AGi32 is a simulation tool used for designing lighting projects and calculating the amount of light that will be delivered based on user-set parameters. The resulting calculations are commonly referred to as lighting layouts or point-by-points. AGi32 can calculate the amount of light that will be delivered in any kind of design, interior or exterior, and incorporate surrounding objects, obstructions, and varying shapes like vaulted ceilings or rooms in non-linear shapes. It aids lighting designers, engineers, and electrical contractors in the evaluation of lighting designs for projects before they are built.
In addition to calculating the amount of light in a space, AGi32 can create photo-realistic renderings of how an area will look once light fixtures are installed. It can compute the amount of energy used as well as glare metrics, and can incorporate a variety of situational design needs such as custom aiming, numerous rooms and objects in the same project, and it includes utilities for estimating fixture spacing. The software is designed to determine the amount of light reaching a designated surface or work plane for any type of application. Obtrusive light (exterior) may be calculated and compared against several US and international standards for code compliance. Roadway lighting grids may be laid out per North American (IES) specifications or per several different global lighting standards.
The Calculate command initiates the lighting calculations in AGi32. When Full Radiosity Method is enabled, both the direct and interreflected light available in the environment contribute to the values. In Direct Only Method, only the direct component from each luminaire affects the calculation values.
AGI32 is not only a comprehensive point-by-point program, but a lightning fast, photometrically correct, color-rendering tool as well. Imagine computing all of your point-by-point values simultaneously with a full color image. Now you can not only review the "numbers", but incorporate accurate visualization into your everyday lighting design. This is enormously powerful for both conceptualization and presentation.
Predict lighting system performance for any application from one luminaire in a jail cell to hundreds of luminaires in a professional sports facility. Interior or exterior, AGI32 can build environments for most any lighting application with unlimited luminaires, calculation points, reflective or transmissive surfaces. AGI32 is what lighting design software should be.
We do our lighting design in both programs. Yes, modeling for both. Yes, time is always agiant you, more in the professional world. I would seriously consider learning Max, you obviouly already know AGI so in my opion you are only halfway there. Learn Max, together they are stronger!!
LIGMAN are developing online product instabase for AGI32 users for support their lighting design and light planing. AGI32 is comprehensive lighting calculations, ease of modeling, and fast, high-quality rendering for almost any interior or exterior environment, including Daylighting.
So... a guy here in the office came across two lighting programs that I know nothing about, and it seems maybe I should. I've looked at both of their websites, and I still don't quite get what they are, or what they specifically do.
AGI32 and Relux are photometrically accurate lighting software programs. They predict lighting metrics using physically based simulations (calculated by radiosity and ray tracing algorithms) and IES photometric files.
Lighting practitioners (engineers, lighting consultants, manufacturers, etc.) use these packages to evaluate real world luminaire performance and daylighting performance using renderings and point by point evaluations such as illuminance, luminance, glare metrics, daylight factor, roadway metrics, etc.
And- the visualization capabilities, at least for our software, improve with each release, so photorealistic imagery is attainable for those who want it. However, the intent of these software programs is to produce accurate lighting simulations, not fakiosity imagery.
Thanks for your post Leora. Having been a Lightscape user since 1996 I have always liked the idea of getting "real" results from a rendering engine. Although I only just skimmed the surface of Lightscape's lighting analysis tools (admitedly quite limited), when I did use it, I'm really curious to know your opinion on the various applications out there. Obviously AIG32, Radiance, Inspirer, Relux etc. How do they all compare? I never worked as a lighting designer, so I'm curious to hear your thoughts. Do they all use the same core technology and the difference between them is the tools sets they come with?
AGI32 is lighting design software. We are an independent lighting software developer in a market with other lighting software packages such as Radiance, Lumen Designer, Lumen Micro and manufacturer based packages such as Luxicon, Visual, Relux, Dialux, and others.
