Lighting design in Revit - what software / plugin?

[HVAC-Novice]

Ideally Autodesk includes the capablity.... but is there a good 3rd party solution to do lighting calcs in Revit? I know Revit has a simple fc-tool. But what i wish for is:

- point-point calculation

- separate calcaultion for emergency fixtures (to meet egress code requirement)

- outdoor point-to-point calculation

- all done in Revit without complex importing-exporting to other software.

ElumTools has something for ~$600, but it seems to lack the outdoor and emergency lighting function (and somewhere I read that cost is annually?). So for spending a lot of money, I only get 1/3 of the functions I want.

Is there soemthing better? Spending (reasonable amounts) money isn't a problem, But if I buy a software, it should fullfill all needs and egress and outdoor lighting is required by code... so those are essential finctions.

[bwright]

You are pretty much looking at ElumTools which you already know about. 

The other option is if you have the Building Design Suite Premium or ultimate you can use 3ds Max has built in lighting analysis.

[HVAC-Novice]

thanks for the reply. I have the "premium" (I believe the only way to have Revit these days?). I can check out 3dsMax... I had looked at that before and found it to be less intuitive than Revit. Maybe i just hadn't invested enough time... back then I mainly looked at daylighting, though.

Can 3dsMax do outside lighting and also the code-required emergency lighting? I heard it is good for daylighting, which doesn't help me with code-compliance. If 3ds Max can do all this, I'll dig deeper.

i saw amazon has quite a few books on that.

My issue with that would be is that ideally I do it all in Revit so i see Revisions instantly. Like if I add outdoor fixture iw ant to see right away what it does... (basically like any Revit design) without having to export to 3ds Max and back.

[bwright]

late reply but check this out. does this answer some of your concerns?

[pteague]

Bill, I think you forgot to attach or link whatever you were trying to show us.

[tkendrick]

ElumTools does in fact have outdoor and emergency lighting functions and now in the latest version includes Daylighting calculations. You can perform calculations anywhere inside or outside a model. And you are able to designate each fixture as general or emergency. You do not have to purchase a subscription from ElumTools if you don't want one. But just like Autodesk. To keep a continuously updated software current, subscriptions are vastly more cost effective than purchasing a new separate license each year.