Tips and Tricks
Here are a few tricks and tips for doing custom Lighting analyses with Insight Lighting Analysis for Revit (LAR).
To run an analysis on a small area:
Create a new Level at the same elevation as the desired analysis area.
Add a single Floor on the Level covering the desired analysis area.
Select only this Level in the Run New Analysis dialog.
Daylight Factor analysis:
Daylight Factor is a general term meaning the percentage of illuminance at a point compared to the illuminance on an unobstructed horizontal plane (like the roof of the building). It can use any sky or time/date, but is normally done using the CIE Overcast Sky model at the September equinox at noon (and FYI the luminous distribution of the sky is not affected by time/date for the Daylight Factor sky model). Note that there is a bug in the selection of the CIE Overcast Sky model, but the Daylight Factor sky model is working properly.
The Daylight Factor sky in the Illuminance Analysis type in LAR uses a CIE Overcast Sky model normalized to a constant sky emittance of 100, so the point results values will be a percentage of available illumination, which is the daylight factor as a value 0-100. In LAR the values show up labeled 'lux', but as the maximum value on an unobstructed horizontal plane is 100, so it's read at '%'.
- Select Lighting > Run New Analysis
- Choose the Illuminance Analysis type, and select the Levels containing interior floors to be analyzed
- Select the 'Define Analysis Times...' button next to Date/Time, then select your sky model appropriate for your jurisdiction. Date/Time has no effect on the Daylight Factor Sky, or select one or two date/times if using another sky model. Date/time will affect the overall emittance of the sky (except DF Sky) via the values for DNI and DHI. GHI is an internally-calculated value, though you can enter your own known value for documentation purposes. Select 'Use Weather Data' or enter your own values.
- Thresholds are used for results in schedules and summary results. Visualization in plan and 3d views use the color settings for the Analysis Display Style, which can be changed after generating results.If using the Daylight Factor sky, we recommend setting the lower threshold to your minimum DF (eg '2' or '3' as 'lux' scale). Values in the Analysis Display Style can be set for fractional values.
- Run Analysis
When viewing results, LAR defaults to a generic Analysis Display Style in the 3d and plan views. These styles are set up for normal illuminance values, so will need to be adjusted if using a 0-100 DF Sky model.
If using the Daylight Factor sky, the default style will show all red, as the DF results values are all < 100. Open the Analysis Display Style editor, and adjust the thresholds to identify any lower, upper, or intermediate values you want to visualize, and use a 'Ranges' color mapping. Remember that the colors will be used for all point values less than the color value.
Simulation speed, and checking analysis status in detail: The actual analysis on the servers is very fast, but with the increasing popularity of LAR, queue times have increased significantly, and account for most of the wait time for results in most cases. Doing runs early morning or night (US time) will be shorter queue times. You can check the queue status and progress on the Rendering Gallery (View > Render Gallery), and also preview results there for each Floor object submitted. The naming convention is by Revit Model GUID (not user-friendly, but FYI), and new runs will be at the top of the list.
Setting the Glazing Appearance Properties Download this Excel Macro Workbook (Appearance RGB Worksheet) for help in determining the RGB values to use in the Appearance properties for glazing or opaque materials. Remember that the modeled thickness of the glass in Revit (not the thickness of the glass specification that it represents), and the modeled number of panes in Revit (not the number of panes in the specified window--modeled panes are almost always set to one) matter. Enter the modeled values in the workbook.