Raytracing Manual

RELUX SUITE
Welcome to the simulation world
Fit for Raytracing

Version 2011.3.0 July 2011
INTRODUCTION
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INTRODUCTION
For visiualisations and special lighting analysis task ReluxPro contains an enhanced version of the well known raytracing program RADIANCE. Raytracing is in general a very flexible calculation method. In contrast to the radiosity algorithm, it is also capable of simulating transparency and specularity. It can be used for simple renderings or complex simulation tasks including the analysis of optical systems. The fields of application however stronlgy depend on the type of raytracing program used. Within ReluxPro, the raytracing module is provided for producing visualisations and simulation calculations of illumination scenarios in the context of architecture, interior design and general lighting/daylighting design. The applied method of physically correct simulation of light propagation, especially concering the indirect part of the illumination, results in a somewhat increased complexity of the tool. This shows e.g. in the amount of parameters, which are offered for adjusting the tool to suit specific needs, or in higher demands on the user to set correct material parameters or provide adequate models of the scene. The following manual cannot give a detailed explanation of the raytracing method, but it provides the user with the most basic insights into the mode of operation of the program, and thus enables him to find the optimal calculation settings for each different simulation scenario. After a very short introduction into Raytracing, chapt. 2 explains how the raytracer can be operated via the ReluxPro interface. The following chapters 3 - 6 explain various parts of the calculation process, whereas chapt. 7 gives some information on material models. Some information on selected important topics and on the generated results can be found in chapts. 8 and 9. A quick reference for render parameter setting and a chapter on troubleshooting round up the document.
Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011
CONTENT
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CONTENT
Introduction ................................................................................................... 2 Content ........................................................................................................... 3 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 3 3.1 3.2 4 5 5.1 5.2 5.3 6 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 7 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 8 8.1 8.2 8.3 The raytracing method ............................................................................ 5 Rays as abstraction for light propagation ................................................... 5 Practical application of raytracing ............................................................. 6 Excursion: variants and limitations of the method ...................................... 8 Settings for ReluxPro raytracing runs ................................................... 10 Type of illumination .............................................................................. 10 View ................................................................................................... 10 Calculation parameters standard & expert mode.................................... 10 Further settings ................................................................................... 12 Organisation of raytracing runs and handling of results ............................. 13 Scene export ......................................................................................... 15 Overview............................................................................................. 15 Detail: smooth rendering of objects with curvy surfaces ............................ 15 Direct light calculation .......................................................................... 17 Indirect light calculation ....................................................................... 18 Indirect light calculation in the raytracing context .................................... 18 Using the method in practice hints for parameter settings ...................... 20 Problematic aspects and limitations of the method ................................... 22 Daylight simulations .............................................................................. 24 Illumination type and results ................................................................. 24 Daylight openings ................................................................................ 24 External floor reflection - the mirrored sky concept .................................. 24 Window precalculation .......................................................................... 26 Daylight redirection .............................................................................. 31 Materials ............................................................................................... 33 Raytracing materials overview ............................................................... 33 Opaque materials ................................................................................. 34 Transparent / semitransparent materials ................................................. 34 Mirror material ..................................................................................... 36 Selected important topics ...................................................................... 38 Modelling glass panes with volume or face primitives ................................ 38 Invisible material ................................................................................. 39 Modeling objects with curvy surfaces ...................................................... 39
CONTENT
8.4 9 9.1 9.2 10 11 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4
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Luminous faces .................................................................................... 40 Simulation results ................................................................................. 41 Illuminance values ............................................................................... 41 Visualisations in the HDR format ............................................................ 41 Quick reference for expert mode parameters ........................................ 44 Troubleshooting .................................................................................... 47 Export errors ....................................................................................... 47 Errors during geometry conversion ......................................................... 48 Errors during the calculation .................................................................. 49 Erroneous results ................................................................................. 50
THE RAYTRACING METHOD
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1 THE RAYTRACING METHOD

1.1 Rays as abstraction for light propagation
Since the ancient times, rays have been used to depict light propagation, both in the very natural sense and in the context of all kinds of metaphysical interpretations connected to the light. Apart from their use in arts and mystic, rays have been the subject of early philosophical studies on nature and its prominent effects. The principle idea of raytracing was known already among ancient greek philosophers:
Fig. 1 Section from: PLATO, Timaeus Critias, English translation: The Rev. R.G.Bury, Litt. D., Harvard University Press(101-103), Cambridge Massachusetts, 1952 In an exact sense, the rays themselves do not exist. But they proved themselves to be a very helpful abstraction in further scientific studies on the subject. In physics, they are defined as normals on the wavefronts of electromagnetic radiation, mainly in the visible part of the spectrum. An additional reason for using this abstraction is the fact, that for visible light, the wavelength is usually much smaller than the dimensions of objects and scenes in which it propagates in everyday surroundings, so diffraction and interference effects do not occur. This means, light rays propagate along straight lines. The first raytracers where developed during the Renaissance period. Painters used elaborate constructs of wooden frames with grids and ropes to determine a point on a viewing plane for a corresponding point in a real scene along an imaginated straight line from the observers point of view to the scene point. These systems were robust and easy to use, but getting enough projection points was very time consuming indeed. Of course, problems with graphics cards, monopolized operating systems or system crashes did not occur at all. Unfortunately, their application was limited to the tracing of the primary view rays only.
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Fig. 2 Mechanical raytracers to produce perspective views. (by A. Drer, 1583) The key insight was, that images could be constructed by geometric projections. This in fact means that they can be calculated. A special branch developed out of this new approach, the field of technical drawings, and various types of perspectives, suitable for different purposes of displaying objects, have been invented. Of course, a real breakthrough of the general idea of calculating whole images came with the invention of calculation machines, which allowed to execute quickly the immense number of similar calculation steps needed in typical image generation. Another aspect was vital: In the meantime, scientific knowledge had grown dramatically, and the physical laws of light and its interaction with matter had been studied in great detail. So the important step from simple perspective calculations to the whole simulation of an illumination scenario could finally be made. From the 1970s onward, computer graphics became a scientific discipline, and in universities around the world a great variety of methods and algorithms for production of the so-called virtual reality, i.e. visual representations of scenes based on abstract data sets, have been invented and are still continuously improved. Three very basic principles evolved, which are used in most of the modern rendering software, the Radiosity method, Raytracing and Raster Graphics. Within ReluxPro, all three paradigms are employed, radiosity is used in the basic calculation engine, the raster graphics is the base of the interactive OpenGL view and edit module, and finallly there is the separate raytracing feature.
1.2
Practical application of raytracing
Countless books already have been published on the subject of raytracing. Fortunately, a deep understanding of the underlying mathematics and physics is not necessary to employ the principle successfully in practice. In contrast, the rays themselves are an intuitive means of abstraction, and they enable the inclined user to successfully master a simulation tool based on the raytracing principle already after a short time of learning and getting aquainted with it. Reliable results even for complex scenes are thus within reach of everybody. The following chapters of this document describe the various important aspects of producing lighting simulations with the ReluxPro raytracing module. Typically, one always encounters one or more of three basic questions:(Fig. 3 - Fig. 5): where resp. from how many points rays are sent out how many rays are sent out (in which directions) how long these rays are pursued along their way through the scene (in multiple reflections and passings through transparent objects)
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Fig. 3 Raytracing scenarios: examples for ray starting points Primary view rays emitted from the observers point of view (left) and shadow testing rays sent out from points within the scene.
Fig. 4 Raytracing scenarios: examples for varying numbers of rays Indirect sample rays for determining the surrounding luminance (left, see chapt. 5) and a bunch of shadow testing rays to simulate penumbras (right, see chapt. 4).
Fig. 5 Raytracing scenarios: examples for ray continuation Several bounces of rays for the diffuse indirect illumination (left, see chapt. 5) and pursuing rays through transparent objects (right).
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1.3
Excursion: variants and limitations of the method
The essence of Platos description can still be recognized in todays scientific literature. Often, the term 'importance', is used to denote a property flowing out from the point of view into the scene. This property has the function of preselecting the areas, for which the calculation of illumination is performed later. This approach is done to limit the time consuming calculation for those areas only, which are within the current observers field of view. Of course, one has to pay attention here: for exact lighting simulations, surfaces which are not within the current field of view are nevertheless important for the indirect light distribution and thus have to be considered in the calculation.
Fig. 6 left: Backward Raytracing raytracing
right: problem with light refaction and backward
The raytracing module of ReluxPro is based on the classical Backward Raytracing paradigm (Fig. 6 left), which represents the most usual form of application of the general principle. The name hints at the way the algorithm operates: At first, rays are sent out from the observers point of view (1), then further rays are traced from their hitting points in the scene, e.g. into the direction of the luminaires for shadow testing (2). So the way taken by the light in reality is traced in the reverse direction in the simulation. This approach is highly optimized with respect to the above mentioned importance subject. A drawback of the method is, that although effects of reflection and refraction can be simulated for the appearance of objects in the scene, they can not be considered for the light emitted from the sources. For an explanation, see Fig. 6, right: refraction of rays on the entrance into the basin can be considered easily, a raytracing renderer produces nice images of the distorted view of the basin floor influenced by the water waves on the surface. But the lighting calculation is inaccurate within the water volume, because the shadow rays miss their target due to the refraction. For the general simulation of effects occuring in optical imaging resp. tracing the paths through optical systems, another variant of the method, the so called Forward Raytracing, is necessary. In the context of architectural ligthing simulations, also the term Photon Mapping is used (Fig. 7). In this method, rays are emitted from the sources and are traced further along their way through the scene (1). The second step, namely gathering the information, which is distributed throughout the scene by the photon-rays (2), is a problematic part and definitely is not easily accomplished.
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Fig. 7 Priciple of Photon Mapping Therefore the method so far has not received much attention in commercial computer graphics and visualisation software, although it is used in some cases, mainly as a supplementary feature additional to a basic backward raytracing engine. For the design and analysis of luminaires and optical systems, however, forward raytracers are the method of choice.
SETTINGS FOR RELUXPRO RAYTRACING RUNS
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2 SETTINGS FOR RELUXPRO RAYTRACING RUNS

