Adding can lights to architectural layouts requires a detailed understanding of the tools and features available in Revit. This article provides a step-by-step guide on choosing the right fixtures, placement, and adjustments to ensure the lighting serves the intended purpose.
Key Insights
- The process begins by going to the architecture tab and selecting the component to check what fixtures are loaded in. The right fixture, in this case, a recessed lamp round, is selected from the Imperial library and loaded.
- The placement of the can lights is done on the face of the ceiling at the appropriate intersections. Details such as the downlight's characteristics and the exact placement of the lights are pivotal to the overall aesthetic and functionality of the lighting.
- Additional fixtures are added as needed and their locations adjusted using the dimension tool. The final process includes reducing the height of selected fixtures to prevent interference and using the copy feature to ensure uniformity across the layout.
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To add the can lights, we need to go to our Architecture tab and then select Component. I always like to see what’s loaded in. It doesn’t look like we have any light fixtures loaded.
So what we’ll do is load a family. From our Imperial library, we’ll go to Lighting > Architectural > Internal, and you can see there are many lights to choose from. We’re looking for “Recessed Lamp—Round.” With the correct fixture selected, we’ll click Open. Then we’ll be asked to choose which type to load in.
There are quite a few options. So, we’re looking for the downlight. I’m going with the 4-inch trimless downlight here.
It’s important to pick the correct type, because the IES file—which describes the light spread or distribution—is tied to it. For example, wall wash and downlight types provide completely different lighting characteristics. So make sure you select the appropriate one.
We’ll use the 4-inch downlight, and now we’ll place it in the ceiling. You’ll notice two placement options: “Place on Vertical Face” and “Place on Face.” There’s also “Place on Work Plane.” In our case, we have a face to place it on,
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We’ll choose “Place on Face.” Since we’ve already created a helpful grid layout, we can place the lights directly at the intersections. We’ll place eight total can lights around the perimeter.
And there we go. The next fixture we’re going to add will include three lights positioned here, here, and here.
This fixture is available in our Imperial library. If we go to Insert > Load Family > BIM 301 folder > Revit Families, we’ve provided this edge light fixture. Once it’s loaded, return to Architecture > Component.
Make sure the correct fixture type is selected. Then use “Place on Face” again. Right now it might appear rotated, but that’s okay—you can press the spacebar to adjust the orientation.
I’m not sure of the exact horizontal location yet, but I know I want it aligned to the centerline. I’ll place the three lights, then go back to modify their locations. Once placed, I’ll use the Dimension tool to center them within the grid layout we created.
Since these are detail lines rather than reference planes, Revit may use the model element as the primary fixture—that’s fine. But you can change it to a detail line directly to control alignment. I’ll mirror the line I created across each bay, then align each light fixture to match. It looks like I’ve centered this one, and I’m using the Align tool. When aligning light fixtures, it’s important to be precise and use the centerline.
As you can see, there’s a lot going on in the view. Be sure to snap to the actual centerline to ensure proper alignment. Now, let’s take a look in 3D—the lights appear quite dramatic.
You’ll notice the fixtures include many components, and there are several things we can adjust. Right now, the layout of the globes may not be exactly what we want—but that’s okay because we can modify them.
We’ll begin by editing their height properties. Currently, they’re too tall for our intent. I’ll reduce the height of these elements, starting with one set to 6 feet.
This is totally customizable. You can set the values however you like—it’s actually fun to experiment. I’ll adjust the rest with different values: 6 feet, then working my way down: 9,8, 7,6, 5,4, and into lower values.
So, 6 feet, 2 feet, 3 feet—we’ll make this one 5 feet. You can also fine-tune these in section or elevation views using grips to manually adjust them.
As we lower the heights, you’ll see them pull up from the floor. For example, I’ll set ball number 3 to 5 feet. I’m trying to create a slight pattern with varied heights so they’re not all the same.
The issue lies with the next group: ball numbers 17,16,15,14,13, and so on. That's way too tall. That's in the realm of where people are going to be touching those. And we definitely don’t want that. I’ll set ball 15 to 3 feet, 14 to 5.5 feet, and continue down.
And like I said before, these are arbitrary choices. I'm just kind of eyeballing it based on what might look good. For example, ball number 12: 2 feet; then 5 feet, 3 feet, and 1 foot should be fine.
You’ll notice the fixture we modified looks a little bit more reasonable than the untouched ones, which still use the default values. In this case, I’m going to delete the two we didn’t modify and just copy the improved one instead.
Then we’ll revisit the 3D view. We can do some rotating and things like that to prevent the duplicates from appearing identical.
