I really need some help with the sun!


Keith_K
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Well, not the real thing of course.  Despite the UK not really knowing what the sun actually looks like any more there's nothing anyone other than Mother Nature can do about it.

 

My problem is with the sun angle on the 3D full perspectives of my plans.  This was discussed very briefly and without conclusion within a topic on another matter of the old forums but I still haven't managed to achieve my objectives despite spending some hours yesterday reading my manual, using the help files, printing out pages of CA articles and help file dialogue and following, step by little step, the instructions they contained which I thought would solve everything but to no avail.

 

My current home is south facing so I know only too well where the sun hits the building at any given time of the day.  Following all my reading yesterday and despite seeing that if I haven't set a compass point the software will default North to the top of the screen which, to me, means that the facade of the building in my plans which I always draw at the bottom of the screen would automatically be south facing,

 

I inserted the correct compass point on a plan anyway and filled in the sun angle specifications according to the actual latitude and longitude at which my home sits.  All to no avail.  The sun still hits the North and West of the buildings and the South and East remain in "shadow". 

 

I am now at a total loss.  :angry:

 

post-52-0-78365100-1401112399_thumb.jpg  post-52-0-44170500-1401112375_thumb.jpg

 

post-52-0-42094800-1401112347_thumb.jpg  post-52-0-32272100-1401112324_thumb.jpg

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Same as you Keith I haven't figured this one out , and I read on Chieftalk recently that unfortunately you can't turn the "sun" off and just have everything well lit, but looking at your pics,I see a lighting data tab in the DBX. ( a DBX I didn't know was there , Sun is usually set in Preferences) so I did some digging here and on this Tab it does allow you do have lighting on /off and whether to cast shadows ,and what light intensity should be used, never used it before but am gonna try it myself.

 

In the past ,I did adjust the ambient light setting in the 3D> settings> options Tab though so at least it is better lit even in the shadows . You can set this really high but it will wash out the colours.

 

Did you sort out your VideoCard? install your old Nvidia?

 

 

M.

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Keith,

I use these tools all the time and it sounds like you have set things up correctly (set North Pointer relative to the "North-South" orientation of the plan file or in other words relative to the house), Go to "Edit - Preferences - Sun Angle" to set your Lat. and long. and Time Zone).

Then place a "Sun Arrow" in the plan view from which you can then control the Sun Angle relative to the time of day that you set for each rendering.

If you have done that you should get the expected results, if not, you will have to contact Tech Support to figure out why this is not working for you (perhaps you missed a step?).

I have never had anything other than expected results in many versions of Chief Premier and Home Designer Pro (their tools are exactly the same).

DJP

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I think it is working right for us both David , the issue is that the Sun can't be turned off or augmented so you can see the Shadowed side of the building better. If you rotate the model, the Sun rotates with it so , you cant turn your model to light it better. Adding a Parallel light on the other side of the building seems to do little/nothing as far as I can see for exterior views anyway.

 

This is a small cabin I'm working on now 

 

sunny side

 

post-25-0-56161900-1401137945_thumb.png

 

Dark side

 

post-25-0-38798300-1401137947_thumb.png

 

 

This is why I use Vector View a lot instead....

 

 

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Hey Keith, the easiest way to control the sun light in 3D views is with the "Adjust Lights" tool.

 

The two basic settings that control the light are “Tilt Angle” (a measure of how high the sun is in

the sky) and “Direction Angle” (an indication of which direction the light is coming from). I have

prepared a little sketch (see thumbnail #1) showing the range of these angles. The default is set

up so that a “Direction Angle” of 90° will always shine directly on the front of the building (i.e. from

the bottom of the screen). A "Tilt Angle" of -90° will place the sun directly overhead (be warned

that no sides of the structure are in light when the sun is directly above). Why the “Tilt Angle”

measurements are in negative numbers escapes me and leads to unneeded confusion. Its

easiest to experiment with a simple 4 wall plan to see how the changes will affect the view.

post-38-0-65406200-1401148747_thumb.jpg

post-38-0-17907800-1401148753_thumb.jpg

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Thanks Rich , saved your angles pic for future reference , I can now swing the sun to the other side (270 deg) if needed , had tried multiple "suns" but it didn't seem to effect the lighting...

