Photometric Toolbox®

Photometric Toolbox® is an evaluation program for manufacturers’ luminaire photometry that allows you to create, edit, repair, report and compare luminaire data. This is the cult-users tool you hear about when industry insiders talk about luminaire performance. If you are serious about lighting, you must have this program!

The View Tool allows you to view the luminaire’s photometric web in 2D and 3D environments. While 2D polar plots have become the norm for understanding a luminaire’s distribution, the 3D View capability allows you to rotate the photometric web such that you can see every angle at once and rotate it to any direction required.

The 3D View functionality also lets you apply the luminaire’s luminous dimensions and maximum candela values providing important information on how the luminaire was tested and how to apply it in lighting application tools.

Photometric Toolbox will create a complete photometric report from any IES, EULUMDAT or CIBSE TM-14 photometric file in Type B or Type C format. This report is very much like what was originally generated by the photometric testing laboratory when the luminaire was tested. Reports can be generated in Indoor format (interior Type C), Roadway (exterior Type C), or Flood (Type B) formats. Each report format calculates and displays the metrics specific to that luminaire application (interior, exterior, flood).

Specific metrics computed by each report type can be seen below. Click on the PDF links to examine a typical report in each format.

Indoor (interior Type C)	Roadway (exterior Type C)	Flood (Type B)
General summary, CIE classifications and efficiencies. Spacing criteria, LER	General summary, IES classifications and efficiencies, BUG rating, UWLR, LER	General summary, IES/NEMA classifications and Beam and Field angles and efficiencies
Luminance data 45-85 vertical	Candela array	Candela array
Candela array	Coefficient Utilization (CU) Graph (house side, street side)	Lumen array
Zonal lumen summary	Downward and upward lumens (house side & street side)	Polar or Cartesian graphs of horizontal and vertical axis
Coefficient Utilization (CU) table	Polar candela plots, vertical plane and horizontal cone. User defined angles	Isocandela graph, 10% max, 50% max, user definable values
UGR tables (uncorrected and corrected), Max UGR	Iso-fc(lux), user defined contours. Max cd point, ½ max cd trace
Polar candela plots: vertical plane through horizontal angle, user defined angles	LCS data tabulated on the Summary page, new LCS tab shows graphical representation of the LCS data and BUG rating
Learn More	Learn More	Learn More

The Convert Tool in Photometric Toolbox converts Type C to Type B photometry and vice versa. It also allows the specification of alternative luminaire positioning angles to effectively change the test position of a luminaire. For example: turn a downlight into an uplight. The new re-positioned candela information can then be saved as a new photometric file. The features available in the Convert Tool include:

Change the density of the photometric web by specifying a new angle set
Remove unwanted and/or unnecessary angles from the photometric web (IESNA File Format conventions still apply)
Change the current photometric type (e.g. convert Type C photometry to Type B and vice versa)
Change the luminaire testing position by applying up to four aiming angles: Orient, Tilt, Roll and Spin

Converting Photometric Files

The Convert Tool provides a single dialog for converting a selected photometric file in many different ways.

The Convert Photometric Type and/or Angles section allows you to convert between photometric types easily. You can even specify the photometric web parameters yourself. If you just want to change the photometric web, this section allows you to choose from standardized angle formats or customize your own.

The Modify Luminaire Test Position section allows you to specify a custom luminaire position using the standard luminaire rotation angles (Orient, Tilt, Roll and Spin). Photometric files converted in this manner will include a complete spherical photometric web (Type C data) to ensure that no data is lost.

A custom keyword ([_CONVERT]) is added to the photometric file to indicate the file has been converted along with a brief description of the conversion.

Who can benefit from the Convert Tool?

Manufacturers – Use the Convert Tool to convert between types or change the luminaire testing position. By not having to retest the luminaire in a photometric lab for these reasons, you can save big $$$. This tool will pay for itself with just one conversion.
Agents – Provide photometric data to your customers with custom rotation angles when required. Do your customers want photometric data for a downlight, when it was tested as an uplight? You can provide them with this information in one easy step with the Convert Tool.
Specifiers – Do you need to know BUG rating or LCS lumens for dark sky compatibility information for rotated optics? You can easily obtain this information by using the Convert Tool. Simply, apply the required position angles in the Convert Tool and quantify the results using the IES Road Report Tool.

