Interactive solar studies allows you to understand how the sun affects your design.
This video demonstrates the following:
Understanding how your design relates to the sun can help you take advantage of passive lighting and heating opportunities. Perform a solar study on your model to gain more insight into how your design takes advantage of the sun.
In this model, we created a view specifically for understanding the sun and doing a solar analysis of the design. The sun path is enabled to better visualize the position of the sun in the sky as it relates to the building. Notice the dates and times shown on the sun path. It is possible to select the sun and move its position on the sun path.
To perform an interactive solar study, click the sun icon on the view control bar and select Solar Study. A contextual tab on the ribbon displays controls for the study. For example, you want to understand how the sun affects your design during the summer solstice and the winter solstice. Change the study type to Single day and under presets, select Summer Solstice Solar Study.
Now use the frame slider to adjust the position of the sun through the day or use the play controls on the left side of the ribbon to animate the movement of the sun. Press the Escape key to stop the animation. Use the display control to affect the intensity of shadows , and light and to control the speed of the animation.
To set the date, time, and intervals for a preset, click the sun on the view control bar and select sun settings. In the sun settings dialog, edit existing single and multi-day presets or create new ones for your own specific studies. Settings allow you to set a location, a date and time range, and the intervals for the animation.
In this tutorial , the tools were demonstrated on an exterior view, but you can use these tool in any view of your model to help you understand how the sun relates to your design. Use interactive solar study tools to help you better understand how you can utilize the sun for passive lighting and heating in your designs.