Visualization and Analysis of Lighting Design Alternatives in Simulation Software

Abstract:

For decades, multiple lighting simulation software packages and plugins for commercial software have been developed in an effort to ease the usage and integration of simulation into the lighting design process. In this effort, one of the main challenges is to provide lighting designers with an easy and comprehensive access to simulation results. Visualization is used as a means to achieve this goal. In this paper, we explore two of the most used free lighting simulation packages towards the identification of visualization techniques that facilitate the access to the simulation results as well as the identification of opportunities for the enhancement of simulation-assisted lighting design processes. A test case of a metal workshop illustrates the output produced by both software packages. Based on this exploration, we identified an open gap regarding three main aspects: interactive exploration of simulation results, visualization of compliance with lighting standards, and visual comparison of lighting solutions. We provide a discussion on how approaches from other domains can be applied to close this gap.

• Periodical: Applied Mechanics and Materials (Volume 869)
• Pages: 212-225
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.869.212
• Online since: August 2017
• Authors: Diana Fernandez-Prieto*, Hans Hagen
• Keywords: Analysis Techniques, Lighting Design Process, Lighting Simulation, Visualization Techniques

References

[1] A. Pellegrino, Assessment of Artificial Lighting Parameters in a Visual Comfort Perspective, Lighting Research and Technology, vol. 31, no. 3, p.107–115, (1999).

DOI: 10.1177/096032719903100305

[2] C. Chou, C. -C. Lu, and R. Huang, Effects of different ambient environments on human responses and work performance, Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing, vol. 7, no. 6, p.1–10, (2016).

DOI: 10.1007/s12652-016-0393-0

[3] K. Papamichael, M. Siminovitch, J. A. Veitch, and L. Whitehead, High Color Rendering Can Enable Better Vision without Requiring More Power, LEUKOS - Journal of Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, vol. 12, no. 1–2, p.27–38, (2016).

DOI: 10.1080/15502724.2015.1004412

[4] Comité Européen De Normalisation, Light and Lighting - Lighting of Workplaces — Part 1: Indoor Work Places. EN 12464-1, (2011).

[5] Standards Australia, Interior and Workplace Lighting — Part 1: General Principles and Recommendations. AS/NZS 1680. 1: 2006, (2006).

[6] International Organization for Standardization, Lighting of work places — Part 1: Indoor. ISO 8995-1: 2002, (2002).

[7] T. Hong, S. . Chou, and T. . Bong, Building simulation: an overview of developments and information sources, Building and Environment, vol. 35, no. 4, p.347–361, May (2000).

DOI: 10.1016/s0360-1323(99)00023-2

[8] D. E. Christakou and C. N. D. Amorim, Daylight Simulation: Comparison of Softwares for Architect's Utilization, in IBPSA Proceedings: Building Simulation Conference, 2005, p.183–190.

[9] C. F. Reinhart and S. Herkel, The Simulation of Annual Daylight Illuminance Distributions- A State-of-the-Art Comparison of Six RADIANCE-based Methods, Energy and Buildings, vol. 32, no. 2, p.167–187, (2000).

DOI: 10.1016/s0378-7788(00)00042-6

[10] S. Attia, L. Beltran, A. de Herde, and J. L. M. Hensen, 'Architect Friendly': a comparison of ten different building performance simulation tools, in IBPSA Proceedings: Building Simulation Conference, 2009, p.204–211.

[11] G. G. Roy, A Comparative Study of Lighting Simulation Packages Suitable for use in Architectural Design, (2000).

[12] J. Ashmore and P. Richens, Computer Simulation in Daylight Design: a comparison., Architectural Science Review, vol. 44, no. 1, p.33–44, (2001).

DOI: 10.1080/00038628.2001.9697451

[13] C. E. Ochoa, M. B. C. Aries, and J. L. M. Hensen, State of the art in lighting simulation for building science: a literature review, Journal of Building Performance Simulation, vol. 5, no. 4, p.209–233, (2012).

