iPlot : an intelligent lighting design assistant

Abstract

iPlot is an intelligent lighting design assistant. Given a performance space and a set of lighting goals, each specifying an area to be lit and a direction, iPlot explores the space of possible light arrangements in search of solutions that satisfy the goals. It employs a generate, test, and repair strategy in which solutions are generated and tested to see if they satisfy a goal. If a goal failed to be satisfied iPlot uses the explanation of this failure to propose a number of repair suggestions that either modify the solutions or relax the set of goals to form a new goal set. It then carries out these suggestions to create new solutions viewable by the designer as a light plot, a two-dimensional top down view of the performance space, lighting pipes, and lights all drawn to scale. This thesis describes iPlot and an experiment that involved asking a lighting designer to evaluate the light plots that iPlot produced.