AGI-32's Bollard Symbol

There's a style of symbol in AGI-32's toolbox that everyone should be careful with, and that is the bollard symbol. The symbol comes in a few variations, but they all behave in the same way when used.

The issue with the bollard symbols is that when used in Direct Calculation mode, they do not function the way they are supposed to. To use a bollard symbol, you specify the Z height of the body, and change the Insertion Point to Bottom. This way, when you place a 3' high fixture at 0 feet, the top of the fixture is at 3'. If you were to use a Circle Down symbol instead, you would place the head at the height of the optical center of the fixture, just like you would with a pole mounted fixture.

What's the issue? AGI uses the insertion point as the origin of the IES file when calculating in Direct mode. This leaves us with a calculation grid showing either 0.0 foot candles, or just very low foot candles.

I have run two calculations, both in the same environment, both using Direct Calculations. I ran one calculation with the Circle Down LS symbol, and one with the Bollard Round12X36 symbol. Circle Down LS is mounted at 3' AFG, and Bollard Round12X36 has a Z height of 3' and is mounted at 0' AFG.

You will see below in both sections, that the Circle Down LS has the photometric web in the correct position, and Bollard Round12X36 has the photometric web in the incorrect position. This is due to the Insertion Point.

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Note the placement of the photometric web on the Bollard symbol above versus the Circle symbol below.

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The takeaway here is that when choosing a symbol for bollards, your best bet is a symbol that does not rely on luminous surfaces as the direct calculation does not appear to take these into account. When running a Full Radiosity calculation, the bollard's luminous surfaces are used, and the calc grid reflects this correctly.