Introduction to Lighting

IES Virtual Environment

Copyright © 2015 Integrated Environmental Solutions Limited. All rights reserved.

No part of the manual is to be copied or reproduced in any form without the express agreement of
Integrated Environmental Solutions Limited.
Contents

1. Introduction to Lighting ............................................................................................ 3

2. Lighting Basics .......................................................................................................... 4
3. Lighting Quantities ................................................................................................... 5
3.1. Luminous flux ....................................................................................................................... 5
3.2. Illuminance ........................................................................................................................... 5
3.3. Luminous intensity ............................................................................................................... 5
3.4. Luminance ............................................................................................................................ 5
3.5. Luminous efficacy ................................................................................................................ 6
3.6. Examples of Illuminance ...................................................................................................... 6
4. Visual Functions ....................................................................................................... 7
4.1. Accommodation ................................................................................................................... 7
4.2. Adaptation ........................................................................................................................... 7
4.3. Convergence ........................................................................................................................ 8
4.4. Visual Acuity ......................................................................................................................... 8
4.5. Contrast Detection ............................................................................................................... 8
4.6. Glare ..................................................................................................................................... 8
5. Colour in Radiance.................................................................................................... 9
6. Materials in Radiance ............................................................................................. 10
6.1. Plastic ................................................................................................................................. 10
6.2. Metal .................................................................................................................................. 10
6.3. Glass ................................................................................................................................... 11
6.4. Trans................................................................................................................................... 11
6.5. Dielectric ............................................................................................................................ 11
7. Daylight Factor ....................................................................................................... 12
E = illuminance on unobstructed plane .......................................................................................... 12
8. Sky Component/Vertical Sky Component ................................................................ 13
9. Glare ...................................................................................................................... 14
1. Introduction to Lighting

This first section introduces some general background information and terminology. This document
is not intended as an exhaustive study of this subject, but as an introduction to some of the
essential concepts on which subsequent topics are based.
2. Lighting Basics

When considering light – which is “visible” electromagnetic radiation – we are concerned on the
one hand with energy and on the other with a sensation obtained through the eye – two principally
dissimilar things.

The human eye is an extremely sensitive and complex sense organ. A large proportion of the brains
function is concerned with vision and perception. In lighting simulation we are not trying to model
the way the eye and brain work but rather the way a more simple device operates – the camera,
hence the term photo-realistic images.

Lighting is an art and a science. The lighting quality of a space may be judged on a number of
quantitative and qualitative criteria. It is important that these criteria are not seen in isolation to
one another, for each is dependent on and influenced by each of the others.
The principal quantitative criteria are:

the lighting level

luminance (or brightness) distribution in the field of view
the freedom from disturbing glare

The principal qualitative criteria are:

the light colour, colour appearance and colour rendering

light directionality and shadows
3. Lighting Quantities

For the quantitative measurement of light, a special set of concepts and units has been adopted
that bear no direct relationship to those used in other domains of physical science. This is in
contrast with measuring practice in other wavelength regions of the electromagnetic spectrum
which is generally based on the familiar concepts of energy and power, and therefore use the SI
units of joules and watts. The principal reason for this is that a lighting unit must not only take into
account the energy content of the radiation but also the spectral distribution of the sensitivity of
the human eye, which varies greatly with wavelength.

3.1. Luminous flux

Luminous flux – is the total amount of light radiated by a light source per second. A more familiar
term would be “light output". It is expressed in lumens (lm).

3.2. Illuminance

Illuminance – is the quantitative expression for the luminous flux incident on unit area of a surface.
A more familiar term would be “lighting level”. Illuminance is expressed in lux (lx), one lux equals
one lumen per square metre (lm/m²). [other units are – metrecandle, phot, nox] In Imperial units the
unit is the foot-candle which equals lumen per square foot (lm/ft²).

3.3. Luminous intensity

Luminous intensity – is the luminous flux radiated by a light source in a specific direction. Luminous
intensity is expressed in candelas (cd).

3.4. Luminance

Luminance – is the quantitative expression for the amount of light reflected by a surface in a
specific direction. A more familiar word is “brightness”, although this term must, strictly speaking,
be reserved to describe the subjective impression of luminance on the eye. The luminance of a
surface is determined by the illuminance on the surface in question and its reflective properties.
Luminance is expressed in candelas per square metre (cd/m²), referred to as the nit. [other units are
– lambert, stilb, apostilb, blondel, skot]. In Imperial units the unit is the foot-lambert, which is
candelas per square foot (cd/ft²)
3.5. Luminous efficacy

Luminous efficacy – is the ratio between luminous flux and power dissipation, and is expressed in
lumens per watt (lm/W). Each lamp type has a different luminous efficacy.

