Creating Still Solar Studies

Still solar studies produce single images that show the impact of sun and shadows at a project location for a specified date and time.

Note: When you select the Still mode in the Sun Settings dialog, you have the option to use a project-wide sun setting for a set of views. When you adjust the sun position in a view that uses the shared setting, the sun position is updated in all other views that use the shared setting.

To use the Sun Settings dialog

1. Open a 2D or 3D view that supports the display of shadows.
2. Turn on shadows, and adjust their intensity.
3. On the View Control Bar, click Shadows Off/OnSun Settings.
4. In the Sun Settings dialog, under Solar Study, select Still.
5. Under Presets, select one of the predefined sun settings (such as Summer Solstice), and click OK. Or, select <In-session, Still>, and complete the remaining steps in this procedure to define your own sun setting.
6. Under Settings, specify a sun position:
   1. For Location, verify that the correct project location is displayed.

      To change the location, click (Browse), and specify the project location either by searching on the street address or longitude and latitude, or by selecting the nearest major city from the Default City List.

   2. Enter the date of the study.

      The date format specified for your computer’s operating system is applied to the date you enter.

   3. Enter the time of the study.
   4. If <In-session, Still> is selected, you can enable the current view to use a project-wide sun setting by selecting Use shared settings.

      When you select Use shared settings, the sun position is based on a project-wide sun setting, rather than a view-specific one. Therefore, when you adjust the sun position in a view that uses the shared setting, the sun position is updated in all other views that use the shared setting. The shared setting is not stored as a preset so, unlike presets which can be modified only in the Sun Settings dialog, the shared setting can be modified in the drawing area.

   5. To cast shadows on the ground plane, select Ground Plane at Level, and select the level at which you want the shadows to display.

      When you select Ground Plane at Level, the software casts shadows on the specified level in 2D and 3D shaded views. When you clear Ground Plane at Level, the software casts shadows on the toposurface, if one exists.

      Note: The ground plane is not used in rendered views. To cast shadows in rendered views, model a ground plane in the project.
7. To test the sun setting in the active view, click Apply.
8. To save the current sun setting as a preset, click Save Settings, enter a unique name, and click OK.
9. Click OK when done.

You can now save or export the solar study image.