This chapter describes the most basic settings needed for a simulation with the ReluxPro raytracing module. Except of the view specifications, all these settings can be made in the main page of the raytracing dialog of the calculation manager.
2.1
Type of illumination
For the type of illumination, one can chose between artificial light, daylight and combined day- & artificial light in the combo box at the top of the page. For daylight calculations, the date and time can be set directly in the adjacent fields, additionally, the used sky type can be selected. (See the main ReluxPro documentation for setting latitude and longitude of the scene location).
Note: Daylight calculations are usually performed without direct sunlight. If the sun
is needed in the simulation, it sun has to be switched on separately in the checkbox on the right.
2.2
View
In a separate Tab of the raytracing dialog, the view (or several views) can be specified. Most easily this is done by navigating the small preview window with the mouse analogously to the way it is done in the main ReluxPro 3D display. Alternatively, values for point of observer, view direction and angle, etc., can be entered manually in a list of views in the lower section of the tab. The actually selected view is printed in bold face. A click on the + button adds another view by duplicating the currently selected one, a click on the button deletes the selected view line. If you have already saved views in the main ReluxPro 3D window, you can select one of these in the combo box at the right and import its data for the selected view by clicking on the green arrow. Views have to be activated by checking the first checkbox on the view lines in the list, activated views are displayed with a red background. After a rendering, the calculated views are marked yellow, if you want to keep them (save them from overwriting by new calculations), they have to be locked by selecting them and klicking on the button for locking the views on the top of the list. Locked views are marked green.
2.3
Calculation parameters standard & expert mode
A raytracing program usually comes with several parameters for adjusting the way of operation of the tool. The ReluxPro raytracing module offers two ways of setting these parameters, a standard mode and an expert mode. Standard mode In this case, the most important parameters are subsumed under the image quality setting. A lot of parameters influence this quality, e.g. settings for penumbra generation or the spatial resolution of the indirect calculation etc. Many of these individual settings are explained in the following sections. Apart from pure calculation parameters, the quality setting determines also the oversampling rate, which is used
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for smoothing pixel effects along borders in the image by upscaling and (after the calculation) downfiltering the image. The only parameter which can be set separately in the standard mode is the number of interreflections, i.e. the amount of bounces pursued in the calculation of the diffusely reflected indirect light among the objects of the scene. (see chapt. 5).
Note: For visualisations, generally 2-3 interreflections are sufficient, for calculation
of values the setting shopuld be higher, e.g. 4-7. (see. chapt. 5.2). Also, for value calculation, the quality setting has to be at least 'medium'. Expert mode In this mode individual settings for all parts of the calculation (direct, indirect part and special settings for daylight scenes) are possible. It is more suitable than the standard mode for complex scenarios, where it is necessary to tune the rendering engine specifically in order to produce optimal results. To understand the meaning of the parameters, a minimal knowledge of the applied calculation methods is necessary. This is presented in the following chapters. To point a the connectiin to the render parameters, these are printed in bold face on their introduction within the text. Standard and expert mode are independent. It is e.g. possible to set coarse parameters in the standard mode and fine settings in the expert mode to have the opportunity to switch quickly between a preview and a presentation rendering configuration Commandline parameters The ReluxPro raytracing module is an enhanced version of the well known RADIANCE program. The latter is a pure commandline tool without graphical user interface. So for historical reasons, ReluxPro still offers the feature of parameter setting via commandline codes. This, however, is only needed in very special situations. Corresponding hints are given in selected sections of this document. The mentioned commandline parameters can be accumulated, i.e. on entering them in the text field several codes may be written, separated by a whitespace character. Calculation parameters - pros and contras The current state of the art of technical development is not yet so sophisticated, that eventually with the drawback of a high redundancy every complex scenario can be simulated automatically with one click. Although it is one aim of the further development to increase the programs selfadjusting capabilities, right now it is still necessary to make some adjustments for the way of operation on the users side, in order to achieve optimal results in the shortest possible time. Furthermore, some oversight over the calculation settings is vital for estimating the reliability of the generated results. All program parameters come with default settings. Thus for getting started there is no reason to feel overwhelmed by a list of possible settings. By far not every parameter has to be set for usual renderings.
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2.4
Further settings
In the lower section, the main page of the raytracing dialog contains following fields: Visualisation and value generation Production of renderings for the activated views and calculation of values for the measurement planes in the scene can be chosen separately by checking the named boxes. Additional geometry and details For daylight openings, ReluxPro raytracing offers the automatical generation of window frames (please activate the 'additional geometry' feature for that) and window handles (please activate 'details' for that). Dimensions of the window frames can be set in the individual property dialog of the windows (cf. chapt. 6.2). Outer walls In ReluxPro interior scenes, walls of the scene are set up automatically in a realistic way, i.e. with an inner and outer face with 0.20 m distance (this is the default value). The generation of the outer wall faces may be skipped (by checking the 'without outer walls' box), in this case views can be produced, which show the interior of a scene even for observers standing on the outside.
Note: For daylight visualisations and value generation, this option is automatically
deactivated. For technical reasons, the indirect lighting algorithm needs a finite, realistic wall thickness to better separate between interior and exterior part of the scene (avoidance of 'light leaks'), so exact calculations can only be done with outer walls. Rendering views of the inside of a room from outside positions is still possible with the help of a clipping plane. This has to be set with a special code in the commandline field of the expert mode dialog. The clipping plane is perpendicular to the view direction, and located at the distance from the point of view given in the commandline code. Values are intepreted in meters. Enter e.g. -vo 2.5 for a foreground clipping plane at 2.5 m distance from the current point of view.
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2.5
Organisation of raytracing runs and handling of results
The ReluxPro calculation manager offers the option to select different calculation processes for each scene of the project. In case that only raytracing calculations are selected, a somewhat increased flexibility is offered by the program for organising the calculations. Renderings for the different scenes of a project may be performed consecutively or by starting several processes in parallel. Also, there are basically two modes of result handling. Consecutive and parallel execution of renderings for several scenes In the calculation manager, a raytracing calculation can be scheduled for a scene by activating the raytracing checkbox in the tree view for this scene. In the corresponding raytracing dialog, the rendering can be configured, i.e. the options mentioned in the previous sections can be set. Of course, this can be done for several scenes of a project. When finally the start button is clicked, the raytracing run proceeds and all selected scenes are rendered one after the other. When a raytracing run is active, the calculation mananger can be opened again, and a second run can be started for another (or several other scenes) of the same project. So finally, two or more calculation processes can work in parallel on the computer. Note, however, that the same scene cannot be selected and processed twice at the same time.
Note: For the sake of calculation efficiency, having too many raytracing processes
running at the same time does not make sense, because raytracing is a resourcedemanding task. As a rule of thumb, the most efficient way is to have only as many raytracing processes running as there are processors on the computer, (in case one has a modern multiprocessor machine available). The feature is more intended to offer increased convenience during project work. So, in cases when a longer calculation of a scene is running, you can continue working on the project and e.g. do quick test renderings in separate demo scenes for checking out a luminaire type or some lighting scenario in detail, without having to wait for the first calculation to finish. So use parallel starting of raytracing runs scarcely and with care. Use this feature only with raytracing runs, not with other ReluxPro calculations. Preview The view tab of the raytracing dialog contains a small 3D window showing the view which is printed in bold face in the list of views below (cf. 2.2 above). By clicking on the button named 'Preview', a small raytracing preview can be performed for this view of the scene. This preview feature is independent of the above described normal raytracing runs. Note that this preview is done with a low quality setting and without the time consuming indirect calculation, to proceed as quick as possible. Handling of results Of course, any change in the scene (geometry placement, luminaire insertion, material assigning, whatever) invalidates the previously calculated images and illuminance values. In the standard way of operation, ReluxPro follows a strict deletion philosphy, i.e. all results are immediately removed after a scene change. Thus consistency between the state of the project and the stored results is always guaranteed.
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This approach is not always convenient. Especially in the early stages of a project, comparisons between several designs play an important role, or for the sake of time and efficiency, first test images need to be produced while the editing of the scene still is in process. So, if this more flexible workflow is preferred, one can set the result handling to a lax mode. Then, images and values remain stored until they are replaced with results from a new calculation. Especially images, which have been locked explicitely, also have to be deleted manually by the user. Switching between those two modes of result handling can be done with setting an appropriate entry in the ReluxPro initialisation file (see the main ReluxPro documentation). If not yet present, enter a section [Raytracing] and then set the strict deletion mode to 1 (active, i.e. results get deleted on each scene change) or 0 (off, results are kept until the start of a new calculation). Two entries can be made, one for images and one for values. So the final syntax is e.g.: [Raytracing] StrictDeletePics=0 StrictDeleteValues=1 for lax handling for images and immediate deletion of values on scene changes. Note the syntax, the square brackets and the spelling with capital and small letters is important. Another entry may be set in the [Raytracing] section, which controls the way the program reacts on finished images. Normally, they are opened directly on the screen, with DirectOpenPic=0 this can be switched off. Images are inserted 'silently' into the result tree then.
SCENE EXPORT
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3 SCENE EXPORT
3.1 Overview
As mentioned in the introdution, ReluxPro employs a separate program for the raytracing renderings. So it is necessary to convert the whole scene geometry into the format needed by the raytracer before a calculation. Additionally, the raytracer itself performs an own initialisation step by setting up a special internal data structure for the geometry, which is important for efficient tracing of the rays through the scene. Because of the great variety of occurring 3D objects (simple ReluxPro box and face primitives, objects from the libraries, imported 3D objects from external modellers) in exceptional cases errors may occur during this conversion steps. So some adjustment possibilities are provided to modify the scene export when it is needed.
Note: The following two export parameters are listed to offer adjustment in
problematic cases where the default settiung do not suffice. So you normally do not need to set these parameters explicitely. Only in case of errors occuring during scene export, adjustment may become necessary. Octree resolution The Octree is the above mentioned internal data structure of the raytracing program, which, coarsely spoken, contains a subdivision representation of the scene in form of cells and sub-cells etc. By providing quick information about the question if a selected cell is filled with objects or not, the octree makes the ray tracing more efficient. An important criteria for setting up such an octree is the relation of the smallest occurring object dimension to the whole scene bounding cube dimension. However, the algorithm is already very flexible and capable to adjust itself to a wide range of cases. Only in extreme circumstances, where big scenes also contain lots of small detail maybe even locally concentrated in heaps- problems con occur. In this case, increasing the resolution (preferrably by factors of two, e.g. from 16000 to 32000 or 64000) might help. Memory optimization: This effects the way how 3D objects are stored internally by the raytracer. Defaultwise, all 3D objects are converted to a memory optimized mesh format, which makes it possible to trace scenes which had been impossible to simulate with earlier versions of the ReluxPro raytracer. In simple cases, a slight performance increase can be achieved by deselecting the option, but in general the memory optimized mesh format is the preferred choice and should remain activated.
3.2
Detail: smooth rendering of objects with curvy surfaces
The most usual representation of arbitrary 3D objects in computer graphics is the triangle mesh. This structure is used in ReluxPro for all 3D objects except the simple primitives box, workplane, pillar, etc. Without further optimisation, renderings of round and organic shapes then appear in a faceted look, showing the individual mesh triangles. But with
SCENE EXPORT
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an additional mathematical interpolation step a smooth appearance can be generated. To make use of this feature, the option smooth edges should be activated in the export section of the parameter dialog. Note: In the raytracing parameter dialog, this option can be activated globally for luminaires and/or common 3D objects, however, to show an effect, it is necessary, that the same option is active in the property dialog of the individual objects, too. Furthermore, you need the memory optimized mesh format (see above) as only this type is capable of applying the mentioned mathematical smoothing algorithm. The default setting is off. The option should only be used for those objects which really exhibit curved and round surfaces. Rectangular, box-like geometry also can be present in form of a triangle mesh (e.g complete buildings imported in 3ds format or just some rectangular furniture objects from the library), in this case of course a smoothing of edges is not desired, and furhtermore may lead to disturbing artifacts. So the somewhat redundant handling for setting this option has the reason to allow a selective activation and deactivation of the feature, dependent on the type of geometry object. (See also chapt. 7.4 for some more details on this subject.)
DIRECT LIGHT CALCULATION
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4 DIRECT LIGHT CALCULATION

