FREE lighting CAD program. Attention all nerds!

I have like 3 programs to do that kind of shit and between all of them, I can get maybe half of windows-based programs to work. It's just not worth downloading so much other software, I like my computer virus-free. Despite what everyone says about macs, they can get viruses. I have full-time college coursework online and saved on my hard drive, and run a business with my wife from this computer, pretty important it works lol.

Who wants to whip up a room for me? I'll send basic specs of what I'm planning

I can't do it just this instant but I'd work on it for you. Let me know dimensions and what else you had in mind.

Hey there... trying to load in my lamps... and having trouble finding how to load a good 1000watter in there ... any help? thanks

Sweet! Thanks.

5'x10'x8'h
1horizontal 1000k xxxl hood (38"x28"x10"h)
2horizontal 600w (21"x24"x9"h)
2 vert 400w around mid plants (bare bulb with fans under)
8 plants UCDWC

o...o..o...o
6 v 1 v 6
o...o..o...o

Horizontal lights mounted to 8' ceiling(12" total clearance) and exhausted together with 8" ducting, 750cfm fan centered at the end on the ceiling. Plants on 16" tall totes, grown however tall you tell me lol. That's all I can think of right now, anything else you need lemme know

Is this a current room or a future project? Just started sketching it up and the 400's seem just a tad over the top imo.



Let me know what to tweek at this stage and I'll add the 400s if you still want them and the ducting/filters...

Friggin' AWESOME find there GasTanker!!! 'Preciate ya!!

Thanks Jack! Definitely a good find - if only I could remember what I wanted to use it for...

Gastanker said:

Thanks Jack! Definitely a good find - if only I could remember what I wanted to use it for...

Click to expand...

Haha...you got sidetracked laying out grow room floorplans. We all love to dream. Nice work here Gas...thanks for sharing.

thanx for the post dude !!!! program looks sick !!! do any of you guys know how similar it is to Valve hammer editor ?

Gastanker said:

Is this a current room or a future project? Just started sketching it up and the 400's seem just a tad over the top imo.

Let me know what to tweek at this stage and I'll add the 400s if you still want them and the ducting/filters...

Click to expand...

Cool stuff man. In the planning process. Right now I have a waterfarm 8pack and some other randoms in a 5x10 tent with 1x1k and 2x600, looking at replacing WF with UC after upcoming crop, possibly going to be building a room around it. Either way, I have ~3kw of capacity and want to utilize it to its best potential. I was going to do 2x1000w hps with a 600w mh in between, but started thinking that it may be more efficient to have 600s up top and 400s in between to prevent lower fluff. I can't bring myself to go completely vert, but I was thinking a combo of the 2 may be more efficient. This is saying otherwise obviously though.

My only concern with the room as you it stands is that the 600s seem to be putting out as much light as the 1k. I had chosen 1x1k, 2x600 because that gives a roughly even amount of wattage per plant (250/300) from horizontal lighting. My 600w hoods are also vertical on the ends so there's less overlap than the mockup of them makes it look like.

The res can be left out too, that's going to be put on the outside of the room. I had also assumed a slightly smaller gap between the 2 middle rows of plants, being that there's no vert bulb there. So with the spacing changed, and the 600w lighting changed, think it'd work out?

DANG gastanker awesome find, and damn your good at using the program too ha

Installing it now to give it a try. DAMN do they suck at making an installer though.

Calculating dl size for a few mins now.

mike91sr said:

Cool stuff man. In the planning process. Right now I have a waterfarm 8pack and some other randoms in a 5x10 tent with 1x1k and 2x600, looking at replacing WF with UC after upcoming crop, possibly going to be building a room around it. Either way, I have ~3kw of capacity and want to utilize it to its best potential. I was going to do 2x1000w hps with a 600w mh in between, but started thinking that it may be more efficient to have 600s up top and 400s in between to prevent lower fluff. I can't bring myself to go completely vert, but I was thinking a combo of the 2 may be more efficient. This is saying otherwise obviously though.

My only concern with the room as you it stands is that the 600s seem to be putting out as much light as the 1k. I had chosen 1x1k, 2x600 because that gives a roughly even amount of wattage per plant (250/300) from horizontal lighting. My 600w hoods are also vertical on the ends so there's less overlap than the mockup of them makes it look like.

