought to use transdata.
Instead the BRTDfunc seems to work. I tried to run an annual simulation and it seems like nothing wrong happened.

So, I’ve only to understand how BRTDfunc exactly works. Any suggestion will be very appreciate!

Thank you,

Anna

From: Greg Ward [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 07 May 2015 23:48
To: Radiance general discussion
Subject: Re: [Radiance-general] using transdata for roller shade simulation

Hi Anna,

The transdata (and transfunc) materials do not fully model material behavior as well as the newer BSDF type (or even BRTDfunc).

I have a few models of roller shades, which you might be able to modify to your purpose. I do not (currently) have any measurements to offer.

Best,
-Greg

-------

# Shade material s99745 by Mechoshade, white facing front (inside)
# Measurements by Mehlika Inanici & Judy Lai 9/20/2004
# Diffuse measurements by Mike Rubin 10/7/2004
void BRTDfunc Mechoshade99745
10
            0 0 0
            .02*tspec .02*tspec .02*tspec
            0 0 0
            shade.cal
0
11
            .628 .628 .628
            .377 .377 .377
            .0225 .0225 .0225
            56 68

-------------

# Shade material #1 by Mechoshade
# Measurements from Steve Hebeisen <[email protected]>
void BRTDfunc Mechoshade6020
10
            0 0 0
            tspec tspec tspec
            0 0 0
            mechoshade.cal
0
9
            .37 .37 .37
            .56 .56 .56
            .03 .03 .03

--------------

# Shade material #2 by Hexcelshade
# Measured from sample 11/3/2003
void BRTDfunc HexcelshadeS065
10
            0 0 0
            tspec tspec tspec
            0 0 0
            hexcelshade.cal
0
9
            .26 .28 .30
            .59 .61 .60
            .02 .02 .02

-----------