***************************************************************************** torad.README This file is part of the program torad.lsp to export RADIANCE scene description files from Autocad. Copyright (C) 1993 by Georg Mischler / Lehrstuhl fuer Bauphysik ETH Zurich. Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appears in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all supporting documentation. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY. ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND OF MERCHANTABILITY ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED. ***************************************************************************** General info: torad.lsp Software extension for Autocad to export data to the RADIANCE light simulation package of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Makes complete translation of all hiding/shading entities from Autocad (and some more). Entities can be selected on screen for partial export. Entities will be sorted by one of the three criteria color, layer or insertion layer of blocks (toplayer) according to your choice. The sorting results in seperate files written for every layer or color. Floating layers and colors within blocks are fully supported. Other files created optionally can contain initial material definitions (all identical), a list of "!cat" commands to include all the information to make up a complete scene description, a setup of natural lighting, a view description and a makefile for automatic image creation. Only the entities that are visible (that is their layer is on and thawed) will be exported, even when nested in a selected block. This gives you another method of filtering elements of your drawing especially usefull when you want to update only part of a scene. The layername or color number will be part of each respective filename to make it an unique identifier. You have full control through a sreen menu section, a text dialog or even a interactive dialog box if you are running Autocad 12. Entities exported (by choice): Autocad entities: radiance objects: - 3dfaces - triangular or quadrilateral polygons. - extruded or flat traces - triangular and/or quadrilateral polygons. - extruded or flat solids - triangular and/or quadrilateral polygons. - extruded or flat circles - rings and quadrilateral polygons. - extruded arcs - quadrilateral polygons. - extruded lines - quadrilateral polygons. - extruded 2d-plines - quadrilateral polygons. - wide 2d-plines - multilateral polygons. - closed 2d-plines - multilateral polygons. - 3d-meshes - triangular or quadrilateral polygons. - polyfaces - triangular or quadrilateral polygons. - points - spheres or bubbles. torad.lsp is optimized for speed and memory usage as far as possible without loosing the functionality of sorting entities to seperate files. If you still consider it to be too slow, you will have to rewrite it in C (or pay me for doing so ;-). But still, it really works! the complete program consists of eight files (up to the moment): Program files: torad.lsp Main program source file. esample.lsp Entities sampling and conversion source file. vector.lsp Geometrical utilities source file. torad.dcl Dialog box definition file for Autocad 12. torad.mnu/x Menu file for setup with Autocad 10/11. Additional Files: torad.man User manual. torad.README This file. All these files are packaged in both a compressed tar file and a zip archieve to make them easily accessible for users of each unix and dos systems. ***************************************************************************** "support" I expect the program and the manual to be self explanatory for users who have at least some experiance with either Autocad, Radiance or better both of them. If there still remain questions that cannot be answered neither through the manuals of Autocad, RADIANCE or torad.lsp nor by the local guru, you might try to reach me by mail under . Be sure to notify me if you think you have found a bug in this program (there still might be some although thoroughly tested). It may happen that you will have to wait a few days for an answer since I am more like a guest at this site and therefore can not garantee to look into my mail daily. Georg Mischler ***************************************************************************** ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Final developement of this program has been sponsored by Prof. Dr. B. Keller, Building Physics, Dep. for Architekture ETH Zurich. The developement environment has been provided by Prof. Dr. G. Schmitt, Architecture & CAAD ETH Zurich. *****************************************************************************