The res can be left out too, that's going to be put on the outside of the room. I had also assumed a slightly smaller gap between the 2 middle rows of plants, being that there's no vert bulb there. So with the spacing changed, and the 600w lighting changed, think it'd work out?

Click to expand...

Let me make sure I'm following - you want the two rows of plants closer together and for me to get rid of the res? Here's a sketchup with the two vert 400s in place. And don't get hung up on the 600s vs 1kW, they look the same but the calculations will be based on the 600w putting out 92k lumen and the 1kW @ 130k. I want to say the 400s are putting out 52k? - whatever it was for the same brand bulb as the other two but the 400w model.

Here are a couple renderings I did before looking at this thread. I'll modify and get back to you in a bit.



Pretty sure you'll need an AC with the 400s in place - not sure about the chicken though.



Can't really see the 400s but they are being calculated as being just below those two discs.

Even got a chicken in there, balls out.

tehgenoc1de said:

Even got a chicken in there, balls out.

Click to expand...

That should be hid signature in every design!

Gastanker said:

Let me make sure I'm following - you want the two rows of plants closer together and for me to get rid of the res? Here's a sketchup with the two vert 400s in place. And don't get hung up on the 600s vs 1kW, they look the same but the calculations will be based on the 600w putting out 92k lumen and the 1kW @ 130k. I want to say the 400s are putting out 52k? - whatever it was for the same brand bulb as the other two but the 400w model.

Here are a couple renderings I did before looking at this thread. I'll modify and get back to you in a bit.


Pretty sure you'll need an AC with the 400s in place - not sure about the chicken though.


Can't really see the 400s but they are being calculated as being just below those two discs.

Click to expand...

I'll take this one at a time so I don't confuse myself lol... The rows (front/back) will be same distance but left to right (1-4), I was thinking of putting the middle 2 columns closer together. I was thinking almost like 2 individual 5x5 vert grows, the plants have to be pushed a bit away from the bulb itself so they're slightly more dense in between and around the edges. Like this:
o...o.o...o
o...o.o...o
But maybe not as drastic, I had wanted to use this program to see what would be optimal.

Yes, the res can go, tubing will be run straight through the wall.

I run an ac in the room that this will be going in, like a mechanical lung, so temps aren't a concern as long as I get air in efficiently enough.

Last thing I saw was that my lights/ducting will be run left-right in a straight line with a single 180* bend and filter mounted lengthwise along the back, as opposed to the front-back configuration. Is there any way to adjust the reflectivity/spread of the light? I run a xxxl for the 1k which spreads the light as much as possible, but very directional 600's to not lose penetration, I assume that will have an effect but not sure if the program is able to do that. If not, no biggie.

Other than that it looks awesome, as long as that chicken is yielding some potent-ass eggs.

Thanks again man, +rep/like?? wtf?!

Ah, that makes more sense. At first I was going to sketch it up just like you want but then had to remind myself that not everyone uses tents and that you said room and would need space for other stuff. As a tent, with the additional room, the 400s make more sense. I'll redo the spacing, ex the AC and res, redo the venting and upload again.

About the cast pattern - I can import the appearance and cast pattern to most all lamps manufactured by these major brands -



I can also take those cast patterns and alter the lumens and wattage as well as modify the size of the cast pattern, but that's about it. Many smaller lamp manufactures also offer up this data so if you can find the specific data for your lamps let me know and I'll import it. In the mean time all I can do is find similar wattage HID lamps with decent even cast patterns tinker with the lumens. Atm I am using the same cast pattern for both 1kW and 600w but I'll look to see if there is a wider cast lamp for the 1kw - it might however not resemble a typical hood in the image. If you happen to browse the listed manufacturers and find a similar lamp let me know as well.

This is the current cast pattern I am using for the lamps -

600s directly over the two outer plants or directly over the vert 400s? Here they are over the 400s

Wish I could get the real cast patterns. Here is a fixture that is different than the others - not sure it's representative of a magnum though -

Outer plants. But that looks more like what I was thinking otherwise. I couldn't find specs for my lighting though, so whatever you use is fine. Last thing, feel free to move the 400s up and down to find where they're most effective. That's why I wanted this program; to try multiple layouts and see what would work best. Thanks again for this!

edit: The second one looks more realistic. The more spread you can get the better. The xxxl has almost no directionality.