What do you use for Lighting Calculations?

[shamsdebout]

I have only used Visual, a lighting designer I worked with mentioned AGI2.0. What do you use?

 

[milehiwire]

My wholesaler or lighting reps.

 

[shamsdebout]

My wholesaler or lighting reps.

Its been my experience they can be really slow when you need photometrics.

 

[milehiwire]

Its been my experience they can be really slow when you need photometrics.

Overnight? Yup, could be considered slow I guess.

 

[normbac]

here is a basic calculator scroll to link
http://www.ultraluxlight.com/commercial_lighting_fixtures_46_ctg.htm

 

[ptrip]

I have only used Visual, a lighting designer I worked with mentioned AGI2.0. What do you use?

I use Visual Pro ... never thought about needing anything else!

 

[mauk]

I use Visual Pro ... never thought about needing anything else!

Same here.

I'm hoping something a bit more developed will be built into Revit MEP by the time we switch over.

 

[DetroitEE]

Same here.

I'm hoping something a bit more developed will be built into Revit MEP by the time we switch over.

Revit MEP currently won't do point-by-point calculations, it'll basically just give you a single "average" value for each space. I don't anticipate this changing in the near future (although I hope I'm wrong.) I'm currently using Revit MEP 2010 and it's no different than the previous releases in terms of lighting calculations.

 

[ptrip]

Same here.

I'm hoping something a bit more developed will be built into Revit MEP by the time we switch over.

Revit MEP currently won't do point-by-point calculations, it'll basically just give you a single "average" value for each space. I don't anticipate this changing in the near future (although I hope I'm wrong.) I'm currently using Revit MEP 2010 and it's no different than the previous releases in terms of lighting calculations.

I was hoping the same and was disappointed. What's the point of "average" value? :roll:

One distinct benefit of Revit is that it will count all your fixtures for your energy calculations!

 

[mayanees]

Agi 32

Agi 32

AGI 32 by Lighting Analysts, Inc. is an awesome package that not only gives the basic footcandle layouts, but also does true rendering.
I know that there are lots of free manufacturer-driven packages, so it could be tough to rationalize the cost (~$1,300) but it's truly an impressive package.
John M

 

[shamsdebout]

I was hoping the same and was disappointed. What's the point of "average" value? :roll:

One distinct benefit of Revit is that it will count all your fixtures for your energy calculations!

Does Visual not also do that, with the Power Density Calculation?

 

[shamsdebout]

AGI 32 by Lighting Analysts, Inc. is an awesome package that not only gives the basic footcandle layouts, but also does true rendering.
I know that there are lots of free manufacturer-driven packages, so it could be tough to rationalize the cost (~$1,300) but it's truly an impressive package.
John M

Thanks for the info, yeah I can see what it is so pricey. Is it user friendly, maybe I can convince my firm to get it.

 

[Keri_WW]

I started off with Visual but have been using AGI for the past 4 years. Easy to use once you get past the learning curve.

 

[mayanees]

Thanks for the info, yeah I can see what it is so pricey. Is it user friendly, maybe I can convince my firm to get it.

It might take a while to use it to its fullest capability, but it's very starightforward if you're just doing footcandle layouts.
I had to provide layouts for a Postal facility and tried doing it with manufacturers. After having lots of trouble getting what I needed, I bought the AGI package and knocked it out in a couple days.
John M

 

[VUGear]

Haven't tried AGI yet, as it's not within our budget to get. Have been using Visual since 2002 and like it, although I miss being able to do simple renderings like I was able to with LitePro prior to that. Otherwise, Visual seems more intuitive than LitePro.