The pure direct part of the illumination calculation is straightforwad. For localised light sources of intensity I, the illuminance E at a point in space is inversely proportional to the squared distance to the light source:
The angular dependent luminous intensity is taken from a special data set (LDC), which is normally measured and provided by the luminaire manufacturer.
Fig. 8 Shadow simulation for extended lightsources: more than one shadow test ray is necessary Before evaluating this LDC data, one has to check if the point in consideration is illuminated by the source at all or a) an object inbetween casts a shadow and/or b) a transparent object inbetween absorbs part of the light. Now, most of the commonly used luminaires are not simple point sources, but contain light emitting surfaces of certain finite dimensions. So the obstruction test usually cannot be done with one ray only. Subdivision is needed also for reasons of calculation accuracy, as the above formula is valid exactly only for true point sources. But for tyical lighting design applications the fomula remains valid with neglectible error if the distance to the light source is at least ten times greater than the biggest source dimension. Higher source subdivision means more shadow rays and increased calculation times. So, to avoid redundancy, an adaptation process scales the degree of subdivision dependent on the distance of the evaluation points. This automatic self adjusting of the program still can be tuned by the user with the source subdivision setting, dependent on how important realistically looking penumbra areas are in the actual case. Note that a certain minimal subdivision is always happening, even with the lowest parameter setting. A setting of 'medium' produces patch sizes roughly 10 according to the above mentioned '10% rule'. If in special cases the 'high' setting still does not suffice, even finer subdivision patches can be enforced by means of a commandline parameter. Additionally enter -ds <val> with a value between 0.05 and 0.01 for <val> in the commandline field of the expert mode dialog. This however considerably longer calculation times.
may result in
INDIRECT LIGHT CALCULATION
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5 INDIRECT LIGHT CALCULATION

