Sun Shadows
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| These are experimental features. Please do not bother Engineered Software with questions. |
North Arrow Tool
This tool allows you to set the direction of the north reference angle in PowerCADD. It's a little-known part of PowerCADD and so far has been used only to set the north direction for bearings.
The sun shadow capability of the Shadow Offset tool needs to know which way is north, so the tool is provide here as a simple way of setting the north direction. The tool does not place any objects in the drawing.
To use the tool, select the North Arrow tool from the ShadowTools palette, click and drag in the drawing. You may press the Shift key to constrain to snap angles, and you may use the Edit Window.
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To use the North Arrow tool and the sun shadow capability of the Shadow Offset tool, turn on Test North Arrow in the Test Tool dialog of NewTools. |
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I think you are on the road to a great breakthrough with the north arrow. One of my clients biggest challenge is drawing when at some angle. He doesn't get to use his beloved grid snap or nudge. Now if the North arrow (and imagine if you could have multiple, one saved for each view), it would rotate the entire PowerCADD grid with the north arrow being the origin. -- Jason Amador-Locher No question that being able to rotate the view of a drawing window would be a major breakthrough and addition to PowerCADD, but that's going to have to be done in PowerCADD. This simple tool just changes the north reference angle in PowerCADD. -- Alfred |
Shadow Offset Tool
This tool is already part of the ShadowTools palette of WildTools.
The sun shadow capability is designed for simple shadow studies. Of course, it cannot compete with DesignWorkshop, SketchUp, Form Z or any other 3D modeling program, and it's not intended to replace them, but rather to bring this capability to PowerCADD and WildTools users. And as you might have guessed, it's also fun and interesting to use.
The tool operates on the assumption that you have an object in the drawing which has a height. This would typically be the outline of a building.
When you have turned on Test North Arrow in the Test Tool dialog of NewTools, there is a new sun shadow button in the dialog. Click on this and the dialog changes to:
Set the height of the object you wish to create a shadow from.
Type the Latitude and choose whether it is a North or South latidude.
Choose the month of the year.
To use the tool, select the Shadow Offset Tool from the ShadowTools palette, click on an object in the drawing and move the mouse.
Move the mouse to select the time of day.
As you move the mouse, a shadow will be placed at the appropriate distance and angle from the original object. The black curved line is the path of the shadow for the given month, and you move the mouse to select the time of day. The grid lines show the shadow position for other months and times. The grey area shows the shadow area.
While the tool is very simple, it is actually very precise, based on true solar geometry, and the only simplifications are:
1. that the location is centered on the time zone (giving a plus or minus half-hour error at worst)
2. the surroundings are flat (that is the usual case for most situations)
3. the tool only allows for descrete values at mid-month and 15-minute intervals.
When you release the mouse, the shadow object is placed in the drawing.
A text object gives you a report on the time, date and latitude of the shadow. The vertical sun angle is the angle of the sun above the horizon. There is a simple north arrow indication to show the direction of north used for this shadow.
To complete the shadow study, simply draw a polygon for the entire shadow projected by the building.
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Many thanks to Greg Johnson for doing all the math on this tool. Alfred Scott |
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The sun shadow is awesome! I'm going to play with this one quite a bit. I usually use formZ to do shadows, as the radiosity and reflections are a big hit with the clients, but this is great for site plans to show how the massing will light up. Very very very cool! -- Jason Amador-Locher |
