Hi Schorsch, I only have a response to a few of these, so I'll pull them out...
> From: Georg Mischler <[email protected]> > Date: May 11, 2016 1:31:34 AM PDT > > So the plot files are really cal files? > Or just a very similar, but subtly incompatible variation thereof? > The documentation sometimes talks about "plot files", and sometimes > about "graph files". Are those the same? The "graph files" are related to .cal files in an odd way. Specifically, functions in graph files use the .cal language, but you only get one line per definition, so end-of-line must be escaped with a backslash ('\') if you want to keep a function neat and semicolons at the end are optional. You can specify as many variables and related functions as you need, subject to the same restrictions. Other lines in the graph file define strings rather than expressions, and are parsed differently. So, it's a mix, but pretty easy to work with. I use it all the time when I want to make a quick plot. Try: include=function.plt include=polar.plt DEG:PI/180 xmin=0 xmax=360 abs(x):if(x,x,-x) A(x)=abs(sin(x*DEG)+cos(x*DEG)) Then, give the file to bgraph and pipe the output to psmeta or meta2bmp to see what comes out. > ... > As long as nobody complains eg. about output resolution, it's clearly > easier to keep working with meta files internally for the moment. > But then, it would still be nice if we could simplify things a bit. > Is there really still a need for pexpand? And I'm not quite sure > what psort is good for to begin with. The pexpand command is called internally, as is psort by image converters that want their vector primitives sorted. > Since those tools are not used anywhere else, wouldn't it make sense to > ditch $MLIB, and simply use $RAYPATH/meta instead? Except that RAYPATH is a list of directories, where MDIR is a single location. All the same, a function that finds the first meta directory in $RAYPATH could be used instead. > The documentation also mentions (usually under "see also") a number of > manpages that either never existed or have been removed: graph(1G), > plot(1), plot(5), plotout(1), primout(3), t4014(1), mx80(1), impress(1). Yeah, RIP many disused graphics output devices. We could remove the references if anyone cares. > And last (for the moment): Looking at the manpage, it appears that > plotin(1) has a very similar if not identical purpose as bgraph(1). > What am I missing there? The plotin tool converts from old-school plot primitives to metafile equivalents. I don't know if anyone uses the original graph or plot routines anymore, so this could probably be retired as well. The functionality is better in bgraph, anyway. -Greg _______________________________________________ Radiance-dev mailing list [email protected] http://www.radiance-online.org/mailman/listinfo/radiance-dev