5.1 Indirect light calculation in the raytracing context
Fig. 9 Analysing indirect illumination with sample rays The terms direct and indirect lighting are common for lighting analysis and need no further explanation. Unfortunately, the situation is not so trivial anymore when it comes to simulating illumination scenarios. Here, the indirect part of the calculation is by far more challenging than the direct part. Within the raytracing context, also a different algorithm is used for the indirect part. The most important characteristics of this approach are explained in the following, because this basic knowledge is necessary to be able to sucessfully configure and use the tool for the wide variety of cases occuring in todays poject work. In contrast to the direct light calculation, one cannot rely on localised light sources at known positions anymore when it comes to determine the amount of indirect light reaching a point. It is necessary to add up all contributions from the surrounding, which can be described theoretically in form of an integral equation:
L denotes the 'seen' luminance dependent on direction for a point in a scene. By the way, the special case of direct illumination of chapt. 4 can be deducted also from this general formula.
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For the indirect contribution, the integration is performed over the whole hemisphere 'above' a surface element. Within the alogrithm, this is done by sending out a certain number of sample rays into the surounding scene and adding up their returned contributions (Fig. 9). The number of rays sent out has a high influence on the accuracy of the process. Also, the adequate amount of rays needed for an accurate sampling of the surrounding does not only depend on the geometry, but also on the lighting scenario (e.g.uniform or highly varying illumination).
Fig. 10 Details of the indirect algorithm. Left: calculation at distant points and interpolation inbetween, right: iterative simulation with several ray bounces Clearly, this approach is very time consuming, and therefore cannot be done for each pixel separately. To circumvent this difficulty, the indirect calculation is done for points at certain distances, and the illumination inbetween is determined by interpolation routines (Fig. 10, left). In addition, stochastic methods come into play, too, to guarantee a higher reliability of simulation results in the average but still keep calculation times within reasonable bounds. It is worthwile noting that two assumptions are silently made in this indirect interpolation approach: the indirect illumination varies by far less strong than the direct illumination the majority of the indirect illumination stems from bigger and more or less uniformely illuminated areas in the surrrounding.
The latter assumption may not always be applicable. In these cases the indirect simulation process becomes extremely difficult. Of course, the stepwidth of interpolation distance is a very important criterium. The module contains self adjusting routines, which adapt this distance locally dependent on the detected circumstances. Nevertheless it can be necessary to set a lower threshhold value for this spatial resolution because in practice, the demand for a higher or lower accuracy can vary strongly for different scenes. (This spatial resolution value is comparable to the calculation grid width setting in the ReluxPro standard radiosity module). A last point needs to be considered: the indirect illumination happens in reality by multiple reflection of light between all surfaces in the scene, which theoretically proceeds infinitely often. But the amount of light distributed in this process decreases
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quickly with increasing number of interreflection steps (Fig. 10, right). For the simulation, one makes use of this fact by stopping the calculation after a certain number of ray bounces. The rest portion of illumination which is negelected by this approximation can either be ignored completely if it falls below a certain tolerance threshhold, or it can be coarsely reperesented by an ambient background illumination value. The necessary minimum number of reflection steps needed for a reliable simulation can generally be deducted by simple geometric considerations. Take for an example a standard office scene with uplighters: with 1 interreflection step the light path luminaire->ceiling->workplane is taken into account, with 2 steps additionally, a. o., the paths luminaire->ceiling->walls->workplane get considered, and so on. In most cases, the minimum number of interreflection steps is 2 or 3, lower settings only make sense for quick test previews.
Note: The necessary amount of interreflections for an adequate simulation does not
only depend on the scene geometry, but also on the illumination scenario and the materials. If semitransparent surfaces modeled with the milky glass material (RADIANCE 'trans' material) are present in the scene, it is important to augment the interreflection setting by 1 or 2, because the diffuse part of the transmission in this case also demands a separate interreflection step.
5.2
Using the method in practice hints for parameter settings
In addition to this background information recommendations for parameter settings are given now for some typical types of scenes. Interreflections For common architectural scenarios with usual building materials (i.e. no exotic setups like a room full of mirrors or all surfaces having unnaturally high diffuse reflection coefficients of 0.9 or higher), the indirect calculation algorithm converges at 7-9 interreflections. This setting is of course only needed for cases, in which a demand for a high calculation accuracy exists. In general, for illuminance value calculations, a setting between 4 and 7 can be used in order to get results within a tolerance range of 10% around the convergence value.
Fig. 11 Convergence of the calculation results with higher number of traced diffuse interreflections within a scene simulated solely by the indirect light algorithm. For visualisations, often 2-3 interreflections plus an ambient background illumination are sufficient. Only in purely indirectly illuminated scenes (e.g. daylight scenes
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without window precalculation) a higher setting of 4 is recommended. The Fig. 11 depicts the above mentioned convergence of the calculation. The graph on the right shows the illuminance over the number of interreflections for a small test area in a complex lighting situation (daylight simulation without precalculation in a badly lit part of the scene). The scene and the location of the test area is shown on the left. The graph also shows the slight fluctuation in the values, which stems from the use of stochastic methods in the algorithm. Initial number of rays Recommendations for the appropriate number of initial indirect sampling rays are listed in the table below: simple scenes, with well and uniform lighting (artificial and/or daylight with window precalculation, cf. chapt.6.4) complex scenes (high level of detail, lighting scenario with high variability (e.g. with narrow beam spots or sunlight) daylight without window precalculation (cf. chapt 6.4)
800 - 1200
1500 - 3000
3000 - 6000
Spatial resolution The spatial resolution value is a critical parameter with a strong influence on calculation time. for an understanding it is important, that it is a kind of guidance parameter for the calculation, whose accuracy relaxes for distances below this value. The default setting of 0.4 m is generally sufficient, because it guarantees accurate results on the bigger surfaces of the scene, whereas edges, corners, small fixture geometry and other small scene detail receive a lower attention, which can be tolerated as for this kind of detail a high simulation accuracy is not needed anyway. For cases, in which the default setting does not suffice, the value may be reduced to 0.3 or 0.2m. Values below 0.1 m should only be used in extreme circumstances. In contrary, one can try to augment the value to 0.6 - 1m for very big scenes. Of course, a commom problem is that big scenes often also contain fine grain detail locally, so the opportunities to use coarse resolution values are limited in practice. Background ambient illumination For visualisations, one can use the approach of simulating the indirect illumination with a limited number of interreflection steps and approximating the rest with a constant background illumination value. This value should be handled and understood as a manual setting based on the usual 'try and error' principle, because a priori, one cannot know how much of the illuminance gets ignored by stopping the calculation already at a low number of interreflection steps. In interior scenes with artificial light, values of 0.01-0.1 are reasonable, for daylight scenes 0.01-1, for exterior scenes with daylight and sunlight recommended settings lie between 1-10, for exterior scenes at night with artificial illumination, values of 0.001 or lower should be used. The ambient background illumination can be set in 3 different colour channels.
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Note: This ambient background illumination only makes sense for more or less
uniformly illuminated scenes. In special cases, e.g. scenes with large scarcely illuminated areas or for value calculations with a high number of interreflection steps and a high demand on accuracy, it is recommended to use a zero ambient background value to avoid adding too much light without justification.
All parameter recommendations should be seen as first proposals, and mostly they represent the minimal requirements, too. Higher values may be necessary in special circumstances. In contrary, for quick test previews, lower settings also suffice. It definitely pays off to experiment with different settings to gain some experience in handling the tool and chosing the right settings for each different scenario. Additional option: soft interpolation Within the raytracing program, the focus is clearly pointing at a physically correct simulation of the light propagation. For the sake of efficiency, the algorithm relies on stochastic methods for the calculation. This is justified, because for value generation (e.g. in a grid of points), a single value has a reduced significance. A slight fluctuation can be tolerated, as always the average over a certain area is the important criterium. In image generation, this stochastic approach may of course lead to visible artifacts, recognisable e.g. by more or less disturbing splotches in the image. To optimize the raytracing module also for image generation, an enhanced interpolation option is in the stage of development, which already can lead to much cleaner images in cases where the original version runs into problems.This option can be activated in different levels (low, medium, high) with the soft interpolation parameter. The default setting is off.
Note: This option can only work, if the other settings are at least coarsely adequate.
The development is still in progress, so optimal results under all circumstances cannot be guaranteed. The option should only be used for visualisations, because in the medium and high setting, it can have locally varying influences on the accuracy of the indirect calculation.
5.3
Problematic aspects and limitations of the method
The indirect calculation is a very challenging task, so lot of optimizations have to be used to be able to tackle the problem at all. Because the demands vary widely in practice, some further adjustments additional to the already mentioned ones may be necessary in some cases. Also, like every technical tool, the current indirect algorithm has its limitations which make it unsuitable for certain simulation scenarios. Scenes with huge external obstructions Normally, the indirect calculation is optimized for cases, where the area which is of interest for illuminance values or picture generation more or less comprises the whole scene. In some scenarios this may not be the case. Take for example a daylight simulation, where a room of, say, 10-20m dimensions is of interest, but it is modeled within a surrounding set of external obstrcutions, making up a whole scene of 200300m dimensions. For these kind of scenarios, a special command line parameter should be set to disable some optimization features and enforce a higher accuracy. The parameter is -am 0 and it has to be entered in the commandline text field at the bottom of the expert mode dialog.
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Scenes with extreme variability in illumination The indirect calculation algorithm runs into difficulties when it comes to simulate certain extreme illumination scenarios, especially those, where the second one of the assumptions mentioned in the introduction of this chapter is no longer justified. If the indirect illumination no longer stems from big, well lit areas in the surrounding, the limitations of the sample ray approach become apparent. Look for example at the scene depicted in the Fig. 12. The staircase is almost not illuminated at all, except some objects on the table which are lighted by very narrow beam spots. Sampling the reflected light from this small illuminated area (small in comparison to the whole scene) from every other point in the staircase is a very challenging task. To achieve satisfying results even in such cases, a high number of initial indirect rays (5000 10000) is necessary, and, dependent on the circumstances, additionally the above mentioned commandline parameter am 0 should be set, too.
Fig. 12 Example scene with extremely non-uniform illumination.
DAYLIGHT SIMULATIONS 6 DAYLIGHT SIMULATIONS
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Daylight simulations are generally more challenging in terms of modeling accuracy and parameter settings than artifical light calculations. The most important aspects are described below:
6.1
Illumination type and results
Daylight simulations can be done when the appropriate illumination type is selected in the main raytracing dialog (either daylight or artificial and daylight). Also important is the correct date and time setting and the sky model type. If direct sunlight is wanted, this has to activated separately. For setting the position data of the location (longitude and latitude) see the main ReluxPro documentation. The generated results are mostly similar to the case of artificial light simulation. Only when the CIE overcast sky is chosen, daylight factors for each measurement plane are generated additionally to the standard value output.
6.2
Daylight openings
For ReluxPro interior scenes one can chose from windows or skylights for daylight openings. In a corresponding property dialog, dimensions and materials for the window pane, etc., can be entered. Often, daylight openings are characterised by the pure opening width. The effect of window frames and the pollution of the window panes in the final building is then considered with help of reduction factors.
Note: If the option generate additional geometry is activated, the raytracing module
generates window frames automatically (as long as a frame geometry is selected for the actual window). In this case, of course the frame reduction factor is not considered in the raytracing calculation. Rectangular frames of different dimensions can be generated, the dialog for entering the frame dimension and material parameters can be accessed from the window property dialog. A list of frame geometries can be set up, and then for each window an individual geometry can be selected from the list. For exterior scenes, the standard ReluxPro window and skylight types cannot be used. Here daylight openings including frames and window panes have to be entirely modelled by the user (cf. also chapt. 8.1 ).
6.3
External floor reflection - the mirrored sky concept
For daylight simulations, the reflection of sky and sunlight by external surfaces may play a certain role for the scene illumination. In the default case, the raytracing module only considers the ground plane reflection with the concept of the mirrored sky (Fig. 13): Instead of modelling a huge exterior plane, the reflection of the light from the sky hemisphere is approximated by mirroring the sky luminance in a direction perpendicular to the ground plane and multiplying it with the reflection coefficient of the exterior area. This reflection coefficient can be set in the property dialog of the outer floor plane, it is the same which is also used for the radiosity calculation.
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Fig. 13 left: mirrored sky concept to simulate ground plane reflection without need to model the plane itself. For comparison, on the right the case with an extra ground plane is shown. This mirrored sky concept (RADIANCE users might be more familiar with the term 'ground glow') is the most common, basic form of consideration of external ground plane reflection. An interesting further benefit is, that the concept is independent from other surfaces and objects added to the scene and does not conflict with them, i.e. for special scenarios separate planes etc. in the vicinity of the simulated building may of course be added by the user..
Note: The mirrored sky is always included, but it is of course only capable of
simulating the diffuse reflection of the light of the sky hemisphere, which is sufficient for the most cases of daylight analysis. For special cases (e.g. simulating reflected sunlight, or ground planes with specularly reflecting material), a separate surface has to modeled explicitely by the user (Fig. 13, right). The standard ground plane used by the ReluxPro radiosity calculation is not used by the raytracing module. If an external plane is modeled, attention should be payed to avoid overlapping of outer and inner floor planes. The best way is to really draw the outer plane(s) only in the exterior area of the ReluxPro scene. By this approach, also the light leak problem, i.e. resolution problems within the indirect interpolation, resulting in erroneously considering lighting values from the outer area within the interior scene, can be avoided.
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6.4
Window precalculation
One reason why daylight calculations are more challenging than artificial light simulations is the fact that the sky hemisphere cannot be treated simply as a localised light source comparable to a common luminaire. Within the raytracing module, the lighting by the sky hemisphere is evaluated with the means of the indirect calculation (see chapt. 5). The sun in contrary cannot be modeled as a localised source either (because of its great distance), but it can be treated easily within the direct calculation by means of an angular source with approx. 0.5 solid angle. To better capture sky hemisphere light entering a closed scene with relatively small openings, it is advisable to perform the simulation in two steps. At first, a precalculation is performed for each daylight opening, which samples the light entering through it for the current situation (sky, date, time, external obstructions, etc.). This information is then connected to the opening in form of a luminous intensity distribution curve (LDC). In the second step of the simulation, the daylight openings can be evaulated like localized sources for the interior part of the scene. Of course these generated LDCs are only valid temporarily, they have to be regenerated after each change of the input configuration (date, window pane material, sky model, etc.)
Fig. 14 Schematics of the window precalculation: Information about entering daylight is connected to the openings in form of a data set (LDC) for later evaluation during the lighting simulation of the interior scene.
Note: The window precalculation feature currently is only available for ReluxPro
interior scenes by using the standard daylight elements window and skylight. Window surfaces are usually bigger than common light emitting areas of artificial luminaires, so for reliable simulation results, it often is necessary to subdivide the window pane for the calculation, as the raytracing method has difficulties in coping with large area sources. This subdivision is performed automatically by the program (see below). Of course there are also cases in which the window panes are huge in relation to the scene (e.g. a wall made up completely by big windows), then the precalulation is not recommended anymore and should be deactivated. Also, the virtual light emitting faces at the position of the window panes can generate disturbing highlights in conjunction with specular surfaces, in such circumstances it might also be advisable to perform the rendering without the precalculation step.
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The window precalulation is a flexible and powerful tool, and is able to provide reliable simulation results if used properly. The default parameters are useful for generating quick results in the most basic cases of simple windows with usual sizes and without external geometry like lightshelfs or venetian blinds. For more complex scenarios the calculation parameters have to be adapted accordingly. The possible settings are explained in the following sections. External interreflections This value specifies, how many bounces (see Fig. 15) of diffuse interreflections of daylight are considered in the exterior area for finally determining the amount of light reaching the daylight opening. The default value of 0 only considers light from the sky vault and directly illuminated objects (e.g. sunlit areas). With higher values, more diffuse interreflection steps between surfaces in the exterior (ground plane, buildings, building elements directly in front of the windows, etc.) are taken into account, according to the number given.
Fig. 15 External interreflections for the window precalculation When both direct sunlight and light from the sky should be evaluated, sorting out the contributions is not trivial at all. Therefore, Fig. 16 explains the details once more: the default value of 0 means that the direct illumination in the exterior area is evaluated, i.e. light from the sky, surfaces lit by the sun plus the ground plane reflection via the mirrored sky concept (see chapt. 6.3). Further contributions stemming from diffuse interreflections of light between modeled objects in the exterior area need settings of 1 or more external interreflections (e.g. to sample the amount of sky hemisphere light reflected diffusely by an exterior building).
Note: The setting only has an effect on the diffuse interreflections, specular
reflection (e.g from metal slabs with significant specular reflection coefficient) get evaluated independently. But here, only the light from the sky vault is considered. If the mirror-like reflection of direct sunlight into the scene should be analysed, the mirror material needs to be used for the relevant objects. Further attention has to be paid on the material of the window panes. The above explanation is valid for standard glass windows. If a milky glass material (RADIANCE
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'trans' material) is used, the number of external interreflections has to be at least 1, to sample the diffuse contribution of the window pane transmission.
Fig. 16 Contributions gathered with the window precalculation: in the default case of 0 interreflections, only the direct illumination is considered (left), with a higher value further diffuse indirect contributions are taken into account, too (right).
Number of sampling rays With this parameter, the amount of rays are set which are sent out to sample the surrounding luminance in the exterior area (Fig. 17, left). This also defines the angular resolution of the generated window LDC . The value can be seen in analogy to the number of rays in the normal indirect calculation. The default value of 100 is somewhat coarse, if external geometry is present, the value should be augmented. The following table depicts the resulting angular resolution of the generated window LDC, vertically and radially around the normal direction to the window pane. LDC angular resolution () rays 60 100 300 600 1000 3000 vertical 16.4 13.8 7.8 5.8 4.4 2.5 radial 30.0 22.5 13.3 9.2 7.2 4.1
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Fig. 17 Details of the window precalculation: number of sample rays (left), number of sample points (middle) and subdivision (right).
Number of sample points The sky luminance distribution does not change over the width of the window pane, but the influence of external geometry or thick walls does. So, dependent on the circumstances, performing the precalculation with several stochastically distributed sample points is reasonable (Fig. 17, middle). Assuming segment dimensions (see below) of 0.5m and 1m, the default value of 4 points is OK for thin walls without external geometry. When lightshelfs are present, some more points (4-16) are recommended, in case of venetian blinds or otherwise complex surroundings even more (e.g. 20-40) should be used. The maximum is 64. For quick tests or visualizations, also the minimum setting of one point may be used, by accepting the price of higher inaccuracies of calculated values in the vicinity of the window. Subdivision threshhold As mentioned in the introduction, window panes get automatically subdivided by the precalculation algorithm, to avoid too big surface areas for the resulting virtual light emitters and thus to guarantee reliable simulation results (Fig. 17, right). This subdivision is controlled with a threshhold value. If a dimension of the window pane exceeds this length, subdivision occurs in that direction. The resulting segment sizes of course can differ somewhat from the threshhold value. For usual interior scene segment sizes bigger than 1 m side are rarely appropriate. In special scenarios, e.g. an atrium building where the top opening is modeled with a huge skylight, segment sizes of more than 1 m side still can be reasonable.
Positioning of external geometry The standard ReluxPro windows and skylights are placed automatically in the middle of the wall resp. the ceiling. Wall and ceiling thickness is set to 0.2 m by default, it can be changed in the basic settings in the 'Options' dialog. The virtual light emitting face generated by the precalculation is located directly on the interior side of the pane (approx. 1cm in front of it), see Fig. 18.
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When further external geometry is modeled, care should be taken that no intersection occurs with the window and light emitter pane geometry.
Fig. 18 Positions of window pane (A) and virtual light emitting surface (B)generated by the precalculation. 1) denotes the exterior side, 2) the interior side of the window wall. Examples and recommendations for parameter settings
Fig. 19 Typical cases for the window precalculation Fig. 19 depicts common cases for the window precalculation, the listing below gives corresponding recommendations for parameter values. As always, subdivision into segments of 0.5 1m sidelengths is assumed. simple, unobstructed windows (left): default settings, 4 sample points, 60-120 rays lightshelfs and similar geometry(middle): 4-16 sample points, 100 300 rays venetian blinds (right): 20-40 sample points, 400-1000 rays By comparison with this example cases, appropriate settings for individual scenarios can be found easily. Fig. 20 finally shows a case where whole walls are made up entirely out of big windows. Here the precalculation would produce a very high number of virtual window light sources, resulting in extreme calculation times. So it is reasonable to deactivate the precalculation in these cases. This is justified, because the big window openings guarantee that a lot of the indirect sample rays can leave the scene and thus the incoming daylight can be captured well also by the standard indirect calculation algorithm. Of course, the indirect parameters have to be set appropriately (see. chapt 5.2)
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Fig. 20 Example case where a simulation without window precalculation is recommended.
6.5
Daylight redirection
Undoubtedly, the simulation of daylight redirection systems is one of the most challenging tasks in lighting analyis. In the current state of technology, mainly 2 methods are common, whose applicability depends on the type of redirection object. 1) Light pipes, which mostly are used to redirect sunlight over greater distances into deeper section of a building, in general need Forward Raytracers or Photon Map programs for an efficient and straightforward simulation. 2) Facade installations (CFS, Complex Fenestration System), i.e. special window pane materials, films or certain types of highly reflection blinds, which either replace the window pane or are installed additionally, usually get measured in a goniophotometer, in order to produce a description of the redirection characteristic in form of a BSDF data set. With such a material description, the amount of daylight entering through a CFS then can be determined by the means of the window precalculation (cf. chapt. 6.4) like it is done for normal glass panes.
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From version 2011.3.0 onward, ReluxPro is capable of performing simulations according to the method 2) described above. Currently, 4 CFS materials are included in the material database. Their BSDF datasets have been measured at the LESO/EPFL in Lausanne (CH). Assinging these materials happens just like with the normal glass pane materials. The calculation algorithm however is rather complex, and also is still developed further at the moment. So the following hints are important:
Note: 1) The CFS materials currently are provided for use on vertical Relux windows
only, they should not be applied to skylights. 2) The visualisation is not yet completely realistic. On the surfaces, the angular dependent luminance is displayed, which results out of the calculated temporary LDC for the specific viewing direction. 3) The redirection effect is of course active for both sky and sunlight. However, a significant contribution to the illumination only results out of the redirected sunlight component. In fact, the ability to use direct sunlight for indoor illumination, which normally is blocked completely e.g. by blinds, is the main benefit of these new materials.
Fig. 21 Often, direct sunlight is blocked by e.g. standard venetian blinds. These however reflect only a little amount of light towards the ceiling (image on the left). By using redirection materials in the upper part of the window, a far greater portion of sunlight can be used for indoor illumination via diffuse reflection at the ceiling (right image).
MATERIALS 7 MATERIALS
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Correct material modelling plays a vital role in a simulation, but in a general sense, finding the appropriate abstractions and mathematical models to describe light interaction is a rather difficult task.. Many common materials show a complex behaviour, being partly diffuse, partly specularly reflecting. A material may additionally exhibit transparency, both in a diffuse and/or specular way. On passing through transparent media, light refraction, absorption and scattering occur. Generally, all mentioned effects are dependent on the wavelength, in the visible part of the spectrum this of course is the source of the different colors seen in our everyday surrroundings. Most generally, these effects can be described with a bi-directional reflection and transmission distribution function or data-set (BRDF, BRTF, etc.), giving reflection and transmission dependent on both incidence and outgoing light direction. Really employing such detailed methods however is only needed for special tasks lilke e.g. simulation light-redirection elements in daylight design. For the most common cases of practical simulations, a set of straightforward algorithms exist, to treat each of the above mentioned aspects separately. Material description then can be done with a few parameters for e.g. diffuse reflection, specularity, transparency, etc. After a short introduction into the material models offered by the raytracing module, this chapter contains some important detail on a few selected material types which need closer attention in order to produce reliable simulation results.
7.1
Raytracing materials overview
The provided material models come with different levels of abstraction, keeping this in mind is important for a general understanding of the matter. In their simplest form, they are described with a few parameters. Objects modeled with these materials then show the properties uniformely and isotropically over their whole surface. The basic opaque materials (given by their original RADIANCE names) are 'plastic', 'metal' and 'mirror', basic transparent or partly transparent materials are 'glass', 'trans' and 'dielectric'. A second set is made up out of so-called procedural textures. These are complex material description at a higher level of abstraction, where common building materials like e.g. a brick wall or a stone floor with different tile and grout material, surface normal effects (grouts, beveled edges) and color patterns (e.g. marble or woodgrain) are simulated. These materials appear as Raytracer Materials in the ReluxPro material editor, with the opportunity to adjust their properties. Editing is facilitated by a small preview, showing directly the result of the new settings. Furthermore, one can use pictures (either from the editor or provided by the user in JPG, GIF or BMP format) for mapping them onto object surfaces. For working with the material editor and assigning materials, see also the ReluxPro documentation.
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Note: With a few exceptions (mirror, visible light emitting face in luminaire models),
materials are 'two-sided', i.e. they show the same appearance on either side of a surface. The procedural textures (raytracer materials) currently are provided mainly for the use on walls and ReluxPro primitives (cube, workplane, etc.). They are not yet suited well for use on 3D objects with curved shapes. All raytracing materials can in principle also be used within the standard ReluxPro radiosity calculation module, however a lot of their important effects (especially transparency and specularity) are not considered then.
7.2
Opaque materials
Opaque materials are the most simple ones. In their default state, only the diffuse reflection coefficient is set, in three different color channels. You additionally can set a value for specularity (or 'glossy' reflection) and a surface roughness, which simulates a microscopic surface structure and produces more realistic distributed reflections instead of perfect mirror-like appearances which are seldom present in normal scenarios. The surface roughness only has an effect on the glossy reflections. The basic types 'plastic' and 'metal' differ in the color of their specular highlights: for the 'plastic' material, specular reflection is always neutral (i.e. in the color of the incident light), in the 'metal' type, specular reflection is modifed by the material color.
Note: The RGB values are diffuse reflection coefficients, not colors like in graphics
programs. E.g. commonly available white wall paint has RGB coefficients around 0.8 and not 1.0. Also, setting RGB completely to zero to model black surfaces is equally unrealistic and should thus be avoided, too.
Although a lot of materials like porcelain or polished marble appear very glossy in reality, their specularity in terms of the physical coefficient is rather low, in the range of 0 0.2. Higher values are only realistic for metals. The surface roughness parameter should be used with care, values above 0.2 are not realistic either, they may of course be used to create some special effects.
7.3
Transparent / semitransparent materials
Here unfortunately the most difficulties and misunderstandings arise in the normal simulation process, so it is important to understand correctly the assumptions made in the different transparent material types. Glass With respect to parameter setting, the 'glass' material is the simplest one of the transparent types, here only the RGB values for the transmissivity can be set. Internally, however, the material uses a higher degree of abstraction. It is intended to model typically thin glass panes used in e.g. in windows, and additionally to the
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transparency, a specular reflection dependent on the incidence angle is considered, too (Fresnel-equations for n=1.52). Also, the mutliple reflection occuring between the two sides of a pane is principally included in the formulas of the used alogrithm. So the real transmittance (i.e. the fraction of light which really passes through the pane) is always smaller than the above transmissivity, which only denotes the fraction not absorbed in the interior of the pane. This resulting transmittance value is shown in the editor dialog as percentage value. Refraction of light rays is ingored, which is justified for the case of thin glass panes. Thus, to provide correct results, the material is intended to be used on single surfaces only (ReluxPro workplane primitve), thereby modelling the effect of a complete thin glass pane. See also chapt. 8.1 . In the accuracy range of common lighting simulations, the use of this material type is also justified for todays windows made out of multiple glass panes. Trans This material allows to model semi-transparent behaviour, shown e.g. by the so-called 'milky glass' or thin sheets of cloth. An arbitrary combination of glossy and diffuse reflection and direct and diffuse transmission can be set, limited only by the physical constraint that the sum of all coefficients must not exceed 1.0. (The editor interface and the internal algorithm guarantees that). In contrast to the glass type above, specularity here is not dependent on the incidence anlge anymore. Because of the great variety of possible settings, some experimenting with demo scenes is strongly recommended to get aquainted with the material type and the effect of the settings.
Note: If the diffuse fraction of transmission is nonzero, you need the indirect
calculation (interreflections parameter greater than zero, cf. chapt. 5) to correctly evaluate all properties. Also, if the roughness value is nonzero, all transmission (diffuse and direct) is only evaluated by the indirect calculation. Dielectric A 'dielectric' material is suitable for modeling transparent objects like thick glass panes or water volumes, because here the refraction upon incidence and leaving the medium is considered. The index of refraction has to be greater than 1 for this effect to show up. The RGB parameters describe the transmission per 1 m path length through the material.
Note: This material generally is intended to be used for visualization purposes only.
The indirect calculation still operates correctly, but the direct calculation (shadowtesting) cannot work properly anymore when rays pass through a 'dielectric' medium (see chapt. 1.3). Dependent on the geometric circumstances this can be more or less noticable. Perforated metal Being a material mix rather than one single material, perforated metal of course is also one of the semi-transparent materials. Two forms (with round and square holes) are provided by the material editor as part of the raytracer materials library. In the true sense of the word, shooting through the holes with the calulation rays becomes a problematic aspect, the more, the smaller the holes are. As rule of thumb,
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one can state that from hole-diameters roughly about 1 cm onward, the direct light algorithm is capable to consider the degree of transparency of the material correctly. So modeling the hole diameter greater than it is in reality (by keeping the hole/surface ratio unchanged) may be a necessary workaround to produce a correct simulation. For pure value calculation, replacing the material with a 'trans' with transparency according to the hole/surface ratio is another way, especially also, if accurate indirect contribution through the holes is to be determined. Luckily this is seldomly the case, though. Of course also a single surface (ReluxPro workplane) is recommended as geometry base, thereby ignoring the thickness, which is justified for usual sheet thicknesses in the mm range. Dependent on the geometric circumstances, scenes with perforated metal objects are one of the few cases, where a high luminaire subdivision (cf. chapt. 4) and high image quality settings in the expert mode render parameters dialog may be necessary to minimize artifacts.
7.4
Mirror material
The raytracing method has received much attention because of its capabilities to simulate mirror-like reflections by arbitrarily shaped objects in a very realistic manner. Thinking of this, it is astonishing at the first glance that the mirroring of illumination in contrast is a very difficult mathematical task indeed, and not at all easy to solve with raytracing software. Mirrored illumination is often neglectible and only plays a role in certain cases (e.g. redirected sunlight for daylight scenarios or special lighting designs). One should be aware that, unless one points directly onto a mirror with a narrow beam spot, visible effects of mirrored illumination are often very subtle and become apparent only at the second glance (see Fig. 22 )
Note: The mirroring effect for the illumination is only calculated for mirrors made
from ReluxPro workplane and cube objects, it does not work for arbitrary 3D objects carrying the mirror material, even if they internally contain only even faces. In this case, the material acts as a mirror only for the surrounding scene objects. The additional consideration of the mirrored illumination may quickly result in dramatically higher calculation times (esp. in scenes with a lot of luminaires). So the material definitely should be used with care. Multiple mirror reflections By default, the number of mirroring relays is limited to 1. In cases, where multiple reflections need to be simulated, i.e. in geometric configurations where one mirror reflects the light from a source onto another one, a special commandline parameter: dr 2 needs to be entered in the commandline text field at the bottom of the expert mode dialog to activate 2 mirror relays.
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Fig. 22 Scene showing effects of mirrored illumination, caused by the small elongated mirror panes at the walls.
SELECTED IMPORTANT TOPICS
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This chapter draws attention on some selected topics, which can be of importance in individual cases, and which demand some consideration to avoid unwanted simulation results.
8.1
Modelling glass panes with volume or face primitives
Fig. 23 Glass pane as single polygon (left) and volume object resp. flat box (right) For simulations, it is generally important to adjust the degree of abstraction of the models according to the circumstances, the desired results and the used calculation method. In other words, one should work neither too fine, nor too coarse. A prominent example where this aspect comes into play is the modeling of glass panes for windows and skylights or other installations (e.g. separation walls made of glass). Of course each pane in reality has a finite thickness, and the light gets partly reflected multiple times on passing through both sides resp. inbetween the front and back 'interface' of the glass and surrounding medium. But in the context of a lighting simulation in architecture and interior design, calculating these detailed steps of light propagation is not appropriate. It is rather advisable to use a single face with an special material type, which correctly simulates the mentioned effects in total. So normally, in lighting simulations even multiple glazing is treated with a single face polygon carrying (in conjunction with the used material) the properties of the complete system. The standard ReluxPro windows and skylights use this approach. Now special care has to be taken when whole building models are imported into ReluxPro from external CAD programs (e.g. via the 3ds import). Here often all surfaces resp. objects appear as volume primitives. If a glass material is then assigned to those objects which represent the windows of the building, erroneous results are produced, as the material properties effectively act two times on each passing ray, one time on the front and one time on the back side. The situation is even worse when the special milky glass material 'trans' is used, because of the complex separation into direct and diffuse transmission. Moreover, it does not only lead to wrong results, but also to considerably higher calculation times. A check of the used model for this detail is recommended. When the model is established in ReluxPro, always the 'workplane' primitive should be used for glass and other transparent or partly transparent panes.

