Property Import/Export Formats
	12+	Data	Yes	Column
				1.	Temperature
				2.	Wavelength
				3.	Polar Angle
				4.	Azimuth Angle
				5.	Emissivity
	Last	Save Data	Optional	SAVE-DATA
				This may be placed between multiple proper-
				ties and is used by the Tools|Data-
				base|Import command

RepTile Property Format

The format includes 12 header lines, which must be present in the file followed by the property data. Tabs or spaces may be used to separate data (Tabs are more convenient when working with spreadsheets). The tables below describe the format of these files, but the easiest way to learn how to use the Import/Export format is to export a gradient index property that is already defined and view it yourself in text format. This will allow you to see exactly what data TracePro exports with each property. Practice by modifying the property name and using the Tools|Database|Import command to add it to your database under the new name.

Line	Description	Read for	Format
#		Import
1	File Header	Yes	TracePro RepTile Property Data
2	Database File	Ignored	File Name E:\TraceProData\tracepro.mdb
	Name
3	TracePro Ver-	Ignored	TracePro Version: 2 1 0
	sion
4	Database Ver-	Yes	Database Version: 2 1 0
	sion
5	Data file was	Ignored	Data generated at 09:32:31 May 06, 2000
	generated
6	Blank line	Ignored
7	Property	Yes	Name name
	Name
8	Property	Yes	Description text
	Description

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9	Geometry	Yes	Geometry_Type type
	Type		type
			1.	None
			2.	Fresnel
			3.	Cone
			4.	Sphere
			5.	Hip
			6.	Cube
10	Tile Type	Yes	Tile_Type type
			type
			1.	None
			2.	Rings
			3.	Rectangle
			4.	Stagger
			5.	Hexagonal
11	Vary Row flag	Yes	Vary_Rows flag
			flag
			1.	False
			2.	True
12	Bump flag	Yes	Bump_Typeflag
			flag
			1.	Bump
			2.	Hole
13	X Width	Yes	Width_Xvalue
14	Y Width	Yes	Width_Yvalue
15	Draft Angle	Yes	Anglevalue
16	User Data flag	Yes	User flag
			flag
			1.	Lambda Research Data
			(Read Only)
			2.	User added data
			(Read/Write)
11	Blank Line	Ignored
12	Column Head-	Ignored	Varies by Geometry Type
	ers
13+	Data	Yes	Column Data
Last	Save Data	Optional	SAVE-DATA
			This may be placed between multiple properties
			and is used by the Tools|Database|Import com-
			mand

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Texture File Format

In TracePro 4.0 Textured RepTile was released, and in that first version only features with a Sphere geometry were allowed. In TracePro 4.1, several new geometry types are allowed:

•Cones,

•Hip Roofs,

•Ellipsoids, and

•Logs.

Including Spheres, there are now five types of shapes in Textured RepTile. Except for Logs, all of the feature shapes are as in standard RepTile. Logs are "Cones" that can be situated at any angle with respect to the surface on which they are applied. This aspect allows for Cones perpendicular to the base plane to Cones parallel to the base plane. Note that this adaptability allows for undercut on the base plane. Undercut means there is a void (i.e., air gap) between successive regions of the object's volume in the direction of the base plane surface normal. While this configuration is realizable, the manufacture, especially with small replicated geometry (e.g., backlit display panel) is prohibitively expensive. Thus, it is left to the user to ensure that any potential undercut is desired. Simply said, there is no checking within TracePro to warn about potential undercut.

Additionally, Texture Files and thus Textured RepTile Properties can have a mixture of the geometry types. This allows for the inclusion of different geometry types applied to a single surface in a TracePro model. Also, in the next section, Mixed Bump and Hole RepTiles, these Textured RepTile Properties can concurrently contain both holes and bumps. In conclusion, Textured RepTile allows for great user control in not only the position and size of the features, but it also allows control of the shape and orientation.

In the next three subsections the characteristics of the Texture File are provided:

•Texture File syntax,

•Textured RepTile Geometry type values, and

•Parameter designations for each Geometry type

Texture File Syntax

The syntax for a Texture File is shown below with detailed descriptions in

Table 7.16. The parameter items inside < > indicate data that must be supplied by the user within the Texture File.

RepTile Texture File

Filename:<Filename>

Date:<Date>

Version:<VersionNumber>

Texture Type:<TextureType>

Texture Features <Type1><BumpSign1><Param11><Param12><Param13>…<Param1M>

.

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.

.