3.6. Examples of Illuminance

Summer, under a cloudless sky, in the open 100,000 Lux

Summer, under a cloudless sky, under a tree 10,000 Lux
In the open, under a heavily overcast sky 5,000 Lux
Indoors by the window, shaded, clear day 2,000 Lux
Indoors away from the window 300 Lux
Full moon, in the open, on a clear night 0.25 Lux

The target illuminance for an interior space depends on the specific visual tasks carried out in the
space and can be anything from hundreds to thousands of Lux.

100 Lux interiors used occasionally with visual tasks confined to movement and for only
limited perception of detail.
200 Lux interiors occupied for long periods, or for visual tasks requiring some perception of
detail.
500 Lux moderately difficult visual tasks, perhaps involving colour judgement.
1000 Lux very difficult visual tasks.
2000 Lux exceptionally difficult visual tasks

[see “CIBSE, Code for Interior Lighting” for more details]

4. Visual Functions

This section contains definitions of some of the functions the eye can perform, without attempting
to provide too much detail. Superficially the eye resembles a camera in so far that it has a lens,
which throws an image onto the light sensitive back surface, which is called the retina. Focussing is
not achieved by altering the distance between lens and retina (as with a camera) but by changing
the shape of the lens. In the retina there are two types of receptor, rods, which are highly light-
sensitive and are principally responsible for detection of shape and movement, and cones, which
are less sensitive to light, but can distinguish colours.

4.1. Accommodation

Accommodation is the ability of the eye to focus on objects at varying distances from the eye. This is
achieved by changing the focal length of the lens of the eye using the ciliary muscles. This ability
varies with age of the individual and state of tiredness and also with the luminance of the visual
scene.

4.2. Adaptation

This is the mechanism by which the eye changes its sensitivity to lighting levels. Adaptation from
normal lighting levels to dark conditions can take up to 10 minutes, adaptation from dark to light is
more rapid.
4.3. Convergence

Almost invariably, we focus both our eyes on the same target. When that target is distant the lines
of sight are in parallel. However when we look at a nearby object our lines of sight intersect at the
target. Convergence allows the eyes to rotate inward so that both eyes focus on this object.

4.4. Visual Acuity

The ability to differentiate between closely spaced visual stimuli. This can vary from person to
person and also is strongly linked with the background luminance and observation time.

4.5. Contrast Detection

Most of the visual information we receive is the result of luminous variations in the field of view.
We call this contrast. Contrast can take two forms, which mostly occur together, contrast in colour
and contrast in luminance.

4.6. Glare

There are two forms of glare, discomfort glare and disability glare. Discomfort glare is a sensation
of annoyance or pain, probably as the result of frequent changes in pupil size caused by excessive
brightness contrasts. Disability glare is the result of interference in the visual process, there are two
sub-categories of disability glare, “veiling glare” and “adaptive glare”. This subject is in more detail
in subsequent chapters.
5. Colour in Radiance

In common with most computer based interfaces which use images as a method of displaying
information, Radiance uses the RGB colour model. This is the technology of the TV screen and
computer monitor, beams of electrons are fired at a screen composed of 3 different phosphors,
Red, Green and Blue. [known as the additive primary colours, as against the subtractive primary
colours, Yellow, Magenta and Cyan, which are used in printing] Varying levels of these three colours
are mixed to give the impression of all possible colours from Black to White. It is possible to
visualizing the 3 colours as the X, Y and Z axes in conventional 3D space. The volume bounded by
the minimum and maximum values of each colour forms a cube. The origin (0,0,0) represents Black
and the diagonally opposite corner (1,1,1) represents White. [the scale is sometimes defined as 0.0
to 1.0 in real numbers and sometimes as 0 to 255 in integer numbers] Thus any colour can be
represented by the co-ordinate location within the cube i.e. the amount of each primary colour.

Black = 0.0, 0.0, 0.0

White = 1.0, 1.0, 1.0
Red = 1.0, 0.0, 0.0
Green = 0.0, 1.0, 0.0
Blue = 0.0, 0.0, 1.0
Yellow = 1.0, 1.0, 0.0
Magenta = 1.0, 0.0, 1.0
Cyan = 0.0, 1.0, 1.0
6. Materials in Radiance

In Radiance we can define different material properties for the various objects of our models. These
different materials have different ways of manipulating the rays of light that interact with them,
based on the physics of light. We have reflection, transmission, and/or refraction depending on the
type of material.