8.2 Invisible material
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A principle problem of every simulations tool is, that certain features are offered, which may be configurable for a wide variety of tasks, but nevertheless contain limitations and cannot cover every possible scenario equally well. So in certain situations it can be helpful to tweak the tool a bit, or to use unorthodox approaches to tackle a tricky problem and thus extend the range of application of the tool. A nice example for this approach is the use of an invisible material. Objects which otherwise cannot be deleted from the scene may get assigned this material to vanish de facto in the rendering. (Take for example an open room geometry, which is nevertheless modeled based on the ReluxPro interior scene to be able to use the window precalculation feature.) The invisible material is configurable with the basic material 'trans' and the following parameters: colour: 1.0 (for red, green and blue) transmission: 100% specular Transmission: 1.0 Of course using this material is not 100% optimal, because the objects are still present in the scene, ray intersections occur only to continue the ray unmodified afterwards. But if it is used with care, the performance loss is tolerable, and the invisible material can be a quite helpful trick. specularity: 0.0 roughness: 0.0
8.3
Modeling objects with curvy surfaces
The effect of the new option 'smooth edges' (see chapt. 3.2) depends strongly on the type of 3D model used. If the 3D object is present as volume object, the option may result in unwanted 'rounding effects' in the rendering.
Fig. 24 Influence of the modeling type on the appearance of 3D objects with activated 'smooth edges' option. On the left, the models are depicted in the wire frame display, on the right a rendering shows two luminaires made from these cylinder models. Only the right one displays the correct effect.
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Take for example the 2 cylinder models shown in the wire frame display on Fig. 24. One is modeled as volume object with inner and outer surface plus the ring-like caps, the other is modeled solely with one surface. The rendering on the right shows two design luminaires made out of these models, the left one with the volume-type cylinder shows an unnatural 'rounding effect', whereas in the single face model, the smoothing only occurs radially, generating the expected appearance.
Note: The smooth edges option is included in the actual version as a first
implementation and will be improved in future versions, providing more convenience and automatically appropriate smoothing effects also for objects containing both 'hard edges' and curvy surfaces like in the above example.
8.4
Luminous faces
Actually, the luminaire models don't come which so much detail as to model the complete geometry including the lamps. A lot of them are in contrary rather minimalistic. So often the problem arises, that the luminous face also has to represent the missing geometry detail in its effect in the scene. The luminance of the face generally scales with the LDC. Take for example a spotlight: no light emerges outside the cut-off angle, and this should be shown also in the appearance of the luminaire. But in reality, some part of the fixture often reflects some light, so this scaling with the LDC is limited to avoid completely black luminous faces which would look equally unreal. This minimum luminance can be adjusted by an entry in the initialization file within a [Raytracing] section. (See chapt. 2.5 for general information about setting these entries). Add the line: LumFaceConstFrac=<value> with a factor between 0.0 and 1.0 for <value>. The default setting (which is active if no entry is set by the user) is 0.01. This generally produces a good, realistic impression. In special cases an adjustment might be necessary (see Fig. 25).
Fig. 25 For luminaires with very narrow-beam LDCs, the effect of scaling the visible luminance is noticeable strongly (left image). If a brighter appearance even for view directions outside the cutoff angle is wanted, the mentioned threshhold value needs to be increased (right image, calculated with a setting of LumFaceConstFrac = 0.1)
SIMULATION RESULTS
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9 SIMULATION RESULTS
9.1 Illuminance values
For all measurement planes of the scene, illuminance values are generated and displayed in various forms: tables, isocontour lines, falsecolor images and 3D mountain displays. For daylight scenes with CIE overcast sky also tables with daylight factors are produced. The resolution of the calculation grid is adjustable in the 'raster measuring areas' tab of the raytracing dialog. The raytracing module currently does not calculate cylindrical illuminance values. Results are accessible in the result tree overview in the node raytracing results.
9.2
Visualisations in the HDR format
The visualisations generated by the ReluxPro raytracing module are saved in a so called 'High Dynamic Range' (HDR) format, i.e. in contrast to normal images (JPG, TIFF, etc.) the files contain the full luminance information of the visualised scene view. Displaying these luminance information on the screen is of course limited by the dynamic range of the display medium. During the filtering of the images after the rendering, already an exposure adjustment is done, the exposure of the image display can of course also be further adjusted with a slider afterwards (accessible by a context menu from the image, click on it with the right mouse button). The same menu also offers the option of white balance adjustment (see the ReluxPro documentation). Displaying luminance information The luminance information contained in the image can be displayed interactively by checking the corresponding entry in the mentioned context menu. Luminance values appear then for the pixel at the current mouse cursor position. Saving/exporting of images The context menu finally offers the option to save the images. One has the option to either save the current view (i.e. the image with the actual exposure setting) in a standard JPG or BMP format, or as original HDR file in the RADIANCE HDR format. A lot of todays common image manipulating software is already capable of reading images in the RADIANCE format. Producing HDR visualisations for external applications A common use of HDR images is the interactive simulation of time-varying illumination scenarios and the effect of lighting controls. This is possible, because the illumination adds up linearly. So a complex lighting scenario can also be simulated by rendering several images with only selected luminaires switched on, and later mixing together the images into one, with different scaling factors for each one. This is analog to sound mixing in music. Evidently, one needs HDR images with the full, original luminance information for that purpose. An example of such a lighting control software is VIVALDI by Zumtobel. The ReluxPro raytracer HDR images can be imported into the VIVALDI tool.
SIMULATION RESULTS
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Fig. 26 Idea of interactive simulation of lighting controls by mixing several HDR images.
SIMULATION RESULTS
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Note: When several images with partial illumination are generated for later mixing,
the automatic exposure adjustment should be switched off in the expert mode dialog, to avoid having images with different prescaling (exposure) factors.
QUICK REFERENCE FOR EXPERT MODE PARAMETERS 10 QUICK REFERENCE FOR EXPERT MODE PARAMETERS
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As a guideline for the daily work, a short description is given for each of the raytracing expert mode parameters. Hints for value settings cover the most usual cases. One may get away with lesser settings, special tasks may need further attention. References to the relevant chapters are given for looking up further details. Scene Export Octree resolution Cryptic parameter controlling the raytracers internal space subdivision structure. No need to set this manually, except when scene conversion failes, i.e. when an error message appaars. Then try augmenting stepwise by factors of 2. No need to set this manually. Only try to deactivate it for the spec. object type if export error messages occur. See chapt. 0. Activates smoothing for 3D mesh facets for selected object types (needs above Mem. Optimization feature). The corresponding option has to be checked also in the properties of the individual object. Use only if 3D objects really are made up out of curvy surfaces. Artifacts may occur for rectangular geoemtry. See chapt. 3.2. Image Quality Influences a.o. image filtering (anti-aliasing and pixel noise smoothing), but also some internal second-line calculation parameters, e.g. ray continuation thresholds etc. Should be set at least to 'medium' for value calculation. Performs automatic exposure adjustment on images. Switch off in case that several images are produced for use in later analysis software, to avoid different prescaling factors. See Fig. .
Memory Optimization Smooth edges
Autoexposure
Direct Calculation Soft shadows Luminaire subdivision Commandline option ds <val> Commandline option dr 2 Keep this checked to avoid multiple shadow boundaries. Augment this to produce softer penumbra areas with lesser pixel noise. See chapt. 4. If the lum. subdivision is set to 'high', this code enforces an even finer subdivision, for generating maximally soft penumbras. Chose a value between 0.05 and 0.01 for <val>. Has only an effect in scenes with objects carrying the 'mirror' material: activate multiple relays for the lighting calculation. (needed only in very special geometric configurations. Use with extreme care. See chapt. 7.4).
QUICK REFERENCE FOR EXPERT MODE PARAMETERS
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Indirect Calculation Generally, more than one parameter needs to be adjusted to overcome problems. Most often the best point to start with is augmenting the initial number of sampling rays, followed by raising the interreflections. Interreflections Number of ray bounces followed for analysing the indirect illumination. Set at least to 2-3 for normal visualizations. Augment if image appears splotchy. Complex indirect scenarios may need 4-7. Set at least to 4 for acccurate value calculations. Settings higher than 10 don't make much sense. See chapt. 5.2. Sets a global value for a background radiance throughout the whole scene (in three different color channels). Makes only sense in scenes with more or less uniform lighting. Typical values are 0-0.001 for exterior night/artficial light, 0.01-0.1 for interior artif. light, 0.01-1 for interior daylight and 1-10 for exterior daylight scenes. If the scene contains many unlit areas, better use a zero value avoid erronous 'adding' of light. See chapt. 5.2. Spatial resolution Controls the interpolation distance between calculated values of indirect illumination. Default is 0.4 m, refine this if images show splotches concentrated locally around geometry detail. Has a high influence on calculation time. Values below 0.05 m should be avoided. See chapt. 5.2.
Background illumination
Number of initial Controls how detailed the surrounding gets sampled for sampling rays determining the incoming indirect illumination. Augment if images appear splotchy. Minimum is around 600-1000, complex scenes may need between 2000 and 6000. Extreme settings above 15000 should be avoided. See chapt. 5.2. Soft interpolation Activate this if all other indirect parameters are set accordingly, and images still appear splotchy. Option still in a test state. May be helpful in image smoothing in pure indirect light scenarios, or scenes with sunlight patches or otherwise highly variant illumination. Intended for visualizations only. See chapt. 5.2. If huge external obstructions are modeled, so that the area of interest (room, measurement plane) is small compared to the whole scene, set this option to ensure sufficient accuracy. May also be helpful in scenes with very scarce, locally concentrated illumination. See chapt. 5.3.
Commandline option am 0
QUICK REFERENCE FOR EXPERT MODE PARAMETERS
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Window precalculation Window precalculation parameters are only in effect for ReluxPro interior scenes. See chapt. 6.4 for all parameters. External interreflections Number of rays Determines, how much indirect light enters the generated window LDC. In daylight scenes without sun, a setting of 0 means external buildings act as pure obstructors. Determines the resolution of the window LDC. Augment this if complex external geometry is present.
Number of sample Controls if window LDC is calculated based for the window points center only or for points distributed over the whole window pane. Augment this for complex external geometry, thick walls, etc. (Maximum 64) Subdivision threshhold Window panes get subdivided when their sidelengths exceed this value, to avoid too big areas for the virtual window sources. Set to a reasonable value dependent on the whole scene. If segments are big, shadows will appear unnaturally. E.g. in normal interior scenes, patch sizes with more than 1 m side length should be avoided.
View clipping planes Commandline option vo <val> Sets a foreground clipping plane perpendicular to the view direction at the given distance (in m) from the current point of view. Set a positive value for <val>. See chapt. 2.4.
Illuminance image calculation Commandline option gi Calculates a greyscale image where each pixel contains the illuminance value at this point rather than the luminance. Works correctly only on the opaque surfaces in the scene, not on transparent ones, light sources and the sky. !Caution! Somewhat unorthodox, the Relux interface still writes the luminance unit (cd/m2) in the 3D falsecolor image legend or the values picked with the mouse cursor, but with this option values mean Lux of course.
TROUBLESHOOTING 11 TROUBLESHOOTING
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A raytracing calculation is a process with several stages. Thus errors can be subdivided into three different categories: export errors, problems during the geometry conversion and errors during the calculation. During a raytracing run, the little information window always displays the current state of the process.
11.1 Export errors

