Solar Study - Floor plan doesn't show correctly...

Just came across this issue in one of our offices.

Were trying to show how shadows are cast in a public space of one of our buildings were working on.
what we found was that the shadows on the floor plan don't exactly match the shadows that we see cast in the camera view.

Shadow Plan View

Shadow Camera View

Seemed like the right thing to do, show the floor plan shadows and the camera view shadows together to clearly indicate the impact of day-lighting for the space.

Well the floor plan will never show the correct shadows.. I believe Revit is treating anything above the "view cut plane" as not existing, hence letting the daylight in as if the walls stop 3' off the ground. Not a true representation of a plan view of the day-lighting condition in that place.

To truly represent the shadow study I recommended that we use a 3D view showing the position/path of the sun, turn off the shadows in the plan view and only use the plan view as a indication of where the camera views are located then use the camera view to show the actual shadows within the room.

Anyone else got any ideas??

How have you done shadow studies?

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Using the Sun to your Advantage - 2

Once you have set the location of your project and set your Sun Setting to be View specific, you can now change the aspect of the Sun.

Under the Sun Setting dialog box you can set the date and time which will specify the location of the sun for you.

Alternately if you turn the Sun Path on while in a 3D view you'll get a graphic showing the location of the Sun as well as be able to edit the time and date, same as what you would change on the Sun Setting dialog box but you get instant results.

You can also press and drag the sun around to the time and month you want as well... instant results!

Using the Sun to your Advantage

Ever noticed that when you spin your model around in a 3d view your shadows change sides.... it's like your rotating the model and the Sun stays in the same location!

Well that's actually what's happening!

Always seemed strange to me that this occurs, you spend so much time setting up the location and project north etcetera and the sun doesn't follow you as you rotate the 3D model!

Here is a easy fix....

On the Status Bar (that's the one on the bottom) click on the Sun Path icon and then select Sun Settings.

Uncheck the tick box for Relative to View.

This then tells Revit that you want the Sun to be relative to your view, not the other way around.

Now when you spin your model around you'll notice that the shadows stay relative to your model.

I much prefer this!

Check my next blog for more tips when using the Solar Settings.