Creating Multi-Day Solar Studies

Multi-day solar studies produce animations that show the movement of shadows at a project location for a specific date range at a specific time, or for a range of time. You can specify a time interval of 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, or 1 month between the images in the animation.

To use the sun path

  1. Specify the geographic location of the project.
  2. Open a 2D or 3D view that supports the display of shadows.
  3. Turn on the sun and shadows, and adjust their intensity.
  4. If a dialog displays, click Yes to display the sun using the current project location.
  5. In the drawing area, place the cursor over the ground compass, right-click, and click Multi-Day.

    The Multi-Day mode is now in effect, with the In-session preset specified.

    Note: Each solar study mode has an In-session preset. Using this preset, you can specify a temporary setting for the sun in the active view and see changes in shadow patterns. You can then save this sun setting as a preset, so you have easy, repeatable access to this project-wide setting across all views. Presets are available in the Sun Settings dialog. To access this dialog, right-click any element of the sun path, and then select Sun Settings from the context menu.
  6. Use the following sun path controls to specify a sun position, either by dragging the sun within its range of movement or by entering different dates and times. For illustrations and descriptions of these controls, see Using the Sun Path.
    • Daily Paths. Click and drag the sun along one of the daily paths to the desired time within the study period. The sun snaps to the time intervals specified for animation frames within the study period.
      Note: The sun movement is constrained by both time (daily path) and date (analemma). You can move the sun along only one path at a time. To change both the date and time, move the sun along one path, and then move it perpendicular to that path, rather than trying to move it diagonally across the total sun area. Or, hold down the left mouse button, and use the arrow keys to move the sun:
      • Left Arrow. Moves the time later by moving the sun along its daily path from east to west.
      • Right Arrow. Moves the time earlier by moving the sun along its daily path from west to east.
      • Up Arrow. Moves the date later in time by moving the sun along the analemma.
      • Down Arrow. Moves the date earlier in time by moving the sun along the analemma.

      You can also drag a daily path to a new date within the total sun area. Moving the daily paths changes the dates while maintaining the same time of day.

    • Study Area. Drag the boundaries of the study area to increase or decrease the study period. Or, place the cursor over a corner of the study area, press TAB repeatedly until the study area is highlighted, and then drag the entire surface of the study area to a new location within the total sun area.
      Tip: To change the start and end times while maintaining the same time span, drag the surface along the daily paths. To change the start and end date while maintaining the same date span, drag the surface along the analemma.
    • Time. Edit the time range by clicking the relevant time control and entering a new time. Or, drag the time boundaries of the study area to increase or decrease the time range.
    • Date. Edit the date by clicking the relevant date control and entering a new date. Or, drag the date boundaries of the study area to increase or decrease the date range.
  7. To save the current sun setting as a preset, see Using Sun Setting Presets.

    8. You can now preview, save, or export the solar study.

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.
    Tip: To view the sun position, turn on the sun path as well.
  3. On the View Control Bar, click Sun Path Off/OnSun Settings.
  4. In the Sun Settings dialog, under Solar Study, select Multi-Day.
  5. Under Presets, select one of the predefined sun settings, and click OK. Or, select <In-session, Multi-Day>, 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 a start date and end date for the study.

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

      Note: For both the date and time values, if you enter a start value that is later than the end value, the values are corrected automatically.
    3. Enter a start time and end time for the study, or select Sunrise to sunset.
    4. For Time Interval, specify the amount of time between images in the animation.

      When you select a time interval, Frames displays the number of individual images that the solar study animation will contain.

    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.

    10. You can now preview, save, or export the solar study.

Parent topic: Creating Solar Studies