NAME
arch2rad - convert Architrion text file to RADIANCE description
SYNOPSIS
arch2rad [ -n ][ -m mapfile ] [ input ]
DESCRIPTION
Arch2rad converts an Architrion text file to a RADIANCE scene
description. The material names for the surfaces will assigned based
on the default mapping or the mapping rules file given in the -m
option. A mapping file contains a list of materials followed by the
conditions a surface must satisfy in order to have that material.
For example, if we wanted all surfaces for blocks with RefId "thingy"
and Color 152 to use the material "wood", and all other surfaces to use
the material "default", we would create the following mapping file:
default ;
wood (RefId "thingy") (Color 152) ;
All surfaces would satisfy the first set of conditions (which is
empty), but only the surfaces in blocks with RefId "thingy" and Color
152 would satisfy the second set of conditions.
Each rule can have up to one condition per qualifier, and different
translators use different qualifiers. In arch2rad, the valid
qualifiers are Layer, Color, Face and RefId. A condition is either a
single value for a specific attribute, or an integer range of values.
(Integer ranges are specified in brackets and separated by a colon, eg.
[-15:27], and are always inclusive.) A semicolon is used to indicate
the end of a rule, which can extend over several lines if necessary.
The semantics of the rule are such that "and" is the implied
conjunction between conditions. Thus, it makes no sense to have more
than one condition in a rule for a given qualifier. If the user wants
the same material to be used for surfaces that satisfy different
conditions, they simply add more rules. For example, if the user also
wanted surfaces in blocks with RefId "yohey" with Colors between 50 and
100 to use "wood", they would add the following rule to the end of the
example above:
wood (Color [50:100]) (RefId "yohey") ;
Note that the order of conditions in a rule is irrelevant. However,
the order of rules is very important, since the last rule satisfied
determines which material a surface is assigned.
By convention, the identifier "void" is used to delete unwanted
surfaces. A surfaces is also deleted if it fails to match any rule.
Void is used in a rule as any other material, but it has the effect of
excluding all matching surfaces from the translator output. For
example, the following mapping would delete all surfaces in the Layer 2
except those with the color "beige", to which it would assign the
material "beige_cloth", and all other surfaces would be "tacky":
tacky ;
void (Layer 2) ;
beige_cloth (Layer 2) (Color "beige") ;
If neither the -m nor the -n options are not used, arch2rad uses the
default mapping file "/usr/share/radiance/lib/arch.map". This file
simply assigns materials based on color, using the identifiers "c0"
through "c255". Appropriate materials for these identifiers are
contained in "/usr/share/radiance/lib/arch.mat".
The -n option may be used to produce a list of qualifiers from which to
construct a mapping for the given Architrion file. If the -m option is
used also, only those blocks matched in the mapping file will be added
to the qualifier list.
DETAILS
Architrion blocks are divided into about 6 polygons. The reference,
opposite and end faces must all be quadrilaterals (ie. four-sided
polygons), though one or more faces may disappear in certain degenerate
cases. The bottom face will usually be a quadrilateral, though it may
be written out as two triangles if the face is non-planar or one
triangle if there is a degenerate side. The top face is treated the
same as the bottom face.
Openings are currently handled using the antimatter material type. An
antimatter material called "opening" is defined that "clips" all faces
for the current block, and patches the edges of the hole with the
material defined for the face "sill". If no rule is given specifically
for the sill face, then the most specific material (ie. the material in
the latest rule) for this block is used. An antimatter opening will
not function properly if there is another surface intersecting it, or
rendering is attempted from within the opening. Overlapping openings
or openings with shared boundaries will also fail. There is currently
no support of Architrion "frame" libraries.
Naming of the output faces is based on layer number, reference id and
output block number (sequential from 1 to the total number of output
blocks). If there is no reference id name, the layer name is used (if
available) instead of the layer number. If there is a reference id
number but no name, that is added as well. Names are truncated to the
first 12 characters, so the ends of long names may be lost. Also,
spaces in names are replaced by underscores (’_’). Finally, the face
id is added to the end of the block name for each output polygon. An
example identifier for a polygon is:
l3.window_overh.3155.ref
This would be the reference face of output block number 3155, reference
id name "window overhangs" in layer number 3.
EXAMPLE
To create a qualifier list for building.txt:
arch2rad -n building.txt > building.qual
To translate building.txt into a RADIANCE file using the mapping
building.map:
arch2rad -m building.map building.txt > building.rad
To create an octree directly from an Architrion file using the default
mapping and materials:
oconv source.rad /usr/share/radiance/lib/arch.mat ’\!arch2rad
building.txt’ > building.oct
FILES
/usr/share/radiance/lib/arch.map /usr/share/radiance/lib/arch.mat
AUTHOR
Greg Ward
SEE ALSO
ies2rad(1), oconv(1), thf2rad(1), xform(1)