radiance-folder-structure

Folder structure for lighting studies with Radiance.

GOAL

The ultimate goal of this project is to provide an example for standard Radiance input data folder/file structure that can be used both by Radiance users and software developers.

Folder structure

The Radiance folder has a single required sub-folder for model. A model carries all the information about the geometry, modifiers and describes dynamic parts of the model if any. All the data in a model folder are reusable between different types of studies. That's why it does NOT include files such as sky which are specific to a certain type of study AKA recipe. This information should be included in the recipe folder which will be located next to the model folder. The name of the recipe folder should indicate the type of the study that the recipe is performing (e.g. daylight_factor).

Adopting this folder structure ensures that one can execute advanced light simulation studies for your model.

This folder structure is designed to be extendible. Here is the folder structure for a simple model with no dynamic geometry or aperture group:

└─radiance_folder             :: A sample radiance folder
    ├───model                 :: model folder
    │   ├───aperture          :: static apertures description
    │   ├───bsdf              :: in-model BSDF files and transmittance matrix files
    │   ├───grid              :: sensor grids
    │   ├───ies               :: electric lights description
    │   ├───scene             :: static scene description
    │   └───view              :: indoor and outdoor views
    └───[recipe-place-holder] :: recipe folder (e.g. annual_daylight, two_phase, etc.)
        ├───...
        └───sky
    recipe.yaml / recipe.sh / recipe.bat

For matrix-based studies with aperture groups and dynamic geometries two additional subfolders are included.

└─radiance_folder             :: A sample radiance folder
    ├───model                 :: model folder
    │   ├───aperture          :: static apertures description
    │   ├───aperture_group    :: apertures groups (AKA window groups)*
    │   │   └───interior      :: interior aperture groups
    │   ├───bsdf              :: in-model BSDF files and transmittance matrix files
    │   ├───grid              :: sensor grids
    │   ├───ies               :: electric lights description
    │   ├───scene             :: static scene description
    │   ├───scene_dynamic     :: dynamic scene description*
    │   │   └───indoor        :: indoor dynamic scene description*
    │   └───view              :: indoor and outdoor views
    └───[recipe-place-holder] :: recipe folder (e.g. annual_daylight, two_phase, etc.)
        ├───sky
        ├───...
        └───sun
    recipe.yaml / recipe.sh / recipe.bat

See README.md inside each folder for more information.