In this version of the <Virtual Environment> we have limited the material types to the most
commonly occurring materials found in buildings. In future versions of the <Virtual Environment>
additional material types may be made available.

6.1. Plastic

Plastic has a colour associated with diffusely reflected light, but the specular component is
uncoloured, most materials fall into this category. Define the R, G, B reflectance values and the
specularity and roughness. [The name “plastic” should not be interpreted as referring to plastic
objects]. The reflectance values have the range 0.0 to 1.0 (although 0.0 and 1.0 do not occur in
nature) [sometimes for a given surface a single reflectance value is given – this probably refers to
the average “hemispherical” reflectance, where you are only interested in illuminance this single
value can be used for each of the R, G and B values]. Specularity also has the range 0.0 to 1.0, 0.0 for
a perfectly diffuse surface and 1.0 for a perfect mirror. In reality plastic materials are generally not
very reflective and the specularity value is usually in the range 0.0 – 0.07. Roughness, with the same
limits, refers to how the surface scatters what light is reflected, 0.0 meaning perfectly smooth.
Plastic materials generally have a roughness in the range 0.0 – 0.02.

6.2. Metal

Metal is the same as plastic except that the specular component is coloured by the material. Define
the R, G, B reflectance values and the specularity and roughness. Specularity and roughness have
the same theoretical limits as given above. However, metal materials are reflective and the usual
range for specularity is 0.5 – 1.0, and for roughness a range of 0.0 – 0.5.
6.3. Glass

Glass is used to model transparent materials. Define the R, G, B transmissivity values. [glass is a
special case of dielectric with a refractive index fixed at 1.52 and all that needs to be defined is the
transmission at normal incidence ]. The properties of glass are commonly defined in terms of the
transmittance (by glazing manufacturers), to convert to transmissivity use the following equation -

transmissivity = (sqrt(a+4*sq(b*Tn))-c)/(d*Tn)
where Tn = transmittance,
a = 0.8402528435,
b = 0.042579995,
c = 0.916653006,
d = 0.00362611194

We have also found it impossible to get RGB data from glazing manufacturers, who will only quote a
single transmittance value (even for tinted glass). We suggest for illuminance images this single
value is used for each of the R, G and B values. For luminance images make minor adjustments to
the relevant colour e.g. for a green glass increase the G value and decrease the R and B.

The following materials have recently been added and will be discussed more fully in a separate
document.

6.4. Trans

Trans is used to model a translucent surface. It takes the same parameters as plastic plus the
transmission factor and a transmitted specularity value.

6.5. Dielectric

Dielectric is a transparent material that refracts and reflects light (such as water or crystal). Define
the R, G, B transmissivity values, the refraction index and the Hartmann constant.
7. Daylight Factor
The ratio of the illuminance at a point on a given plane within an interior due to the light received
directly and indirectly from a sky of assumed or known luminance distribution, to that on a
horizontal plane due to an unobstructed hemisphere of this sky. Direct sunlight is excluded from
both values of illuminance (i.e. CIE Overcast Sky).

E = illuminance on unobstructed plane

e = illuminance at point in interior

Daylight Factor = e/E (often expressed as a percentage)

Illuminance is measured in LUX

8. Sky Component/Vertical Sky Component
The ratio of the illuminance at a point on a given plane within an interior due to the light received
directly from a sky of assumed or known luminance distribution, to that on a horizontal plane due to
an unobstructed hemisphere of this sky. Direct sunlight is excluded from both values of illuminance
(i.e. CIE Overcast Sky).
Note: this is the same as the Daylight Factor except the indirect component has been removed.

E = illuminance on unobstructed plane

e = illuminance at point in interior

Sky Component = e/E (often expressed as a percentage)

Vertical Sky Component = v/E

9. Glare
Glare is caused by either or both the following :

1. excessive luminance values in the field of view

2. too high luminance contrasts

Windows can have a high luminance compared with other luminances in a room. This gives a strong
contrast from inside to outside, potentially causing glare. In Radiance simulations we may offset this
by providing some internal background lighting. The strongest luminance source is the Sun, and if
this in the field of view then glare is inevitable. The default glare threshold is calculated by the
program to be 7 times the average luminance level, if required the user can specify an alternative
value.
We normally give the CIE Glare Index and the GUTH Visual Comfort Probability (% of people who are
satisfied) as measures of glare. These values are calculated at fixed angles to the left and right of the
centre of focus (usually at 10 degree intervals from –60 to +60 degrees), see figure below.