ABSTRACT
This chapter provides some general guidelines for developing lighting systems that create the basic illumination or visibility for an environment. One of the most important aspects of these systems is that rarely will a single light source be sufficient for lighting an entire environment. In practice, the light from most luminaires is directional enough that they can only light a limited amount of space. As one moves throughout the space, the angle of the light appears to change because not enough distance exists between the source and the subject to create parallel light throughout the space. We therefore use additional luminaires as a way of duplicating the light of a selected source, creating the appearance that the environment is lit by a single source. Even though much of this chapter is devoted to theatrical practices, the principles can be adapted and modified for many other areas of lighting design as well. In this chapter I present several methods for developing general illumination and discuss working with resources like sections and floorplans.
