How to turn recessed can lights on

[jhoney]

How do I use the standard Revit can lights in a wood joist floor with drywall aplied to the bottom?  If I place in a suspended ceiling, can lights light up just fine.  However, if I use them in the floor space of a wood joist floor, the light itself gets coverd with the floor.  How can I get the light to cut the floor out so I can see the light when it is rendered?

Thanks in advance,

Justin Honey

Pittsburg State University

[ryan.duell]

I have included a blog post I did previously on this scenario; I hope it is helpful:

http://revitclinic.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/12/recessed-can-light-fixtures-not-casting-light.html

Thank you,

I have included a blog post I did previously on this scenario; I hope it is helpful:

http://revitclinic.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/12/recessed-can-light-fixtures-not-casting-light.html

Thank you,

[jhoney · Accepted solution]

Fabulous.  Thank you so much!

[amjesi]

I have tried all of the possible solutions I have read in "help", in books, and on forums, but I am still unable to get recessed can fixtures to emit light in a rendering.  Attached are a few jpgs - the first shows the 3D view of one of the scenes I am trying to render.  The second shows the same view with light source visible.  Obviously, Revit knows light is supposed to be coming from these fixtures....  But I get nothing from them when I render.  I have tried turning off the floors and checking for any other model geometry that might be in the way.  I have also looked through all of the family parameters.  The final jpg is the only thing that looked odd to me.  No matter what color preset or color temperature I select, the Initial Color screen shows up black.  Could this be my problem?

Any helpful ideas would be much appreciated; I am at my wits end.  We want to show our clients the light and inviting space we have designed, not the dark, cavelike space it looks like in the rendering.

[jhoney]

Your lights are probably turned on.  The problem is that your floor/ceiling above is created as a mass and it covers up the light fixture, therefore making it look like there is no light.  Had the same problem as you.  What I did was created voids in the floor above at the locations of the can lights and it took care of the problem.  Pretty tedious work, but that is about the only way I know to fix the problem.  If anyone else has better ideas, I would love to hear them.

[sara.gozin]

tnx alot, you can also set the ceiling thickness exactly the same as recessed can depth so that it wont overlap the mass object above(like floor) and it totally fill  inside the ceiling.