<TypeN><BumpSignN><ParamN1><ParamN2><ParamN3>…<ParamNM>

TABLE 7.16. Texture File Format

Line
#	Parameter	Description	Format
1	File Header	RepTile Texture File	String
2	Filename	Filename of the current file. The	String
		standard file type is of type *.txt.
		There is a space after the colon.
3	Date	The date the file was created or	String
		last modified. Not important for
		operation, but allows the user to
		maintain some level of version
		control. There is a space after
		the colon.
4	VersionNum-	The version number of this file for	Double
	ber	control of future updates to Rep-
		Tile Texture Files. Currently Ver-
		sion 1.0. There is a space after
		the colon.
5	TextureType	The Feature Geometry Type for	Integer
		the Texture Features contained
		within the file. See Table 7.17 for
		the allowed values. There is a
		space after the colon.
6+	Data	For the following there are N (= number of Fea-
		tures) instances per file. The # designation in the
		first column parameter list indicates the feature
		number.
	Type#	This is the Feature Geometry	Integer
		type for the individual Feature.
		See Table 7.17 for more details
	BumpSign#	This is the bump (= 1) or hole (= -	Integer
		1) for the individual Feature.
	Param#@	This is parameter @ for Feature	Double
		#, where the values for @ are
		dependent on the Type# and are
		detailed in Table 7.18.

Textured RepTile Geometry Type Values

The five types of Textured RepTile shapes have a numeric designator as the first number for each Data line within the Texture File. In Table 7.16 this Geometry Type value is listed as Type#. Table 7.17 provides the integer for each Geometry Type. If a Texture File is of one Geometry Type, Line 5 in the Texture File (see Table 1) should indicate such. If a Texture File contains a hybrid of several

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Geometry Types, then the value of 0 should be used for TextureType in the Texture File.

TABLE 7.17. Textured RepTile File geometry type values.

Geometry Type	Value	Description
Hybrid	0	Only used for Line 5 (i.e., TextureType) in the Tex-
		ture File. This value indicates that the file contains
		multiple Geometry Types.
Cone	2	As per Standard RepTile
Sphere	3	As per Standard RepTile
Hip Roof	4	As per Standard RepTile
Ellipsoid	8	As per Standard RepTile
Log	9	Arbitrary orientation of Cones, only in Textured
		RepTile.

Parameter Designations for each Geometry Type

As indicated in Table 1 there are several parameters that describe an individual Feature of a designated Geometry Type. The number of parameters is dependent on the Geometry Type. Table 7.18 provides a listing of the parameters - indicating what the parameter denotes in the Feature geometry. All of the parameters are in millimeters or degrees and are in Double data type. For example, for a Sphere Feature, there must be four additional values on each data line beyond the Geometry Type and Bump Sign. These parameters are x-center, y-center, radius, and height/depth.

For the first four geometry types listed in Table 7.18 (i.e., Cone through Ellipsoid), the parameters are as defined in Table 3.14 on page 3.64. For the fifth geometry type, Log, Table 7.19describes in more detail the 11 parameters.

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TABLE 7.18. Textured RepTile file parameter values for each geometry type.

Parameter Number (Param@)

Geometry

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

Type

Cone

x cen-

y cen-

height

end

cone

chamfer

chamfer

ter

ter

/ depth

radius

angle

height

angle

Sphere

x cen-

y cen-

radius

height

ter

ter

/ depth

Hip Roof

x cen-

y cen-

height

y width

y

x width

x angle

orient.

ter

ter

/ depth

angle

angle

Ellipsoid

x cen-

y cen-

center

x

y

z radius

x rotate

y

z

ter

ter

ht/dpth

radius

radius

rotate

rotate

Log

x cen-

y cen-

center

length

end1

end2

x rotate

y

z

radius

axis

ter

ter

ht/dpth

radius

radius

rotate

rotate

ratio

rotate

TABLE 7.19. Textured RepTile Parameter descriptions for the Log geometry type.

Number

Value

Units

Description

1

X center

mm

The horizontal center of the feature in global

coordinates.

2

Y center

mm

The vertical center of the feature in gloval

coordinates.

3

Center height

mm

The height or depth (hole or bump respec-

/ depth

tively) below or above the base plane.

4

Length

mm

The length of the cone.

5

End 1 radius

mm

The radius of one end of the cone.

6

End 2 radius

mm

The radisu of the other end of the cone.

7

X rotation

degrees

The rotation of the feature with respect to the

local X axis.

8

Y rotation

degrees

The rotation of the feature with respect to the

local Y axis.

9

Z rotation

degrees

The rotation of the feature with respect to the

local Z axis.

10

Radius ratio

Allows you to make ellipsoidal cones where

the ratio describes the multiplicative factor

between the two othogonal dimensions of the

cone.

11

Axis rotation

degrees

The rotation of the axis such that ellipsoidal

cone can be oriented as desired

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