As mentioned in chapt. 3 , the whole scene geometry has to be exported into the raytracers input format before starting the calculation. In the following section, some error messages are covered which may appaer during this phase, together with hints for fixing the problem. In general, these export errors appear in conjunction with a specific object. If the message is simply acknowledged, the export continues, however, the object in question either is missing then in the rendering or will appear not completely functional in some other way. (e.g. a luminaire without light emission). Alternatively, the user has the choice of cancelling the whole export by clicking on the 'Cancel' button in the error message. Error: Too many triangles locally accumulated Too many triangles In this case the conversion of the named 3D object fails because it either contains too many triangles or is modelled in such a way that it is unsuitable for the raytracers internal mesh format. This can happen for very big 3D objects. The best way then is to divide the geometry and import the parts as separate 3D objects into ReluxPro again. Alternatively, you may try to deactivate the memory-optimized export (see chapt. 3.1) for 3D objects. Then the internal storage format is different and the conversion might work. Another possibility is to delete some partial objects in the 3D object within ReluxPro, preferrably those which are not important for the simulation. Of course the object needs to be present in a suitable way for that method. Editing the object is best done within the library itself, befor placing it into the scene. Error: No triangles in the 3D object or triangles below a threshold size The 3D object is either corrupted and contains no usable data anymore, or it is modelled with an inadequately high level of detail, resulting in all triangles of the mesh being of sizes much lower than 1 mm side length, failing to meet the tolerance criteria of the converter. Here also the object needs some editing in an external modeler prior to a re-import into ReluxPro. Of course, deletion of partial objects (s.a.) is also an option if the problematic parts of the model are localized in these parts.
TROUBLESHOOTING
Error: Invalid luminaire model
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The raytracer has higher demands on data integrity for luminaires, compared to normal geometry, because for the former objects, the correct light emission is important for the simulation, too. Beneath the above mentioned geometry export errors, further problems may appear, leading to the corresponding message. Of course, the message does not always mean a real error, often it is more like a kind of warning message. There are luminaire models which do not fulfil the specifications exactly, but nevertheless can be used without restrictions in the simulation. A common example for that are models which contain some empty partial geometry (or 'node'). Here the empty node can be deleted by the user by editing the luminaire in the products library. Another case which may appaear is the one of a correct geometry, which appars fully in the rendering, but without light emission due to an invalid model assembly.
11.2 Errors during geometry conversion

