Custom Lighting Type

[Jesse Cogswell]

Good morning.  I am trying to do some realistic rendering using some LED linear lighting fixtures and have a question regarding IES distribution files in Vectorworks.

 

A standard IES file contains data for the luminous area dimensions (in my case, 3"x6'0"), but does Vectorworks actually use that data?  Or do I need to distribute Custom Light Objects along the body of the fixture to get accurate output?  If so, with what spacing?

 

As an example, here is a screenshot from VW with the a symbol containing a custom Light at 2'-0" with a loaded IES file:

 

 

You'll notice that the beamspread looks pretty circular, even though it wouldn't be in real life.

 

Here is a screenshot from AGi32 (lighting calculation software) with the same fixture/IES file at the same height:

 

This distribution looks much more like what I would suspect.  I can mimic this somewhat by copying the custom light and spacing them out, but I would love to know the proper spacing to do this with so I don't mislead the client.

 

Here's the custom light distributed every 2'0":

 

Big thank you to anyone who knows the answer to this question.

[mjm]

21 hours ago, Jesse Cogswell said:

Good morning.  I am trying to do some realistic rendering using some LED linear lighting fixtures and have a question regarding IES distribution files in Vectorworks.

 

A standard IES file contains data for the luminous area dimensions (in my case, 3"x6'0"), but does Vectorworks actually use that data?  Or do I need to distribute Custom Light Objects along the body of the fixture to get accurate output?  If so, with what spacing?

 

As an example, here is a screenshot from VW with the a symbol containing a custom Light at 2'-0" with a loaded IES file:

 

 

You'll notice that the beamspread looks pretty circular, even though it wouldn't be in real life.

 

Here is a screenshot from AGi32 (lighting calculation software) with the same fixture/IES file at the same height:

 

This distribution looks much more like what I would suspect.  I can mimic this somewhat by copying the custom light and spacing them out, but I would love to know the proper spacing to do this with so I don't mislead the client.

 

Here's the custom light distributed every 2'0":

 

Big thank you to anyone who knows the answer to this question.

Same Question here. Been hand building strips for a while now with IES files but having to duplicate multiple sources to make something resembling RL output.