Lights Cutting Two Soffits = No Light

[ford347]

I have a covered exterior roof area I am working on currently and I generally setup a roof soffit to represent the extent of the structure, i.e. bottom of trusses. This soffit will span over any column build-outs, etc. to the extent of the truss span. I then place a secondary soffit below that one such as 7/8" stucco in my case. I do this because these two soffits do not have the same boundaries and should not.

My problem however, is I have recessed can lights placed in the stucco soffit, which the lights cut, but I have found no way for the lights to cut the soffit above. The soffit above is covering the light so when I render, I have darkness. I have tried hiding the soffit above in the rendered view, but that did not work. I'm not sure if I have a light problem or if the soffits are causing this issue.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
Josh

[cliff collins]

1. Try Join Geometry on the 2 soffits.

2. Build the 2 soffit "layers" as a single ceiling type.

3. Place a void in the can light family, and then see if it will cut into both soffits?

4. Try making a face-based/non-hosted light fixture family ( just as a test )
and drop one into the scene and see if it renders.

just a few quick ideas.

cheers

[ford347]

Thanks Cliff, I'll try messing around with the light. I've tried joining geometry and that did not work. I want to avoid building the soffit as one with multiple layers simply because the truss portion of the soffit will span over the column build outs and the stucco portion of the soffit will use the columns as boundaries. Not too big of a deal, but in details and sections I would have to cover all that up if I went that route.

Thanks,

[elaforge]

Has this issue been resolved? If so I'de LOVE to hear what the solution is.

[tyler.205627]

If the primary concern is that the light source shows for rendering generation and the offending geometry is not actually visible in the view you can just "hide in view". @ford347: I'm not sure why that didn't work for you.

This works fine for a low angle or interior view, but if you have a view where the light source and the offending geometry need to be visible you're sunk. Anyone with a solutions that actually cuts the geometry out of multiple roofs/soffits/ceilings?

[jhs.222310]

If you are not worried about the light cutting - but just want the render of the light, then edit the family so that the light source is lower than the upper soffit and it will render.

Have a look at the revit kid .com which has a video on exactly this conundrum with floor/ceiling and light fitting.

James

[tyler.205627]

@jhs.222310: thanks for the tutorial link. looks like a great resource site. Here's a direct link to the relevent tutorial which very clearly lays out the issue at hand.

http://therevitkid.blogspot.com/2010/01/tutorial-floor-or-ceiling-what-to-do.html

At this point I think that moving the light source down to just under 1/2" would be the best solution. This would work for any of the ways in which you can build a ceiling/floor/roof/soffit/etc combined geometry. Plus, due to the light source geometry the spread is not really changed by moving the source down within the can (as would be the case in the real world).

[jhs.222310]

Plus, due to the light source geometry the spread is not really changed by moving the source down within the can (as would be the case in the real world).

The only negative is that you sometimes do not get much light on the can - which makes it look like they are off - esp on wide cans.

worth playing around with

James

[sbrown]

You could model the roof soffit(framing only) from the exterior wall out, then the ceiling(Finish and framing) on the inside and as long as the framing material is the same they will join together as in your view. This way the light will cut the ceiling and you won't have the overlap.

[Munkholm]

The only negative is that you sometimes do not get much light on the can - which makes it look like they are off - esp on wide cans.


Could be solved by using a luminous material for the can/glass/reflector - like the "Light Bulp - On" OOTB material.... just an idea.... :beer:

[jhs.222310]

Could be solved by using a luminous material for the can/glass/reflector - like the "Light Bulp - On" OOTB material.... just an idea.... :beer:

tried that and the whole fitting 'glows' including the bezel - quite an effect :)