Was beginning to think you and JoAnn had disappeared :)

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Thanks Rich , saved your angles pic for future reference , I can now swing the sun to the other side (270 deg) if needed , had tried multiple "suns" but it didn't seem to effect the lighting...

Was beginning to think you and JoAnn had disappeared :)

 

Where is that girl? She did a nice Photoshop illustration combining

the Tilt Angle and Direction Angle info. It was in a thread on the old

forum, but I couldn't find the thread with a cursory search. I hope

she's not still in a snit over the changes to the forum.

 

BTW, I see you have resolved your issue with the emoticons. B)

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Thank you for your responses.

 

David - I followed all the steps, yes, but I didn't have to manually insert a sun arrow.  This was automatically generated on the plan though it is very hard to see as it is in light grey.

 

Rich -  I followed the steps in you *cough* elegantly *cough*  ;)  annotated thumbnail though I got totally different graphics in my version of HD Pro 2014 (see below) to the green framed ones in your picture.  What you see in my illustrations are all the options I get and It would seem that the sun angle is automatically generated.  Nothing changed so I went back and checked "Show shadows" thinking that this might be relevant.  All that did was put shadows on the plan and the 3D perspective still has the sun beaming brightly on the North facing walls.

 

Ho hum.  :rolleyes:

 

And now it would seem that I am unable to attach any thumbnails because there is no option to do so on my screen.  Why has the attachment icon been removed from the reply box toolbar in this new version of Home Talk???

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Keith the Options Rich showed only show up when you do this in a 3D view , then you can change those settings and these charts work great, but you cant access them from Plan view as a different DBX with the make/delete shadows buttons comes up instead when you hit "adjust"

 

M.

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That's funny, Rich, that you couldn't find that thread... considering that it was YOUR post!

 

http://hometalk.homedesignersoftware.com/showthread.php?19026-No-Shadows-in-quot-Final-View-with-Shadows-quot

 

In case this link doesn't work, it's on page 15.

 

Hey! Look what the cat dragged in. :ph34r: (I have no idea what this icon is supposed to mean)

 

Glad to see you have decided to grace the new forum with your considerable talents.

 

Surely you don't expect me to remember what I have posted here in the past. My memory

is like computer RAM. Once I shut down I forget everything I ever knew. :huh: And Chief's

search capabilities aren't much better than random trial and error.

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(1) go to "more reply options" keith , button is next to the post button...and you'll see the attach files /choose files button at the bottom of the reply window

 

(2) Keith the Options Rich showed only show up when you do this in a 3D view

 

(3)  :ph34r: (I have no idea what this icon is supposed to mean)

 

(4) Did you sort out your VideoCard? install your old Nvidia?

 

 

(1)  What a silly place to hide it.  ;)

 

(2) The options ( examples of which I am now miraculously able to attach  :o - see below) are the same in both plan and 3D and terribly formal as opposed to Rich's pretty, frothy ones.

 

(3)  It means that you are a terrorist

 

(4)  No, I am still using the one that was installed in the new machine and am saving up for a better new one.

 

I woke up at 4 a.m. this morning an couldn't get back to sleep so I lay pondering the sun issue (which probably didn't help with the getting back to sleep bit).  While I tend to be something of a perfectionist in what I try and do I ended up wondering whether this issue was really worth the angst it has been causing me and whether I could just blerry well live with what the software throws at me and pretend that I am living in the southern hemisphere instead of the northern one.   :blink:

 

post-52-0-66645400-1401282116_thumb.jpg  post-52-0-71622900-1401282259_thumb.jpg

 
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