POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.general : RADIOSITY save/load syntax in v3.7-3.8? : RADIOSITY save/load syntax in v3.7-3.8? Server Time
19 Apr 2024 04:02:44 EDT (-0400)
  RADIOSITY save/load syntax in v3.7-3.8?  
From: Kenneth
Date: 22 Nov 2020 09:50:10
Message: <web.5fba799d449c7afd98418910@news.povray.org>
[I'm running the latest v3.8 Windows 'development' build of POV-ray.]

Does anyone know the updated proper syntax for LOADING a saved radiosity data
file?  I tried doing a search of the newsgroups, but I have not found anything
useful. I haven't used radiosity very much in the past, but I'm trying to catch
up ;-)

For SAVING radiosity data, POV-ray's built-in documentation and the online wiki
have the following instructions, for use in an .INI file:

Radiosity_File_Name="RAD data" (or whatever file name you choose)
Radiosity_To_File=on

*Both* of these need to be used to create a saved rad-data file, and they
successfully work.

But for re-LOADING the saved file for use in the scene, the instructions have
apparently never been finalized-- the syntax as given does not work...
            Radiosity_From_File=<on/off>
although the docs do say that the syntax is "subject to change."

By experimenting, I found some syntax that *appears* to work -- at least, it
does not cause a fatal error:
              Radiosity_From_File="RAD data"
I don't know if there is a 2nd command that also needs to be used; the docs
don't mention one.

However, in running tests with this syntax, it seems that the saved data file is
not being used at all. The only way that I know to test this is to creat a scene
with initial radiosity settings that take a long time to render (while SAVING
the *large* rad-data file), and then to try to re-load the file for a subsequent
render. The result is that the 2nd render takes just as long to complete as the
first-- so I have to assume that the saved rad file is not being used.

I also tried  +RFI on the command line, per the documentation, but the re-render
completely fails: "Runtime library Invalid Parameter Handler Invoked"

Has anyone found alternate command-line settings for loading the file that will
actually work? Does this command successfully work in LINUX builds of the source
code?

The other important question is: What should the scene's rad settings be when
RE-rendering the scene with the saved file? Are they supposed to be left as-is?
Or modified? This has always been a mystery to me, and I have not yet found
anything in the documentation that would be a clue. (I tried using a 'blank'
radiosity block--  radiosity{} -- but that ignores the saved data as well.)


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