VELUX Daylight Visualizer

A free professional simulation tool for the analysis of daylight conditions in buildings

VELUX Daylight Visualizer aids design professionals by predicting and documenting daylight levels and appearance of a space prior to realisation of the building design. Daylight Visualizer goes above and beyond commonly used 3D visualisation programs by giving you the power to accurately simulate and quantify daylight levels in interiors, whereas most of the other programs only generate images, without information about the quantity and quality of light in each space. You can use Daylight Visualizer to:

• Calculate daylight factor levels
• Evaluate requirements for daylight provisions in the new European Standard for Daylight in Buildings - EN 17037
• Create or import 3D models
• Perform luminance and illuminance simulations under different CIE (The International Commission on Illumination - the Commission Internationale de l´Eclairage) sky conditions

Nicolas Roy - Architect, VELUX. How does VELUX Daylight Visualizer support EN 17037?

Daylight Factor Simulations

You can use Daylight Visualizer to simulate daylight factor (DF) - a commonly used performance indicator for the evaluation of daylight provisions in buildings. The daylight factor is a measure of the amount of diffuse light available at different points inside the building - in relation to the amount of diffuse light available outside the building under unobstructed overcast sky conditions. Daylight factor levels are expressed as a percentage and measured on a plan view at work plane height.
Find out more about the daylight factor on velux.com 

Daylight factor simulations showing the impact of 3 different product solutions on daylight performance, school project

EN 17037 Daylight in Buildings

Daylight factor simulations can be used to evaluate requirements for daylight provisions in EN 17037, where two specific daylight factor targets need to be achieved over 50% and 95% of the work plane area. The daylight factor targets were defined based on recorded climatic data in each country, and relate to a desired illuminance level for the space. 

How to evaluate EN 17037 with Daylight Visualizer using imported models

Import 3D models 

Daylight Visualizer can import detailed 3D models of buildings from a wide range of CAD/BIM software - including Revit, AutoCAD, ArchiCAD and SketchUp - with one of the supported file formats DWG, DXF, SKP and OBJ.

Download our CAD/BIM objects for Modular Skylights

How to import model from AutoCAD

Luminance and illuminance simulations

With Daylight Visualizer you can perform luminance and illuminance simulations under different CIE sky conditions, and apply false color mapping to visualize the quantity and distribution of daylight in the space.

Luminance rendering under sunny sky with false color mapping, Hessenwaldschule school project - see the case study

Luminance rendering under overcast sky with false color mapping, Hessenwaldschule school project - see the case study

Validated Simulation Results

Daylight Visualizer can accurately predict daylight levels and the appearance of a space lit with natural light, prior to realisation of the building design. It has passed CIE 171:2006 and SBI 2013:26 test cases dedicated to natural lighting.

CIE 171:2006

Simulation results have been validated by ENTPE (National School of State Public Works) against test cases dedicated to natural lighting in CIE 171:2006 Test Cases to Assess the Accuracy of Lighting Computer Programs.

SBI 2013:26

Simulation results have been validated in the investigation – Daylight Calculations in Practice SBI 2013:26 - which looked into the ability of nine daylight simulation programs to calculate daylight factor levels in five typical rooms.