Sola-tube

Tubular skylights (eg SolaTube, Velux Sun Tunnel, ODL, etc) can be modeled in Revit for Lighting Analysis and Rendering as Light Fixtures associated with an IES lighting distribution profile. The IES files are specific to you location and time (sun angle) of your analysis and are available from the skylight manufacturer. Most manufacturers also have Revit families that can be used to host the IES file, or you can use any generic fixture to create a tubular skylight fixture. For an example, see this page for detailed technical resources on Sola-tubes.

After creating the fixture, modify the LAR settings to allow electric lights to be left on for the analysis (the electric lights are turned off by default so analysis normally uses daylight only). Be sure to turn off other electric lights after changing this setting so only daylight and the special tubular skylight fixtures are light sources for the analysis.

Here is the detailed step by step process on how to create a SolaTube skylight and modify the lighting analysis settings:

  1. Open the Lighting Analysis Settings form by clicking on the gear icon in the main Lighting Analysis form.
  2. Uncheck the Override "Lighting > Sheme" option.
    3. Note: Make sure that there are no other lighting fixtures in the model and turned on, as they will no longer be automatically overridden by LAR until you check the above option again.
  3. Create your Sola-tube lighting fixture and add the photometric IES file for the location and approximate solar angle (time of day) of your analysis. See the Revit Help page on “About Photometric and IES files”.
  4. Be sure to set the angle of the photometric web properly according to the instructions from Sola-tube for your location and approximate time of day.
  5. Go to the 3d view called '_Lighting Analysis Model View'. This is the view that is exported for the analysis.
  6. In Properties, choose the Rendering Settings, then select Lighting > Scheme to be 'Interior: Sun and Artificial'.
  7. When you do this the Artificial Lights button will be available. Select that, and find your Sola-tube fixtures and set them to be ON and not dimmed (dimming set to 1).
  8. Run Analysis and you should see the effects of your sola-tube lighting fixtures.

Sola-tube Revit model example

Sola-tube IES sample file

Parent topic: Prepare Your Model for Lighting Analysis