Daylighting Simulation: Methods, Algorithms, and Resources

The search for and collection of daylighting analysis methods and algorithms led to two important observations. First, there is a wide range of needs for different types of methods to produce a complete analysis tool. These include:

• Geometry
• Light modeling
• Characterization of the natural illumination resource
• Materials and components properties, representations
• Usability issues (interfaces, interoperability, representation of analysis results, etc)

Second, very advantageously, there have been rapid advances in many basic methods in these areas, due to other forces. They are in part driven by:

• The commercial computer graphics community (commerce, entertainment)
• The lighting industry
• Architectural rendering and visualization for projects
• Academia: Course materials, research

This has led to a very rich set of information resources that have direct applicability to the small daylighting analysis community. Furthermore, much of this information is in fact available online.