The Compare tool allows three different photometric files to be evaluated and compared on a side by side basis with user defined criteria. With Compare in your arsenal you can easily discern performance differences between competitive luminaires or simply have better data to judge the best solution for your application.

Create customizable reports that contain any combination of calculated metrics and extracted photometric data from Photometric Toolboxs’ Indoor, Roadway and Flood reporting tools. The factory provided report includes metrics associated with exterior light pollution concerns. The Compare Tool comes with standard report formats including a “Dark Sky” format that includes the most relevant photometric metrics currently considered for performance evaluation with night skies, glare and trespass.
Visualize the overlapping candela distributions using 2D horizontal cones and vertical planes
3D transparent photometric webs provide a better understanding of how the luminaire distributions differ.
Normalize the lamp lumens for the selected luminaires to get an apples to apples comparison or to correct for inaccurate lumen specification.
Print your reports including specifiable polar plot comparisons.

Are they really equal?

Photometric Toolbox allows you to evaluate and compare up to three different photometric files on a side by side basis with user-defined criteria. Compare is delivered with standard report formats including a “Dark Sky” format that includes the most relevant photometric metrics currently considered for performance evaluation with night skies, glare and trespass.

See a sample report from the Compare Tool

Visualize with graphic overlay

The Compare Tool also includes overlay capability for 2D polar candela graphs and 3D wireframe or solid format light distribution representations. The 3D overlay offers an intuitive way to visualize the difference in intensity at various angles.

The Template Tool in Photometric Toolbox creates Iso-Illuminance templates (footcandle or lux) for most popular luminaire arrangements (single, back-to-back, 4 at 90 degrees, etc.). Templates are immediately generated on screen and can be printed or exported at any scale for direct drawing overlay. The Iso-Illuminance contours are also user definable.

Other features available in the Template Tool include:

Create custom arrangements that can be saved for use with any photometric file
Consider any luminaire aiming combination (Orient,Tilt, Roll, Spin)
Export the arrangement and Iso-Illuminance contours in DXF format for CAD import
Output large format templates (up to C Size format)
Select the optimum mounting height for the template based on a critical illuminance contour.
Make templates for off axis aiming (apply aiming parameters to each head individually)

Template Output

The Template Output tab allows you to customize the display of template results by adding your own banner and luminaire image to the printed output . The description can use IES Keyword data to automatically extract data from the photometric file or you can add your own information.

Create

Should you have only a paper report and be faced with the need to enter data manually, Photometric Toolbox makes the task as painless as possible. The worksheet approach does some error checking along the way to keep you on the path to success.

You can then save your photometric file in British Standard CIBSE TM14 and/or EULUMDAT formats in addition to the standard IES format. Saving in these formats will require some additional information to satisfy the differing file conventions. Photometric Toolbox will notify you accordingly. Converting files between formats is as simple as using the Save As function and selecting the target data format.

Edit

Once a file is open in Photometric Toolbox, you can manipulate the information as needed. Easily edit description, keywords even candela multipliers. The Edit functionality occurs in the same handy worksheet format used in file creation.

Repair

Opening files is not normally considered much of a feature for a software program. However, Photometric Toolbox is unique. When opening a file in IES,LDT or CIB formats, Photometric Toolbox performs a rigorous set of integrity checks to insure the file contains the proper data to conform to IES standard LM-63-1995 or newer. Files with data integrity issues can often be repaired and Photometric Toolbox is able to assist with many common problems automatically. Occasionally, photometric files may contain fatal errors. In this case Photometric Toolbox will generally try and diagnose and report the problem.

For power users, Photometric Toolbox contains a Manual Repair option which shows you the photometric file and corresponding errors, allowing you to fix the file yourself. It’s much more intuitive than using your computer’s “Notepad”.

Typical problems include:

Nadir candela not equal
Incomplete exploration, last vertical angle >90 and <180 (type C)
Incomplete exploration, first horizontal angle <-90, last horizontal angle <90 (type B)
Incomplete exploration, first vertical angle <-90, last vertical angle <90 (type B)

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