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Why doesn't optics2rad produce any output when I try to convert the optics Radiance file?

asked 2015-08-21 12:38:12 -0600

updated 2015-11-12 15:06:25 -0600

As I understand the best process for getting a glazing system created in LBNL optics into Radiance is to export the Radiance file from optics, then run that file through optics2rad. This works for most systems, but I only get a header when I run the script on the following system:

#
# FileName= GlzSys.usr
# Product Name= 
# NFRC ID= 30000
# Manufacturer Name= User
# Glazing Type= Glazing system
# Coated Side= Neither
# Transmittance= 0.393
# Front Reflectance= 0.143
# Back Reflectance= 0.096
# Thickness(mm)= 3.251
# Appearance= 
#

void  glass       Existing_TruVue40_glass
0
0
3     0.398     0.440     0.430

void  BRTDfunc    Existing_TruVue40_front
10
      0.163     0.139     0.105
      0.365     0.404     0.394
      0 0 0
      .
0
9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

void  BRTDfunc    Existing_TruVue40_back
10
      0.102     0.095     0.083
      0.365     0.404     0.394
      0 0 0
      .
0
9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

When I run optics2rad on this file I get the following header output without the expected Radiance BRTDfunc definition:

# Output generated by /Applications/Radiance/current/bin/optics2rad from Existing_TruVue40.rad
#
# FileName= GlzSys.usr
# Product Name= 
# NFRC ID= 30000
# Manufacturer Name= User
# Glazing Type= Glazing system
# Coated Side= Neither
# Transmittance= 0.393
# Front Reflectance= 0.143
# Back Reflectance= 0.096
# Thickness(mm)= 3.251
# Appearance= 
#
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1 Answer

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answered 2015-08-21 12:43:34 -0600

Andy,

I've run into a similar problem using the optics2glazedb script to create a custom glazing database. The problem is in the name that you give to you system in optics. Both the optics2rad and optics2glazedb programs parse the Optics exported file for *_glass, *_back and *_front in a way that causes it to fail if you have any underscore ('_') characters in your material names. If you edit the file exported from Optics so that the material names no longer contain the first underscore it should work.

for example:
void BRTDfunc Existing_TruVue40_front
becomes:
void BRTDfunc Existing-TruVue40_front

Best,
Andy

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Comments

2

Thanks Andy! That solved it!

Andyrew's avatar Andyrew  ( 2015-08-21 12:44:03 -0600 )edit

Nice work, Andy! LOL

rpg777's avatar rpg777  ( 2015-08-21 12:55:36 -0600 )edit

How many karma points do you get for answering your own questions? How many times can you up-vote yourself, and does it amount to a net gain?

I wish rcalc was smarter about such things, but doing more than a 1-character look-ahead turns out to be notoriously difficult. I've run into this same problem in a number of contexts, but the ultimate solution eludes me.

GregWard's avatar GregWard  ( 2015-08-21 19:45:24 -0600 )edit

When I happened upon the same problem twice in a month with two different scripts I decided I should document it. And now that I'm addicted to karma points I'm trying to think of other questions I can answer.

Andyrew's avatar Andyrew  ( 2015-08-21 20:32:26 -0600 )edit

You can't upvote your own stuff. I do think you get the same points for answering your own question as anyone else's questions though (10 points). You lose a point for every downvote, and you get 15 points for your answer being flagged as "THE Answer" (which you also cannot do for your own questions, it has to come from the community). I'm sure there's a summary/howto on karma someplace but I can't find it...

rpg777's avatar rpg777  ( 2015-08-22 09:16:43 -0600 )edit

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Asked: 2015-08-21 12:38:12 -0600

Seen: 260 times

Last updated: Aug 21 '15