The Materials and Geometry Format

Version 1.1, January 1996

Greg Ward, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, GJWard@Lbl.Gov

Introduction

The Materials and Geometry Format (referred to henceforth as MGF) is a description language for 3-dimensional environments expressly suited to visible light simulation and rendering. The materials are physically-based and rely on standard and well-accepted definitions of color, reflectance and transmittance for good accuracy and reproducibility. The geometry is based on boundary representation using simple geometric primitives such as polygons, spheres and cones. The file format itself is terse but human-readable ASCII text.

What makes MGF special?

What does MGF look like?

MGF's place in the world of standards

MGF Basics

Entities and Contexts

Hierarchical Contexts and Transformations

Detailed MGF Example

MGF Entity Reference

MGF Translators

MGF Parser Library

Application Notes

Relation to Standard Practices in Computer Graphics

Relation to IESNA LM-63 and Luminaire Catalogs

Credits