Displaying Sun and Shadows

3D views have more shadow-casting elements than 2D views, so they yield far more information about natural lighting, shading requirements, passive solar design potential, and renewable energy potential. For more information about views that support solar studies, see Creating Views for Solar Studies.

For the best results when studying the effect of light and shadows on a building and site, turn on both the sun path and shadow display in a 3D view.

Note: You control the visibility of the sun path and shadows on a view-by-view basis. When you turn the sun path or shadows on or off in one view, no other views are affected.

To turn on the sun path

Use one of these methods:

• On the View Control Bar, click Sun Path Off/OnSun Path On.
• Click in an empty area of the view to display the view properties. On the Properties palette, under Graphics, select Sun path, and click Apply. (If the Properties palette is not displayed, click View tabWindows panelUser Interface, and select Properties. )
  Tip: When you turn on the sun path in the view properties, the sun path setting is saved in any new view templates you create.

  When you are using a default template, the first time you turn on the sun path, the <In-session, Lighting> setting is specified and Relative to View is selected. When Relative to View is selected, the sun does not display. A dialog displays options for specifying sun settings:

  • To create lighting conditions based on the project location, date, and time, click Yes. Then, create a Still, Single Day, or Multi-Day solar study.
  • To create lighting conditions that might not exist in the real world, click No. Then, use the Sun Settings dialog to specify the sun position.

To turn on shadows

Use one of these methods:

• On the View Control Bar, click Shadows Off/OnShadows On.
• On the View Control Bar, click Visual StyleGraphic Display Options. In the Graphic Display Options dialog, under Shadows, select Cast Shadows, and click OK.

To adjust the intensity of sun, indirect light, or shadows

1. On the View Control Bar, click Visual StyleGraphic Display Options.
2. In the Graphic Display Options dialog, under Lighting, move the Sun slider or enter a value between 0 and 100 to change the brightness of the direct light.
3. For Ambient Light, move the slider or enter a value between 0 and 100 to change the brightness of the ambient light.
4. Under Shadows, move the Shadow slider or enter a value between 0 and 100 to change the darkness of the shadows.
5. Click OK.