NAME
mgf2rad - convert Materials and Geometry Format file to RADIANCE
description
SYNOPSIS
mgf2rad [ -m matfile ][ -e mult ][ -g dist ] [ input .. ]
DESCRIPTION
Mgf2rad converts one or more Materials and Geometry Format (MGF) files
to a RADIANCE scene description. By definition, all output dimensions
are in meters. The material names and properties for the surfaces will
be those assigned in MGF. Any materials not defined in MGF will result
in an error during translation. Light sources are described inline as
IES luminaire files, and mgf2rad calls the program ies2rad(1) to
translate these files. If an IES file in turn contains an MGF
description of the local fixture geometry, this may result in a
recursive call to mgf2rad, which is normal and should be transparent.
The only side-effect of this additional translation is the appearance
of other RADIANCE scene and data files produced automatically by
ies2rad.
The -m option may be used to put all the translated materials into a
separate RADIANCE file. This is not always advisable, as any given
material name may be reused at different points in the MGF description,
and writing them to a separate file loses the contextual association
between materials and surfaces. As long as unique material names are
used throughout the MGF description and material properties are not
redefined, there will be no problem. Note that this is the only way to
get all the translated materials into a single file, since no output is
produced for unreferenced materials; i.e. translating just the MGF
materials does not work.
The -e option may be used to multiply all the emission values by the
given mult factor. The -g option may be used to establish a glow
distance (in meters) for all emitting surfaces. These two options are
employed principally by ies2rad, and are not generally useful to most
users.
EXAMPLE
To translate two MGF files into one RADIANCE materials file and one
geometry file:
mgf2rad -m materials.rad building1.mgf building2.mgf >
building1+2.rad
To create an octree directly from two MGF files and one RADIANCE file:
oconv ’\!mgf2rad materials.mgf scene.mgf’ source.rad > scene.oct
FILES
tmesh.cal Used to smooth polygonal geometry
*.rad RADIANCE source descriptions created by ies2rad
*.dat RADIANCE source data created by ies2rad
source.cal Used for IES source coordinates
AUTHOR
Greg Ward
SEE ALSO
ies2rad(1), mgf2meta(1), obj2rad(1), oconv(1), rad2mgf(1), xform(1)
MGF web site "http://radsite.lbl.gov/mgf/HOME.html"