# Solar tubes to provide natural light indoors without opening curtains

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/solar-tubes-to-provide-natural-light-indoors-without-opening-curtains/13363>\
**Category:** The Drawing Board\
**Created:** [February 5, 2017, 4:19pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/solar-tubes-to-provide-natural-light-indoors-without-opening-curtains/13363 "2017-02-05T16:19:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CosmicKobal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@CosmicKobal](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/CosmicKobal)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 4:19pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/solar-tubes-to-provide-natural-light-indoors-without-opening-curtains/13363/1 "2017-02-05T16:19:21Z")

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As stated in title, solar tubes can be installed in a roof to provide natural light to interior rooms of a house. I feel that the same thing should be available as a construction option to allow natural light into your fortress.

Alternately, you could build a skylight…

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**Author:** ![kevin.granade](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/kevin.granade/32/1316_2.png) [@kevin.granade](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kevin.granade)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 10:00pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/solar-tubes-to-provide-natural-light-indoors-without-opening-curtains/13363/2 "2017-02-05T22:00:16Z")

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I think we’d want to limit it to a skylight for the time being, IRL light pipes are used to route light to lower levels through walls and such, but the code to do that would be a PITA in the game.

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**Author:** ![Aquilo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Aquilo](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Aquilo)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 7:08am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/solar-tubes-to-provide-natural-light-indoors-without-opening-curtains/13363/3 "2017-02-06T07:08:07Z")

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I’ll just leave it here.

![](https://habrastorage.org/storage2/a99/9ff/4b4/a999ff4b40c6595c4df220c34374beb6.jpg)

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**Author:** ![CosmicKobal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@CosmicKobal](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/CosmicKobal)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 3:50pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/solar-tubes-to-provide-natural-light-indoors-without-opening-curtains/13363/4 "2017-02-06T15:50:28Z")

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[quote=“Aquilo, post:3, topic:13363”]I’ll just leave it here.

![](https://habrastorage.org/storage2/a99/9ff/4b4/a999ff4b40c6595c4df220c34374beb6.jpg)

I love this so much, that I think I’ll be doing it to my own future tiny home

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**Author:** ![RedPine](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/redpine/32/4995_2.png) [@RedPine](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/RedPine)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 12:36am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/solar-tubes-to-provide-natural-light-indoors-without-opening-curtains/13363/5 "2017-02-09T00:36:08Z")

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How hard would it be to craft an indoor light source that emits daylight while indoors? For balance it could be limited to Z levels on the surface and above only.

At the very least I want to craft “opaque” windows that let light but not vision to pass through.

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**Author:** ![kevin.granade](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/kevin.granade/32/1316_2.png) [@kevin.granade](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kevin.granade)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 5:39pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/solar-tubes-to-provide-natural-light-indoors-without-opening-curtains/13363/6 "2017-02-09T17:39:48Z")

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Not hard at all, just a few tweaks to the light code.

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**Author:** ![Coolthulhu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/coolthulhu/32/2446_2.png) [@Coolthulhu](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Coolthulhu)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 6:10pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/solar-tubes-to-provide-natural-light-indoors-without-opening-curtains/13363/7 "2017-02-09T18:10:37Z")

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In 3D mode, it would be possible to check if the tile above has sunlight. In 2D mode it’s all hacks, though.