By Aaron Lee
If you need to generate morphologically defined parametric objects (vaults, quadric, domes, etc..) or generate primitive objects, (cubes, spheres, cones, etc.), you may find Brotens’ Room Lighting Calc for macOS handy.
The light sources, calculated as volumetric sources, are managed entirely by Room Lighting Calc, which allows you to import, display, edit and format: IESNA LM-63 (ASCII text files normally used by manufacturers of lighting fixtures in North America); EULUMDAT (formed by European standards); and DXF drawings and data files.
Photometric solids are summarized in 36 azimuthal C-curves and 180 zenithal gamma-angles, while the color of the lamps is given by the color temperature or real color. Room Lighting Calc can export to RTF a complete list, formatted according to user needs, of the installed products and special items, full of economic computing and electrical power in order to simplify the design procedures that are projected in a three-dimensional space used for modeling.
The outputs of numerical type can be plotted on the surfaces projected on the plane and shown in iso-value curves: illuminaments horizontal; vertical X+, Y+, X-, Y-, semi-cylindric and in main-camera direction; luminances; RGB; contrast factor (C.R.F.); and glare indexes (TI, G, U.G.R., C.G.I. and G.R.).
The displayed curves can be represented in color overlaying the view, print directly, pasted to the clipboard or saved in one of the allowed export formats (DXF, PDF, JPG). It’s possible to compare fixtures and choose the one that permits minimal consumption. Then you can press the “Create Room” to build the 3D model to light.
Room Lighting Calc can prepare a customizable report that can include pictures, a list of elements and their characteristics, results, and economical computation tables in a RTF or RTFD format. It manages photometries permitting to import a standard IES or EULUMDAT photometric file and also a DWG drawing that can be interpreted by Room Lighing Calc. Then it’s possible to view, scale, rotate, mirror, stretch the single photometry or sum two ore more of them and save as a new fixture.
What’s more each photometry can be exported in IES or EULUMDAT format or as PDF or BMP drawing file. Room Lighting Calc also lets you prepare a complete and customizable report in PDF format.
Room Lighting Calc works both in metric or imperial units. It requires macOS 10.10 or higher, costs $24.99, and is available at the Mac App Store.
