Lamp Components

Lamp Components

Custom lamps components can create some very sophisticated lighting designs because they give such realistic optical control. Each “lamp” (a light bulb, in common parlance) is assigned an intensity in Watts or Lumens and a color. Spots can have specific beam spreads and can be aimed at geometric locations in the model.

Figure 5 The create Light Fixtures dialog box 

These lamps are useful in a variety of ways, such as if you’re trying some tricky casework or museum type lighting. Insert a lamp inside the component you need to have lighting, and all instances will be functional. This is a good way to fix a luminaire that’s not rendering as a light fixture within IRender nXt. Good lighting design in general requires a sophisticated knowledge of lighting technology, and so does modeling it in SketchUp.

Traditional light fixtures (luminaires) can be created also, using a standard kit of parts. The light source in each can be customized, just like the lamps above.

Figure 6 Creating a table lamp 

You can really have some fun here; although anything custom will be easier to just model on your own. Ok, so it’s not high design, but it’s fun. And the lamps do work nicely in the rendered view.

Once inserted into your model, a lamp component can be modified and aimed in place. Right-click on the lamp and choose IRender:Aim Lamp. Your cursor rubber-bands from the center of the lamp to the center of beam–click on the location you’d like the lamp to focus on. To change the properties of the lamp, choose IRender: Edit IRender Lamp... All the original settings can be modified. Luminaire intensity can also be overridden from this menu.

Thanks :
Electronic Workflow for Interior Designers and Architects