Lighting design tools for Autocad

[ammobake]

Happy Friday all!

 

I'm wondering if there is a (free) lighting add-on for Autocad that can help me do lighting design - complete photo-metric analysis capability would also be cool but isn't 100% required.

 

A little background..

The government gives us designs for our military projects but they don't always do all of the required design work or drawings.

 

So when a PM asks me for a lighting layout, I could just do it and send it over in 30 min  BUT sometimes the specs in the scope of work are so specific that additional measures have to be taken to ensure compliance.

 

The project I'm working on now, the government gave us the following specs:

 

• 2’x2’ LED fixtures rated at least 2000 lumens.
• light level minimum of 50 fc at 30” above floor.
• Light color will be 4000-5000K.
• hard lid (concrete) height is 9'-6"
• suspended ceiling height to be 8'-0"

 

I will usually implement the (indoor) econolight light calculator here to ensure compliance as I've been using this for a couple years now.

https://www.e-conolight.com/lighting-layout-tool

 

It is a multi-step process and requires each room to be done, separately, but works great.

In terms of "Free" lighting design tools, I think this is a good one.

 

You specify a target FC output at a specified height, etc.. You select the model number for the LED fixture from the drop down menu, specify height of the system and suspended ceiling height separately.  Then you simply type in Length and Width of the room and it will automatically create a fixture layout for the room and it will tell you exact foot candle output at the height you have specified (in real time) for layout confirmation as you make changes.

 

If you want custom spacing configurations or whatever, you can do that too.

The tool is pretty robust I would say.

 

I'm looking for a free Autocad LISP or add-on that would allow me to do similar design work within Autocad.

 

If there's an add-on that could also do a complete photometric anlaysis for the project that would also be neat but isn't a huge deal.

 

-ChriS

[ammobake]

I've also found the following tools

 

For interior lighting design, online tool by Acuity Brands

(Seems similar to the aforementioned econolight calculator)

https://visual-3d.com/tools/interior/default.aspx

 

There's an add-in available for Revit.

 

Lithonia Lighting directs you to download install an app called "Visual Lighting" (comes with a free trial) gonna see how this works and will report back here.

https://visual-3d.com/software/downloadvisual.aspx

 

They have a tool for parking lots as well, apparently.

 

Edited January 7, 2022 by ammobake

[ammobake]

From what I've seen so far the "Visual Lighting" app is a little rough getting started.  But does allow you to do a design for multiple rooms and areas and using that data the outputs are very informative and helpful.  But if you are using Revit it is clear that using the add-on is going to make your life easier.

 

The Acuity Brands "interior lighting" online tool was much simpler to use and allows you to specify fixture model down to the minute options/add-ons by Lithonia Lighting and other brands (Which is pretty neat).

 

I had been modeling 3300 lumen LED troffers but the Lithonia model we are using is 3385 lumens - which isn't much of a difference but did effect the overall design slightly and saved us a little money on fixtures.

 

-ChriS

[ammobake]

After working on this project I feel that the best Free online tool for lighting design is clearly this one...

 

https://visual-3d.com/tools/interior/default.aspx

 

It is super easy to use.

Just plug in the numbers that appy to you, click the green "+" button to add your fixture by make/model and you're off.

 

It has the added benefit of not requiring any installed software.

So you can run it independently on a government computer without needing to install anything - a big plus.

 

There is an option for outdoor lighting calcs with the econolight calculator here  - just haven't tested it yet.

https://v1-area-tools.luxiflux.com/

 

Still trying to find an add-on for Autocad, specifically, that can do this kind of stuff (indoor lighting specifically).

 

-ChriS

[CyberAngel]

Thanks for sharing all these great resources. AutoCAD is hit or miss when it comes to lighting.

[ammobake]

lol Cyber very true.

There are some things Autocad does great at.  Some stuff requires add-ons from third parties to really get it right.

And even then can be clunky.

 

Autocad is great at "portraying" design conditions - not always doing actual design work.

 

-ChriS

[Steven P]

Interested to see what you find, in the past I used Dialux software but that was quite a few years ago, standalone software and didn't run on AutoCAD

 

 

(a side comment here, I would always avoid saying who you work for and particular contracts, it's not necessary, especially in some industries such as defence where your work might be 'interesting' to 3rd parties)