Introduction

Desktop Radiance is a design tool that facilitates the design and analysis of buildings to optimize the efficiency of daylighting systems and lighting technologies. Desktop Radiance is a plug-in module that works with other popular computer aided design (CAD) tools to provide the user interaction and 3-d modeling capabilities. Desktop Radiance relies upon the popular Radiance Synthetic Imaging System to provide its renderings and analytical results.

The first step in the process of performing a daylighting analysis is the creation of a 3D model in a Graphic Editor program, such as AutoCAD (See Setting Up A Drawing). The 3D model can then be detailed appropriately using the Desktop Radiance library of materials, glazings, luminaires and furnishings. Once the model is complete, you then define the analysis parameters such as camera views or reference point calculations, building orientation and zone of interest. Then you set up a rendering or point calculation using the simulation menu commands that initiate the export of the geometry and analysis parameters. See the Simulation Manager for more information about starting your simulations and Image Analyzer for more information about analyzing your results.

This document is not intended to be a comprehensive discussion of the appropriate modeling techniques for daylighting design. It is assumed that you are familiar with daylighting design and fairly familiar with general 3-d modeling and AutoCAD in particular. You may wish to browse the Quick-start Tutorial for a brief introduction to the various 3-d geometric primitives and how they can be assembled into a model of a simple office space.

This document is organized according to the menu structure of Desktop Radiance as found in Version 1.02 as of August 10, 2000. It is also available through the on-line, context-sensitive help system for Desktop Radiance.


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