The somewhat cryptic term denotes the preparation step performed by the raytracer to set up the necessary internal data structure for the final calculation. If this step should fail exceptionally, the calculation is not possible. But changing the model setup can resolve the problems in almost all cases. Error: Too many objects in the scene Too many objects locally accumulated in the scene Unfortunately, an exact assignment of the error messages to the real origin of the problem is not always possible. If one of both message above appear, generally one of the three possibilities below. or a mixture of them, is the case: 1) The scene really is too big, containing too many objects (in relationship to the available memory on the system) 2) There is a resolution problem, i.e. for example, in a very big scene of several 100m side, also very tiny objects like self-drawn ReluxPro cubes of some mm sidelength appear clustered resp. locally grouped in heaps. 3) Several 3D objects with almost identical bounding boxes overlap at the same point in space. In the second case, stepwise doubling the octree resolution parameter (cf. chapt. 3.1) can solve the problem. In severe cases, the tiny objects have to be collected into one bigger object with the option 'generate furniture' In the third case, it is not always easy to identify the problematic overlapping objects, because what counts for the algorithm is their bounding box. Generally, it pays off to divide huge objects into several parts, and also to avoid placing many imported 3D geometry objects onto each other at the same position in space. Beneath the error message, a stopping progress bar during the process stage 'geometry conversion' is a further hint for the overlapping case.
TROUBLESHOOTING
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It is important to note that general intersection or partial overlapping of objects is no problem for the raytracer at all. The real trouble starts when almost identical objects (at least judged from their bounding boxes) appear clustered, i.e. more than 5 times, at the same spot in space. One might have erroneously duplicated objects in the same location, for example. Another scenario, where this overlapping problem might appear, is the import of whole building models from external CAD modelers in parts, cf. Fig. 27.
Fig. 27 Common strategy for building modelling with CAD software: identical building parts are collected in layers. If these layers then are exported as separate 3D objects and reassembled in ReluxPro after import, in extreme cases a situation can occur, where several objects with exactly equally-sized bounding boxes overlap at the same position in space.
11.3 Errors during the calculation

