is it possible to find out the reaction of a material to light in autocad?

I have a 1/2" thick 60" long and 60" tall piece of glass that were are lighting from the bottom edge with LED lights. to hold the piece of glass up we need something that will not interfere with the light too much but is strong enough to hold up that size of glass up since it is on a half wall.

I know that the finishing on the edge of the glass can change the results, but is it possible to create a light source 'similar as it is to be build' and render the image to see what would happen?

I wanted to see if there would be a shadow in the glass if there is a metal plate in 4 locations along the bottom or if we used a metal sheet with diamond openings how much of a shadow would that cause?

I know that you can manipulate the reaction of the light on a surface to make it look how you want. Is it possible to add light to a polished edge of glass to see how the light would react with the light rays bouncing through the material?

thanks for all your help

This is a "yes and no" answer. First off, since AutoCAD supports the mental ray rendering engine, you can create realistic lighting in a full render using a light manufacturer's *.ies light file. But, what you'll have to do is create a material that simulates the bulb exactly as it's done in the real world that allows the light to pass through realistically. That's a bit "overboard", I admit, but it still counts to some people.

If you refer to my Guitar Project, I modeled and rendered everything in AutoCAD. If you look at the final renders at the bottom you can see how realistic AutoCAD's lighting can be: http://imgur.com/a/jTr3A

So I think you'll get very close to a real-world example, but it is absolutely imperative that you create the environment itself to match the environment you'll be installing this light in. You'll need to use the correct materials, turn on FG and GI in rendering, and if there's any other lighting sources (artificial, such as other bulbs, or natural, such as the sunlight coming in from the window) then you'll need to account for that as well. Exposure for interior lighting will be a must if you have any natural lighting coming in from the outside.

But that's if you want to get it as precise as possible. For all intents and purposes, a quick 3D model of the environment, and one *.ies photometric light may do the trick just to give you the shadow information. Even small LED strip lighting will need to be individual light sources with the proper settings applied (my opinion, anyways).

So yes it's possible, but I wouldn't trust that it's going to be "super exact" when compared to true lighting calculation software that lighting engineers use. This is a very subjective topic so give it a shot and see how you like it.

-TZ

Thanks for your response, Unfortunately I don't have time to go overboard (not that I don't want to). I have to get this out to the shop to be built. I will just have to take a guess as to if metal plates or wire mesh will cause more of a shadow. I will have to try to get it to work when I have time.

Thanks again for your help,

Nanette