New:

AI drafting for lighting plans

AI Lighting Plan Drafting

A lighting plan is mostly transcription and bookkeeping: fixtures carried over from the reflected ceiling plan, tagged to the schedule, switched, zoned for the energy code, and backed up on emergency power along the egress path. Nomic drafts that sheet in CAD from the RCP and the lighting design, then checks the controls and the emergency coverage against the codes you name before your engineer reviews.

Start for freeAll drafting work
Last reviewed: November 2026

You send

  • Reflected ceiling plan and architectural background
  • Lighting designer's layout and fixture cutsheets
  • Fixture schedule or basis-of-design list
  • Energy code edition and your controls narrative
  • Your CAD standards file and title block

Nomic hands back

  • Lighting plans as DWG files with tags, switching, and zones
  • Fixture schedule in Excel and drawn on the sheet
  • Controls sequence notes in your format
  • Clouded PDFs and open questions for the engineer of record
1234567ABCGUEST ROOM301GUEST ROOM302GUEST ROOM303GUEST ROOM304GUEST ROOM305GUEST ROOM306GUEST ROOM307GUEST ROOM308GUEST ROOM309GUEST ROOM310SUITE311GUEST ROOM312SUITE313STAIRS2$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$a$aEXIT27'-3"27'-0"27'-3"27'-3"27'-0"27'-3"94'-8"1ALIGHTING PLANSCALE: 1/8" = 1'-0"N1234CONSULTING ENGINEERSREVISIONS1ISSUED FOR REVIEWPROJECTRIVERSIDE HOTELSCALE1/8" = 1'-0"DATE02/13/2026KEY PLANSHEET TITLELIGHTING PLANSHEET NUMBERE-201

On the sheet

Lighting Plan, annotated

A lighting plan with fixtures laid out room by room, switching, and circuit home runs.

  1. 12x4 LED troffer from the fixture schedule
  2. 2Switching zone shared by the fixtures
  3. 3Wall switch at the door
  4. 4Corridor downlights and exit sign

The problem

The ceiling changes and the lighting plan starts over

The lighting plan sits downstream of the architect and the lighting designer. Every time the ceiling grid shifts, a soffit drops, or a fixture type is value-engineered out, someone moves the fixtures on the electrical sheet, retags them, redraws the switch legs, and rechecks the fixture schedule. On a school or an office floor that can mean several hundred fixtures touched for one architectural revision.

The controls layer is where most comments come from. Daylight zones get drawn as a guess instead of measured from the window head height, a conference room ends up without bilevel control, a storage room has no automatic shutoff, or the occupancy sensor covers half the room. Emergency lighting has its own misses: a gap along the path to the exit discharge, an exit sign missing at a corridor turn, or a large public restroom left off emergency power.

01 / Layout

Fixtures carried from the RCP and tagged

Nomic reads the reflected ceiling plan and the lighting designer's layout, places each fixture on your lighting layers with your blocks, and tags it to the fixture schedule. It follows the photometric layout as drawn and does not move fixtures on its own judgment.

  • Fixture types and tags matched to the fixture schedule
  • Exit signs placed at exits and changes in egress direction
  • Fixture schedule written in Excel and drawn on the sheet
02 / Controls

Switching and control zones by space type

Name the energy code edition and Nomic draws switch legs, occupancy and vacancy sensors, daylight sensors, and zone boundaries for each space type, with daylight zones measured from the window head height. The sequence of operations notes go on the sheet in your format so the controls contractor reads the same intent the plan shows.

  • Local control, bilevel, and automatic shutoff by space
  • Primary and secondary daylight zones measured at the windows
  • Sensor locations checked against the coverage pattern
03 / Egress

Emergency lighting checked along the exit path

Nomic traces the means of egress on the architectural plan and checks that emergency fixtures, unit equipment, and exit signs cover it to the exit discharge, including the rooms the building code calls out by name. Illuminance stays with the lighting designer's photometric calculation, so Nomic flags where a point-by-point is still needed.

  • Emergency fixtures and unit equipment along the egress path
  • Electrical, generator, and fire pump rooms on emergency power
  • Emergency circuits kept on the emergency panel

Checked against

The code and documents behind every sheet

Name the editions the project is designed to and Nomic checks its own drawing against them before handing it back. Your engineer or architect of record makes the final call and stamps the set.

  • ASHRAE 90.1 Section 9 or IECC C405 lighting controls
  • IBC 1008 means of egress illumination
  • IBC 1013 exit signs
  • NFPA 101 Sections 7.8, 7.9, and 7.10
  • NEC Articles 410 and 700
  • The reflected ceiling plan and lighting designer's layout

How it works

From a sentence to a stamped set

  1. Step 1

    Ask for the drawing

    Say what the sheet needs to show and attach the backgrounds, markups, cutsheets, or photos. A sentence is enough to start.

  2. Step 2

    Nomic drafts it in CAD

    Nomic works in CAD on its own computer, on your layers and blocks, following how your firm drew the same thing before. It saves real DWG files to the project.

  3. Step 3

    Nomic checks its own work

    The drawing is checked against the code editions you name and the source documents. Everything Nomic drew is clouded, and open questions are listed.

  4. Step 4

    Your team reviews and stamps

    Your engineers and architects review the clouded changes, make the final call, and issue the set under their own stamp.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Yes. Nomic works in CAD on its own computer and saves the lighting plan as a DWG file, with fixtures carried from the reflected ceiling plan, tagged to the schedule, switched, and zoned for the energy code. Your engineer reviews the clouded sheet before it goes out.

No. Photometrics stay with the lighting designer and their photometric software. Nomic drafts the fixture layout and controls from the design they issue, and flags spaces where a point-by-point is still needed, such as emergency illuminance along the egress path.

Yes. Name the edition and Nomic checks each space for the controls it requires, including local control, bilevel or partial automatic on, daylight responsive control in sidelit and toplit zones, automatic shutoff, and occupancy-based partial off. Missing controls are flagged on the sheet with the section that requires them.

Nomic follows the means of egress on the architectural plan to the exit discharge and places emergency fixtures, unit equipment, and exit signs along it per IBC 1008 and 1013 or NFPA 101. It also covers the rooms the IBC names, such as electrical rooms and public restrooms of 300 sq ft or more.

No. Nomic saves DWG files to the project that open in AutoCAD or any DWG editor, and it does not edit Revit models. Revit teams link the DWG or use the change list Nomic writes to update the model.

Keep reading

Related drafting work

AI Reflected Ceiling Plan Drafting

Ceiling grids, heights, soffits, and devices coordinated with lighting, sprinkler, and diffuser layouts.

AI Power Plan Drafting

Receptacle layouts, dedicated circuits, and homeruns drafted as DWGs and checked against NEC 210.

AI Life Safety Plan and Code Plan Drafting

Occupant loads, egress paths, travel distances, and rated walls on a code plan checked to IBC.

AI Drafting for Electrical Engineering

Power, lighting, panel schedules, and one-lines drafted as DWGs and checked against the NEC.

AI Drafting for Office Fit-Out and Tenant Improvement Projects

Demo, new work, power and data, and test fits drafted on the landlord base building DWG.

What is a lighting plan?

What an electrical lighting plan shows and who draws it.

What is a reflected ceiling plan?

The architectural ceiling sheet the lighting plan is drawn from.

What is an energy code?

ASHRAE 90.1 and the IECC, including lighting control rules.

Best AI for lighting design

How AI tools for lighting layout and controls compare.

AI Lighting Plan Drafting: Fixtures, Controls, Egress | Nomic