Rob Guglielmetti
Renfro Design Group, Inc.
Why would someone spend seven years dabbling with software that confounded his attempts to learn it the whole time? Because the software is Radiance; a program that is truly like no other. It does exactly what he wants; now, if only he could tell it what he wants it to do...We present the last 1.5 years in the learning process of a lighting designer's struggle to learn the Radiance toolkit and apply it in his professional workflow. We discuss the rationale behind such an endeavor; why it's a valid path for the architectural lighting professional -- regardless of computer expertise, the capability of the software vs. commercial lighting design software, applications of Radiance in solving real-world lighting problems, and -- most importantly -- the incredible wealth of expertise available to the newcomer via the radiance-online mailing lists, which ultimately turned him from Radiance newbie to Radiance practitioner.