There are several things in place within Maxwell that allows you to create a physically accurate lighting setup. First is the Physical Sky which can only be set by entering Longitude and Latitude coordinates at the moment. Once this is in a Date and Time are chosen as well as the GMT offset. This setup correctly simulates the position and intensity of the sun and sky at any given time and place on earth.
I'm afraid this still does not answer my main question, do they allow you to specify omnis or volumetric sources with a linear or inverse square law falloff distributions? If so, they still let you "fake it" which means you can create non realistic results if you want to. This functionality, in particular, is what separates lighting design software from architectural renderers.
I'm not trying to suggest that Maxwell is going to replace AGI32 or any other lighting analysis program. I am saying that it is fully capable of producing physically accurate lighting simulations that are not only beautiful but accurate and unbiased. Right now Maxwell can't be used as a lighting analysis tool because it has no GUI, but once version 1.0 comes out I'm pretty sure there will be some tools available that will allow you to do some limited lighting analysis.
I've seen these articles and comparisons. They are very interesting. I don't personally know anyone who is using Inspirer for lighting design simulations, I would be happy to hear additional comments.
I guess the real question is what do people need/expect their software programs to do? It seems to depend on which part of the market you are in (visualization/lighting) and there are a lot of crossover requirements and requests.
It may not be an apples to apples equivalent for everyone, but for many in the lighting industry - who specify/sell/design/market electric lighting and daylighting and need software to predict/prove their lighting levels from commercial lighting equipment and/or daylighting contribution for LEED compliance or other commercial codes/standards - it is.
The key to accurate daylight analysis using AGi32 is the assignment of the correct surface type designation to glazing and exterior surfaces. Interior surfaces require no special treatment. Daylighting calculations using AGi32 follow several important assumptions:
This section will guide you towards the placement of luminaires in an interior space using lighting design software programs. The placement of luminaires in a scene involves the following steps:
Get a lighting design for your project from a Professional Lighting Designer. I have over 6 years of experience working for an international LED manufacturing firm. I am certified in LED Lighting and AutoCAD. My work has helped many consulting firms win tenders and have happy clients.
I will do an optimized design that will comply to the lighting standards in your country. My main focus is energy saving while providing lighting that is adequate for the end user. If you don't know the standards for your country I will do research and advise.
I will need a DWG drawing to the layouts, if you don't have it I can also use Google Earth images for exterior lighting. For interior, a detailed sketch with dimensions will help. I will also write a detailed report.
Commentaires :My primary lighting rep is an LC and uses Visual exclusively. He doesn't use or is able to manipulate AGI drawings. Because he uses Visual Pro he is very adept at it and can send me very skilled drawings, however the drawings he sends I feel are lacking the detail that AGI32 provides. It seems to me that AGI32 is the gold standard in lighting design software and when I speak with other companies whether they are engineering firms or manufacturers we are able to speak the same language. AGI32 can do amazing things. I will never come close to doing all that AGI32 can do and it makes me sad to know that I will never do some of the cool things that AGI32 can do, but that is because of me, not because of AGI32!
When I first came to my present employer I was using Visual and quite happy with it. However my company used AGI32 exclusively so I had to start using it. It was easier than I had expected to learn to use it, and I am an old dog. New tricks are hard! My company sent me to the various training classes. Mostly I would be doing roadway lighting and so the training was most helpful. I also was able to take home the training materials for reference.
Commentaires :This tool helped me understand the physics of lighting and made me a better lighting designer. It was easy to select from several different fixtures and design to the best performance and not over-light or under-light an area. Using AGI32 helps me provide the best solution for my customer with the most efficient effort in my day.
AGI32 is the most versatile lighting program that I have used to develop accurate and difficult lighting designs that consider all environmental variables . This design tool can quickly calculate the lighting values on any required surface and take into account, daylighting, complex surfaces, and obstructions to generate calculations/renderings to provide a "real world" representation. Simple to hard areas are quickly built and manipulated without having to do major changes to the program. It is very intuitive to use and with regular use you can pick up more effective ways to do lighting design.
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