With the introduction of LED (Light Emitting Diode) based lighting in home and professional environments, people will have the possibility to create and change the perceived atmosphere of the environment. People know the possibility of dimming the lighting level and switching on spotlights to increase the coziness in the environment. On short term, they will have the possibility to create more atmospheres by using LED lighting on walls and objects, by changing the color temperature of the ambient lighting in the room, or by creating spots of lights to support their activities. The increase in possibilities is at the cost of an increase in the amount of controls. For a complex lighting infrastructure with a plurality of different light units or lamps, simple control tools like switches or a dimming wheel will not be sufficient for people to create desired lighting atmospheres. All these tools are known to the user, but these control devices can only influence a single lamp, or a group of lamps. In shops or meeting rooms a more complex lighting infrastructure is present. To create and modify the light atmosphere, typically an installer is asked to program some light scenes: the installer will usually cluster some lights in groups, and provide control values for the groups or for individual lamps. These control values are then stored as a scene. And the user is limited to recall the pre-programmed scenes only. But when the user would like to create or adapt a lighting atmosphere himself, a more intuitive interface is needed.
US2007/0189026A1 disclose methods and systems for supplying control signals for lighting systems, including methods and systems for authoring effects and shows for lighting systems. In an embodiment, a method for generating control signals for a lighting system is provided, which involves generating an image or representation of an image such as an explosion in a room for example. This image may be used to generate control signals.