If you are interested in automated lighting design using Radiance, there is new software for the automatic placement of fixtures. This placement is based on desired lighting effects. Desired lighting effects are the amount of gloss, texture, flat or bumpy appearance with self shadowing effects in materials, etc. Undesired lighting effects can be specified in the same way. Based on those constraints as selected from a user interface, the desired highlights and dark areas in the scene, and the desired view points, the software determines possible and impossible light source locations. Additional constraints can be applied, such as "the luminaire must be on the ceiling only, or the luminaire mist not cause direct glare, or the luminaire mist not cause shadows at xyz".
See http://www.personal.psu.edu/mum13/constraints.pdf
Martin Moeck, Penn State