Daylight Analysis - Double Check

[Tim Saunders]

So, after following the training pages for Max Design 2009 provided by Autodesk, we came up with the following images.

 

In the LEED documentation, however, a perspective rendering with overlaid Illuminance data is never mentioned. I'm not sure why people have been doing them lately, and what the big fuss is about the new Daylight Analysis tools in Max Design, when the Light Meter is all you need to use to satisfy the LEED requirement (which isn't even a part of the "Exposure" plugin).

 

So, TWO questions really:

 

1- Why are people doing perspective renderings with Illuminance data overlaid?

 

2- Are my values way out of range?

 

In my perspective image, I am getting F.C. values averaging from 130-200. Seems way high since LEED only requires 75% of the space to have at least 25 F.C.

 

My light meter is more reasonable looking with values averaging from 40-150. Still seems way high though. I mean the lowest numbers on the grid are in the low 20s. Getting 25 F.C. in nearly the entire space seems way to easy to achieve.

 

Any thoughts from people who have been using any of these tools for LEED credit?

 

[jinsley]

Timothy,

 

I have yet to perform a set of these renderings on one of our LEED projects (the spreadsheet provided by the US Green Building Coucnil is faster anyways), the only reason I could see for this feature is if you get auditted on EQ Credit 8 and feel that the images prove you maintain the minimum 2% Daylight Factor in the space (and you desperately need the 2 points to qualify for whatever rating you are aiming at...).

 

I don't think your values look way out, as long as you have used proper units, materials, render set-up and kept a nice tight model, all should be fine...

[alias_marks]

We used the perspective images to help the clients understand all the advantages we cash in on by using an integrated BIM work flow.

 

They seem to understand the perspectives better and get more out of them. Here's a quick animation I did that we integrated into a presentation.

 

A little backwards, because lighting analysis is just about data, but when were using the lighting analysis as a design tool, it helps the designers make their decisions too.

 

M-

 

edit:

for some reason I can't upload a 1.9 mb wmv file as an attachment? Maybe I'm being dense - anyhow, here's a vimeo that should be up in an hour or so, showing the vid -

[janams]

Hi Timothy, I realy like your animation. Can I ask how did you put it together? Is there a way to animate and record the Analysis value Colour Coding?

[alias_marks]

are you referring to my animation by chance? I didn't see one in Timothy's post...

 

If so, it was about 6 single still frames rendered at each hour, cross-faded together in AE. The timer was also added in AE and timed to correlate with the actual times that the images were rendered.

[janams]

Hi Michael, thank you for your reply. It is your animation I was refering to - sorry for the confusion. The question I am try to ask is how do you render an image with the Analysis Colour Coding on top of the image. I can get the colour coding displayed in my viewport but if I save the image I only get the LX values (not the colours) on top of rendered image...

 

Thank you

 

jana

[alias_marks]

Oh I see, It's been a long time since I did those & I don't have access to the file just now to check, but from what I recall it's in the exposure settings for mental ray (under logarithmic or something). One of the options is 'lighting analysis' or something to the effect.

 

Hope this helps, and maybe someone else can chime in if they have a more exact answer.

 

M-

[janams]

Thank you for comming back. I can't find anything in the exposure settings that would allow me to do this. Well I'll keep searching, but if you get your hands on that model or if you remember what needs to be done I would appreciate if you could let me know. Thank you again,

 

jana

[alias_marks]

Here's a quick screen grab. You'll have to play with the min max settings a bit probably to get something good for you're scene.

 

Illuminance/Luminance is something you can play with too. On showing how much light is hitting the surface, and one showing how much light it being reflected from the surface. Maybe a guru can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think LEED is interested in how much light is hitting the surface.

[janams]

Thank you..