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"

RADIANCE                                             4/12/95                                          MGF2RAD(1)