DOI: 10.1080/19401493.2011.558211

[14] A. Iversen, N. Roy, M. Hvass, M. Jørgensen, J. Christoffersen, W. Osterhaus, and K. Johnsen, Daylight Calculations in Practice: An Investigation of the Ability of Nine Daylight Simulation Programs to Calculate the Daylight Factor in Five Typical Rooms, 1st Editio. SBI, (2013).

[15] S. H. Shikder, A. D. F. Price, and M. Mourshed, Evaluation of four artificial lighting simulation tools with virtual building reference, in Proceedings of the European Simulation and Modelling Conference (ESM), 2009, p.77–82.

[16] M. S. Ubbelohde and C. Humann, Comparative Evaluation of Four Daylighting Software Programs, ACEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings, vol. 1988, p.16, (1998).

[17] P. L. and C. J. A., Communicating Building Simulation Outputs to Users, in Proceedings of the Eighth International IBPSA Conference, August 11-14, 2005, Eindhoven, Netherlands, (2003).

[18] S. Srivastav, S. Lannon, D. K. Alexander, and P. Jones, A Review and Comparison of Data Visualization Techniques Used in Building Design and in Building Simulation, in IBPSA Proceedings: Building Simulation Conference, 2009, p.1942–(1949).

[19] K. Haeb, S. Schweitzer, D. Fernandez Prieto, E. Hagen, D. Engel, M. Bottinger, and I. Scheler, Visualization of Building Performance Simulation Results: State-of-the-Art and Future Directions, 2014 IEEE Pacific Visualization Symposium, p.311–315, Mar. (2014).

DOI: 10.1109/pacificvis.2014.34

[20] National Framework for Energy Efficiency - Australia, Training Guide: The Basics of Efficient Lighting., (2009).

[21] Zumtobel Lighting GmbH, The Lighting Handbook, 4th Edition. Dornbirn, Austria, (2013).

[22] B. Shneiderman, The Eyes Have It: A Task by Data Type Taxonomy for Information Visualizations, in Proceedings 1996 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages, 1996, p.336–343.

DOI: 10.1109/vl.1996.545307

[23] J. Yi, Y. A. Kang, and J. Stasko, Toward a Deeper Understanding of the Role of Interaction in Information Visualization, IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, vol. 13, no. 6, p.1224–31, (2007).

DOI: 10.1109/tvcg.2007.70515

[24] A. Kerren and F. Schreiber, Toward the Role of Interaction in Visual Analytics, in Proceedings of the Winter Simulation Conference, 2012, p.420.

DOI: 10.1109/wsc.2012.6465208

[25] J. C. Roberts, State of the Art: Coordinated Multiple Views in Exploratory Visualization, " in CMV , 07 Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Coordinated and Multiple Views in Exploratory Visualization, 2007, p.61–71.

DOI: 10.1109/cmv.2007.20

[26] C. Ahlberg, C. Williamson, and B. Shneiderman, Dynamic Queries for Information Exploration: An Implementation and Evaluation, " in Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI , 92, 1992, p.619–626.

DOI: 10.1145/142750.143054

[27] H. Doleisch, M. Gasser, and H. Hauser, Interactive feature specification for focus+ context visualization of complex simulation data, " VISSYM , 03 Proceedings of the Symposium on Data Visualisation, p.239–249, (2003).

[28] R. C. Gonzalez and R. E. Woods, Digital Image Processing, 3rd Editio. Pearson Prentice Hall, (2008).

[29] J. Kehrer and H. Hauser, Visualization and Visual Analysis of Multifaceted Scientific Data: A Survey, IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, vol. 19, no. 3, p.495–513, (2013).

DOI: 10.1109/tvcg.2012.110

[30] J. Schmidt, M. E. Groller, and S. Bruckner, VAICo: Visual analysis for image comparison, IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, vol. 19, no. 12, p.2090–2099, (2013).

DOI: 10.1109/tvcg.2013.213

[31] H. -G. Pagendarm and F. H. Post, Comparative Visualization: Approaches and Examples, Visualization in Scientific Computing, p.95–108, (1995).

[32] T. Nocke, M. Flechsig, and U. Bohm, Visual exploration and evaluation of climate-related simulation data, in Simulation Conference, 2007 Winter, 2007, p.703–711.

DOI: 10.1109/wsc.2007.4419664