Indoor Lighting

[garystan]

         Hi everybody :

                              I'm looking for a HELP article, in the Forum, for indoor lighting.   The one I'm looking for relates to setting up an array of lights.    I did a search and didn't see one.   Plus, if my memory serves me correctly,   I remember something about setting up duplicate lights with the same properties.  So I don't have to adjust each light individually.   
                                                                                                                                 garystan   

[Allan Chesney]

Hi Garystan.

Not sure what you mean by an "array of lights". Do you mean multiple bulbs in one light fitting?

Generally it is best if all the light 'bulbs' used are the same type and the same wattage throughout the project. The fitting doesn't matter but if different types of bulbs are used in the fittings, the results can be unpredictable.

Allan

[garystan]

     Allan :

                  I thought I read something about that in the Forum.  I just want to have the  "selected" lights have the same properties.  I tried doing a  "duplicate", but the bulbs used for the duplicates had a different setting for  the bulb type.  I manually changed it.    Question :   When creating duplicates, in lighting,  is the reason that the  "duplicate" bulbs are set with a different bulb type is the fact that a certain bulb type is already used in the original ?     I noticed that, if I select a light, instead of "duplicate",  I  reselect that same light and adjust the settings.    Does that sound correct ?

                                                                                                                             garystan

[Allan Chesney]

If you have lots of lights of the same type (eg a ceiling full of lights as in a supermarket) and want to change the bulbs, the easiest way is to change the one in the catalogue, then select one of the lights, right click and Select all Similar, then right click again and select Replace, choosing the light you fixed in the catalogue.

I use Duplicate all the time if I change a bulb. Change the bulb, right click, Duplicate and drag it to the new position. It has always duplicated the same bulb with the fitting for me - although I did not always check but I never noticed it revert to the catalogue one.

Allan

[garystan]

    Allan:

                Hmmmmmmmmmm..............I didn't think of doing it that way.   I made a copy of your answer.  I'll put it in my TURBO FLOOR PLAN 3D Binder.  That's where I keep my reference material for FTP.   Well, your answer is probably going to be used quite often.    Thanks !!!!!

                                                                                                                              garystan

[Doug.S]

Just an added note of info.
A while back I wanted more evenly distributed lighting in a typical room (like maybe 13' x 15' as opposed to a large room like 100' x 100') . . . so I tried a dozen lights, all the same, low watts so not to over-light the brightness in the room.
But it did not work very well . . . slow render times and bad distribution of shadows. (A similar method of "dome" lighting works well for object models without nearby walls).

My better solution was 3 lights evenly placed around the room.
One light makes harsh shadows but 3 lights distributed shadows better.  2 or 4 lights works OK too.

TFP renders OK but there are much better 3D render programs.  I have not tested PA 4 very much yet but hoping the renders are better than TFP 16.

Doug.S

[garystan]

  Doug S.  :

                   Thanks for your info.   I appreciate it.

                                                                      garystan

[Allan Chesney]

I haven't had any problem with using multiple lights. Typically I have 40 to 50 lights in most projects I do - all with the same bulb, even though the fittings may be different, although most of them are usually recessed fluros and downlights.

Usually I set the bulb about one metre below the light fitting (as was done in the first image below), to stop bright flares of light on the ceiling, which does not look natural. The result is very even lighting. These images rendered in about 10 minutes.

Allan