rhoptimize(1) optimize beam locations in holodeck file

SYNOPSIS

rhoptimize [ -u ] src_holo [ dest_holo ]

DESCRIPTION

Rhoptimize optimizes beam positions and eliminates fragment waste in the holodeck file src_holo, writing the result to dest_holo, or back into src_holo if only one argument is given. This may improve rendering speed on large holodecks, which tend to have widely dispersed beam positions that cause delays due to long file seeks. It may also reduce the size of the file, since large holodecks become fragmented as they fill up with new ray samples. (Use the rhinfo(1) program to determine holodeck file fragmentation.) The -u option adds a check to make sure that each ray sample is unique, i.e., the same sample is never given twice. This check is usually unnecessary, but may eliminate redundant samples from some holodeck files.

EXAMPLE

To optimize the beam order in old.hdk and write the results to new.hdk:
rhoptimize old.hdk new.hdk

To optimize beam order in scene.hdk:

rhoptimize scene.hdk

NOTES

If rhoptimize is given only one file argument, it creates a temporary file in the same directory, and moves it onto the original file once it has successfully completed its operation. If the operation fails for some reason, the temporary file is removed and the original holodeck is left unchanged.

This program generally takes several minutes to run and offers no progress reports.

FILES

rho????.hdk    temporary file to hold new holodeck

AUTHOR

Greg Ward Larson

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work was supported by Silicon Graphics, Inc.