ECOTECT uses the BRE Daylight Factor method for daylighting calculation and the Point-to-Point method for electric lighting. For more detailed analysis you can export your model directly to tools such as DAYSIM and RADIANCE.

Lighting Analysis

ECOTECT now includes a Lighting Wizard to guide you through the process of calculating light and daylight levels in your building.

You can calculate daylight factors and illuminance levels at any points in your model or, as shown above, over the analysis grid.

Geometric and material information in ECOTECT can be exported directly to RADIANCE for a physically accurate lighting simulation.

Once you have calculated daylight factors in your model, you can use ECOTECT's advanced daylighting features to determine potential savings due to daylight-linked lighting controls or export directly to DAYSIM for a detailed analysis of daylight autonomy.

ECOTECT allows you to edit or import the IES profiles of different lights and luminaires, displaying them directly within the context of your model as you design your lighting system.

These profiles are based on user-definable design illuminance levels set for the zone to which the lights belong, showing illuminance contours as a volumetric boundary at which the required zone illuminance is exactly met by each light.

RADIANCE Export

In addition to the full compliment of lighting analysis mentioned above, ECOTECT can export to the RADIANCE Synthetic Imaging System (available free from Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories). Allowing you to render stunningly realistic and accurate radiosity images of your building.

Radiance images of ECOTECT model.

Multiple Display Options: Including Animations

In order to maximise flexibility in visualisation, a wide range of display options are provided for the analysis grid. These range from 3D mesh plots to fully coloured contour maps.

Numerical grid

Contours

2D (any colours or grey scale)

3D

You can also perform fully 3D spatial lighting calculations. This allows you to animate the lighting values for an entire 3D volume -- look at any section in any of the grid axis directions, instantly.