Performing a Cast Shadow Study

To see the impact of shadows of your building on surrounding buildings and open area, Cast Shadows lets you perform a cast shadow study on a building project. A cast shadow study allows you to focus on shadows created on the selected date and time.

  1. In the Cast Shadows dialog box, under Shadows, select the following check boxes:
    OptionDescription
    Enable shadows Displays the shadows in the3D area.
    Show heliodon Displays the heliodon in the 3D area.
    Note: You can set the size of the heliodon from Heliodon scale.
    Show sun path Displays the sun and its path in the 3D area.
    Show compass Displays a compass indicating North, South, East, and West.
    Note: The scale of the compass is the same as that of the heliodon.
  2. In the Cast Shadows dialog box, under Ambience, select one of the following:
    • To display the current ambience in the 3D area, select Display current ambience.
      Important: The system may not display shadows clearly in the selected ambience.
    • To use the supplied ambience that is optimized for conceptual shadow studies, select Optimize for conceptual shadows.
  3. In the Cast Shadows dialog box, under Date and Time:
    1. To change the date, click the calendar and select the date.
      For example, to show the spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere for 2017, select March 20, 2017 and for the Southern Hemisphere, select September 23, 2017.
    2. From Time Zone, select the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) without accounting for Daylight Savings Time.
      For example, for Waltham, Massachusetts, select UTC -05:00.
    3. If the selected date is during Daylight Savings Time, select the Daylight savings check box.
      The dialog box displays Sunrise time and Sunset time for the Date and Time selections.
    4. To see shadows at a specific time, move the slider until Time reflects the required time.
  4. In the 3D area, from the heliodon:
    • Select a sun path.
      Note: The heliodon displays one sun path for each month of the year.
      Tip: You can change the date of the sun paths by setting the Date and Time, in the Cast Shadows dialog box.
    • Select an analemma.
      Note: The heliodon displays one analemma for each hour of the day. Select an analemma to focus on shadows created at a particular hour of the day, throughout the year.
  5. In the Cast Shadows dialog box, under Animation:
    • To see an animation , click .
    • To pause the animation, click . You can resume the animation from the paused location.
    • To create a continuous loop of the animations, click .
    • To increase the speed of the animation, drag the slider towards .
    • To decrease the speed of the animation, drag the slider towards

 

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