Lighting Design and Simulation Knowledgebase
This lighting glossary combines terms that are used in architectural lighting design and lighting simulation. The interdisciplinary nature of the work of the lighting designer is reflected by terms originating in architecture, radiometry, photometry, colorimetry, metereology, physiology, psychology, mathematics, geometry and computer graphics.
Credits:
Of course, the information in this lighting glossary is not
something we invented ourselves. We have used a number of
printed and online
sources
in compiling everything you find here.
What we do not cover here, are the terms from what might be referred to as "lighting technology". If you are interested eg. in the mechanical and electrical details of specific light source types, then we can recommend both the Lithonia glossary and the Philips lighting glossary.
# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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E |
electrical lighting etendue exitance see luminous exitance and radiant exitance exposure extinction coefficient |
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F |
feature animation field angle footcandle footlambert |
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G |
gamma gamma correction general color rendering index geometry animation glare ground light |
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H |
hefner candle hefner unit hot spot |
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I |
illuminance illumination image filtering indirect lighting intensity see luminous intensity and radiant intensity inverse square law irradiance |
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J |
jittered sampling |
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K |
kelvin |
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L |
lambert lambertian surface Lambert's cosine law light light adaptation lighting design lumberg lumen lumen method luminance luminance contrast luminous luminous emittance luminous energy luminous exitance luminous flux luminous flux density luminous intensity luminous power lux |
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M |
material matte mesopic vision metamer michelson contrast mirror angle mist mixture modifier modulation morphing |
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N |
nit normal vector |
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O |
overcast sky |
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P |
participating medium partly cloudy sky pattern peak-to-peak contrast penumbra perception phot photogene photometric brightness photometry photopic vision point by point method polar angle polygon |
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Q |
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R |
radiance Radiance software radiant emittance radiant energy radiant exitance radiant flux radiant flux density radiant flux transfer method radiant intensity radiant power radiometry radiosity radiosity method Rayfront software raytracing reflectance reflected glare right hand rule ring |
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S |
scattering albedo scattering coefficient scotopic vision sensation sky light solar altitude solid angle source specular sphere square law steradian stilb stochastic raytracing sunlight sunny sky surface surface normal |
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T |
TAF talbot texture time of day animation time of year animation time series animation transient adaptation transient adaptation factor transmisison coefficient transmisison factor transmissivity transmittance tube |
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U |
umbra |
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V |
veiling luminance veiling reflection violle |
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W |
walk-through animation wavelength weber contrast white balance workplane |
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X |
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Y |
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Z |
zonal cavity method |
This lighting glossary is by far not complete. We'll update it continually. However, if you need any related term explained, and don't find it here, just ask us, and if we know the definition (or can dig it up somewhere), we'll add it to our list!
