outdoor light in a terrain wall

[dcscca]

I'd like to add in-wall lighting sconces to my terrain wall (similar to what's shown in the attached pic), but when I try to use any of the core library's wall lights, it says I can't add the light to my terrain wall, because wall lights can only be placed on walls ("real" walls, I think it means). I saw in the Chief Architect help database that in Chief, wall lights can be copy/pasted to a User Library, and then edited there to allow placement relative to a floor, without requiring a wall attachment. However, this function does not appear to be available in Home Designer - not even in HD Pro 2016.

 

Is there any workaround other than manually adding/specifying a light source and then separately adding a non-functional architectural block of the appropriate size/shape to the same location?

 

Thanks for any ideas.

[solver]

You could place a room divider in your terrain. Place your lighting on this wall. Adjust its placement as needed, then select the wall and lighting and move them to your terrain wall.

[Kbird1]

Eric's Tip is the old goto , it used to be in a KB too but the Article you refer to now tells you to change the Symbol (which HD can't do) , but if you look at the description for that updated Article it still mentions the invisible wall way.

[dcscca]

Thanks, Eric and Mick. I tried the invisible wall approach, and it almost worked, but I wanted the lights placed lower than where the program considers 0" and the bottom of the wall, so it didn't quite work. Whenever I tried to move the light lower, it ignored my command and "bounced" the light back to a positive height value.

 

In any case, after talking to the landscape designer, since we are adding lighting into the wall at the last moment, after the CBU base has been constructed, it will be easier to use a mini-light-bar placed under the wall cap. I was able to use an under-cabinet light to model this - results attached. 

 

Thanks again.

[solver]

Did you try drawing the invisible wall on the foundation level?

[dcscca]

BTW, does anybody know how to get rid of the light that emanates from nearby windows - in this case the two downstairs front bedrooms behind the yard? I've tried manually turning off those room's ceiling lights... taking lights out of the rooms... keeping the lights in the rooms but setting the lumens level to the lowest setting... putting blinds on the window... even putting a huge soffit behind the window to block any light coming from the room. Nothing works... the windows still glow as though light is pouring out of the room. How do I get rid of that??

[dcscca]

Did you try drawing the invisible wall on the foundation level?

 

Eric, I tried that just now. When I check the box for "Foundation Wall", I can make the wall go below 0", but even so, the program won't let me specify the height of the light below 0".

[Kbird1]

Did you use a minus sign?   eg -14"   cos it seems to work for me.... what light were you using ? incase it is light specific..

 

remember these are lights so they typically get there height from the subfloor height ie HD reference height for everything which is 0" , and your garden is going to be at -18 " ?  (even though the Terrain DBX refers to it in + no#'s)

 

Terrain Curbs and Walls won't accept lights , so the Room Divider (invisible wall) works on them

 

Retaining Walls will accept a light though , even if there is no slope to the Terrain , (ie they disappear into the grass basically)  so that maybe a trick you can use too.

[solver]

I don't really have a clue about all this as I never do terrains.

 

I was referring to a wall drawn on level 0 -- not a wall set to foundation wall.

 

Looks like a negative height also works.

[dcscca]

Thanks again. Not sure why the negative height doesn't work for me for wall lights. A difference between HD 2015 and 2016, perhaps? I tried several of the core library Wall Lights on both a Room Divider and a regular exterior wall - when I try to specify a negative number as the height, it just pops back to the default height instead. (When I specify a non-default positive number, it moves to the light to the expected height, so it's not that I'm using the wrong specifier in the dialog box or something.)

 

I don't have a Level 0 in my plan currently - that may work, but I am OK for now with the current solution of using a cabinet-mounted light instead.

 

Thanks for the help!

[Kbird1]

posting your plan is the easiest way for us all to help