Luminaire Manager- Light Source Tab

The Light Source tab contains important information that must be verified for every luminaire family to be used in ElumTools. This information affects the calculation process directly and will vary depending on the architecture of the luminaire family. There are two sub-tabs relative to the light source information: light source Size & Shape and Luminous Area & Color.

 

Size & Shape Tab

 

ElumTools reads the luminaires luminous dimensions; Length, Width and Height, directly from the IES photometric file, and displays it in the column titled "Photometric File." The column titled "Modified" contains input cells that can be used to modify the luminous dimensions if necessary.

 

The checkbox titled Show Family Geometry will enable/disable the visibility of the luminaire family symbol geometry.

 

The checkbox titled Show Photometric Web will enable/disable the visibility of the yellow luminaire photometric web (light intensity distribution).

 

The checkbox titled"Show Luminous Shape" will overlay the modified luminous dimensions on the luminaire symbol geometry.

 

Note: ElumTools cannot show Family geometry or Revit source position for unused luminaires. Place a single instance in the project to be able to view all geometry and source details.

 

 

If the luminous dimensions from the photometric file are modified, ElumTools will treat the luminaire as an area source and spread its output across the modified luminous shape. This point is very important as you will encounter families prepared for Revit that do not have the correct symbol size for the IES file assigned. You may also encounter IES files with point source dimensions, even though they are linear or area sources.

 

IMPORTANT TIPS:

 

Luminous Area & Color Tab

Luminous Area Display Mode

 

ElumTools allows the rendering of the light source luminous area to be controlled on a family basis from within Luminaire Manager as discussed here, or, on a global basis from the Settings dialog. The display mode selected in Luminaire Manager will take precedence over the selection in the Settings dialog. This allows the default from the system settings to control globally, and luminaire Manager to control locally for only definitions that may function best with a different choice.

 

ElumTools will display a white luminous area for luminaire symbols in the rendered view based on the setting applied here.

 

None: disables the rendering of luminous area, this source will appear with standard material colors.

Emit Shape: the luminous area will correspond to the shape designated in the family light source definition.

Luminous Shape: the luminous area will correspond to the luminous area as extracted from the IES photometric file and possibly modified in Luminaire Manager - Source Position.

Materials: the Materials setting will allow you to select a material used in the luminaire family geometry and designate it as "luminous". This can be done in ElumTools Material Mapping by checking the Luminaire Luminous box (Advanced properties) for that material. If the Materials setting is applied and the luminaire has no luminous materials, one of the other modes will be used automatically. If the Revit “Emit Shape Visible in Rendering” parameter is enabled in Settings, the Emit Shape is used. Otherwise the Luminous Shape is used.

 

Color/Color Output Factor

 

A Color can be applied to any light source in Luminaire Manager using this setting, (also by editing Revit’s “Color Filter” type parameter). A color filter will behave like a "gel" in theatrical lighting, and will depreciate the lumen output of the luminaire based on the Spectral Radiant Emittance property of the filter color. The calculated factor is determined by the equation found under "Technical Details" in the Luminance Color topic.

 

You have the ability to override the lumen deration of the Color Output Factor by checking the box and entering your own multiplier. To remove the deration you would most likely enter a value of one.

 

 

Color Temperature

 

Most luminaire families include a correlated color temperature value (CCT) in degrees Kelvin for the light source. By default, this value is ignored and all rendering is performed with all luminous surfaces using a 6500k white point. ElumTools can render color temperature convincingly and is especially good at showing the apparent difference in different sources in the same scene. The first step is to enable Color Temperature in ElumTools Settings. This is disabled by default.

 

 

You can then adjust the family type source color here in Luminaire Manager it if desired. The colors displayed are relative to a 6500k white point so they will look abnormally warm in the color cell.

 

 

The Calculation viewer offers the flexibility to change the white point of the rendered display in Display Settings.