I drawn mostly interiors for set design. I rarely use the sun for lighting because I am building sets that will be lit on a dark sound stage. So I set my Enscape renders to night time. I use lamp lights - desk lamps, ceiling lamps etc (created with point lights, spot lights, emissive materials) but I need a better way to create general light fill. I often create a grid of “point lights”. But no matter where I place them, they always are too “source-y”. I get hot spots when they are close to walls, ceilings etc. It is very slow and fiddly to adjust everything. Any suggestions?
Also, if I want a glow from underneath kitchen wall cabinets (pretty common), I will make small strip under the cabinets and give it an emissive material. But Enscape never renders this consistently. One minute it’s bright, the next, it’s not. A glitch, I assume. Super frustrating. When I used to use Enscape for sketchup, it was far easier and more reliable. I appreciate that Enscape relies on the native VW lighting tools but I am wondering if anyone has work arounds for these problems I have.
Thanks!
Perhaps rather than using grids of point lights try using a bunch of area lights - they can be wider and taller and contribute to the GI on a wider area.
You can also use a little like a soft box or as bounce light.
Thank you for your reply, Adam. Vectorworks does not have “area lights”. It only has “directional light”, “point light”, and “spot light”. Enscape for VW uses the native lighting system and I have not found a good solution. I could create an emissive surface that would work like a soft box. But it would be visible in my render unless I place it out of view.
I think vectorworks is a bit different to the other versions - apparently you can, but you need to know where to go!
From the help docs:
If you are using Vectorworks, the following light types are also available:
-
Line Lights – Light is emitted from a line; the converted object must be a line (2-point polygon) in the first place.
-
Area Lights – Light is emitted from the surface of an object. This can be used to make objects self-illuminating, such as a television. Select Modify > Convert > Convert to Area Light.
You can also make Line lights this way too 
Thank you. I stand corrected. I was unaware of VW “area lights” and “line lights”. I have been experimenting - I drew a rectangle, modify, convert to area light etc. However, I cannot see it in the Enscape window. It makes no difference if I turn the brightness up to millions of lumens. If I could get this to work as a general fill, it would be ideal. I imagine I could use “line lights” to illuminate underneath wall cabinets too. I will keep experimenting. Thank you.