After the first two hurdles are taken, the real calculation starts. In this phase, the following messages might appear: Error: No calculation values Defaultwise, in ReluxPro an option is active which leads to ignoring calculation points if they happen to lie within objects. The reason is, that design objects like furniture do not compromise the uniformity results of a lighting analysis. Within opaque objects, no illumination can happen anyway, so the zero values have no significance at all. If whole building parts are imported as 3D objects, or if measurement planes lie within transparent objects, the ignoring of points does not make sense anymore, so it has to be deactivated in the property page of the measurement plane in question. In extrem cases the ignore option may otherwise lead to the removal of all calculation points from the list. Error: Invalid commandline option Spelling mistake during use of special commandline options within the expert mode dialog (cf. chapt. 2.3)
TROUBLESHOOTING
Error: Consistency error Error in process communication a.o.
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These errors, if they might occur during a calculation, are generally of a severe kind and, with e.g. the exception of a program abort due to lack of memory, cannot be influenced by the user. Evidently, even despite of thorough tests, program faults never can be excluded completely. Also, because of the several hundreds of thousands of products within the databases, or the option of arbitrary import of 3D models, occasional inconsitencies in geometry or material description might occur. In such cases, one should not hesitate to contact the Relux technical support. Sending the complete error desription including the additional cryptic information appearing in the message box (if present), e.g. with a screenshot, greatly facilitates the analysis.
11.4 Erroneous results

More exactly, this chapter should be named 'unexpected results', as in most cases the real cause of the error lies in wrong input and/or parameter settings. Prominent examples of such unexpected results are of course image artifacts. In the following, some of these are mentioned. Effect: Shadow artifacts, 'high pixel noise' Normal intersection and partial overlapping of 3D objects in the scene is no problem for a raytracing engine. But for luminaire placement, such overlapping must not occur, otherwise the shadow test cannot operate correctly anymore. This results in characteristic artifacts shown in Fig. 28 for the example of a downlight which is partly shifted into the ceiling.
Fig. 28 Pixel noise resp. shadow-artifacts occuring when luminaire geometry intersects with other scene geometry.
TROUBLESHOOTING
Effect: Unnaturally bright image with low contrast
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If one has chosen a background illumination setting (see chapt. 5.2) which is too high for the current scenario, unnaturally bright images will be generated. Chose a lower value then. This topic is important in all scenes which contain many areas with sparse or even no illumination, (e.g. exterior scenes, cf. Fig 29, left) . If all luminaires are switched off, or the models are faulty, producing no light output, or no luminares are present at all (this means also daylight calculations in rooms without windows) , the result looks very similar (Fig. 29, right)
Fig. 29 left: unnaturally bright image resulting from an inappropriate background illumination setting in an exterior scene, right: scene with completely switched off luminaires. Normally, the image should be pitch black then, only the background value causes the objects to be displayed at all. Effect: Luminaires appearing black / with dark luminous faces If a luminaires visible luminous face appears pitch black or partially black in the image, the model is faulty (Fig.30). Here only a corrected data set provided by the manufacturer can solve the problem.
Fig. 30 Faulty luminaire model with black luminous face. The model still can act as lightemitter in the scene, because the lighting calculation is performed separately.
TROUBLESHOOTING
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Note: If the luminous face appears relatively dark, resp. not as bright as expected,
the reason is that one looks into it from an angle in which there is only low emission due to the LDC. In these cases, however, the displayed luminance can be adjusted with a further parameter, see chapt. 8.4.
Effect: Light leaks / interpolation errors As explained in chapt. 5, the indirect calculation process is a complex issue. Occasionally, image errors can occur, which most often result from insufficient parameter settings, but in rare cases also can be triggered by suboptimal models, which are difficult to handle for the algorithm. Chapt. 5.2 and 10 state, that the number of rays, and also the interreflection setting, should be risen in case of generally splotchy images, whereas a finer resolution value is needed in case of splotches appearing locally around geometry detail. Fig. 31 now shows an example of inappropriate modeling, where even this setting cannot remedy all image errors.
Fig. 31 Example for suboptimal modelling of a daylight scenario. The walls are only made up out of infinitely thin polygons, some surfaces stick out, too (at the outer edge of ceiling and walls, also the inner floor extends into the outside area). In such situations, the indirect algorithm runs into difficulties in separating the relevant areas for a correct illumination calculation. This is noticeable by splotches at the edges, as can be seen in the image on the right. So providing good, 'light-tight' models is also important for achieving reliable and correct results. The issue is especially important for daylight projects. Also, building models imported as 3D objects should be checked thoroughly for this criterium. Of course, the presented example is only one of a lot of possibilities. So gaining experience in this matter is vital to quickly identify possible problem points in each new project.

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RELUX SUITE

Welcome to the simulation world

Fit for Raytracing

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

THE RAYTRACING METHOD

1 THE RAYTRACING METHOD

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

THE RAYTRACING METHOD

Practical application of raytracing

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

THE RAYTRACING METHOD

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

THE RAYTRACING METHOD

Excursion: variants and limitations of the method

Fig. 6 left: Backward Raytracing raytracing

right: problem with light refaction and backward

THE RAYTRACING METHOD

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

SETTINGS FOR RELUXPRO RAYTRACING RUNS

2 SETTINGS FOR RELUXPRO RAYTRACING RUNS

Calculation parameters standard & expert mode

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

SETTINGS FOR RELUXPRO RAYTRACING RUNS

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

SETTINGS FOR RELUXPRO RAYTRACING RUNS

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

SETTINGS FOR RELUXPRO RAYTRACING RUNS

Organisation of raytracing runs and handling of results

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

SETTINGS FOR RELUXPRO RAYTRACING RUNS

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

Detail: smooth rendering of objects with curvy surfaces

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

DIRECT LIGHT CALCULATION

4 DIRECT LIGHT CALCULATION

INDIRECT LIGHT CALCULATION

5 INDIRECT LIGHT CALCULATION

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

INDIRECT LIGHT CALCULATION

INDIRECT LIGHT CALCULATION

Using the method in practice hints for parameter settings

INDIRECT LIGHT CALCULATION

INDIRECT LIGHT CALCULATION

Problematic aspects and limitations of the method

INDIRECT LIGHT CALCULATION

Fig. 12 Example scene with extremely non-uniform illumination.

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

DAYLIGHT SIMULATIONS 6 DAYLIGHT SIMULATIONS

Illumination type and results

External floor reflection - the mirrored sky concept

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

Fig. 20 Example case where a simulation without window precalculation is recommended.

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

Raytracing materials overview

Transparent / semitransparent materials

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

Relux Informatik AG, Fit for Raytracing, 27.07.2011

SELECTED IMPORTANT TOPICS