Resources

We collect available daylight simulation codes, front-ends and integrations into modelling software, as well as tools to prepare models and process results.

Daylight simulation codes

Radiance – The ray-tracing engine powering most daylight simulation tools out there. https://www.radiance-online.org

pyradiance – Python interface for Radiance. https://lbnl-eta.github.io/pyradiance

Accelerad – A GPU accelerated renderer with partial Radiance compability. https://nljones.github.io/Accelerad/

Velux Daylight Visualizer – A user-friendly software for daylight simulations, coming with product libraries. https://www.velux.com/what-we-do/digital-tools/daylight-visualizer

Ignis – “An interactive renderer for daylight glare risk assessment” with partial Radiance compability. https://ignis.cg.uni-saarland.de

Front-ends and integrations

Ladybug / Honeybee – Radiance intregration for Rhino3D based on Grasshopper. https://www.ladybug.tools/honeybee.html

ClimateStudio – Building Performance Simulation for Rhino3D. https://www.solemma.com/climatestudio

vi-Suite – Building Performance Simulation for Blender (controlling Radiance, EnergyPlus, OpenFoam, and Pyroomacoustics). https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/visuite

Raytraverse – Spatio-temporally adaptive sampling for zonal daylight simulations with Radiance. https://raytraverse.readthedocs.io

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Overview daylight simulation tools at The Daylight Site – Another collection of software tools. http://thedaylightsite.com/library-3/links/simulation-tools-2/

Databases provide the information that is necessary to align our models with reality.

Materials

Spectral materials database – A collection of measured reflection data for daylight simulation. https://spectraldb.com/

Complex Glazing Database – Library of transmission data for fenestration including may shading systems. Can be accessed through the software LBNL Window. https://windows.lbl.gov/cgdb-downloads

Weather data

Ladybug EPWMap – Find global weather data on a world map. https://www.ladybug.tools/epwmap

Recommended text-books, standards, online sources.

Daylighting devices

Daylight in Buildings. A Source Book on Daylighting Systems and Components – Nancy Ruck et al. (2000). IEA SHC Task 21. https://eta.lbl.gov/publications/daylight-buildings-source-book