Creating Interactive Solar Animations

Interactive solar animations display the sun’s effects within the drawing; specify the view, day, month, and time for interactive previews. Wireframe mode views as well as rendered views (with or without shadows) are useful to study the sun’s movements.

Large or complex rendered models, high-quality render settings, and smooth shadows may affect the animation. To interactively view changes as you move the sliders, render in Wireframe or OpenGL render mode. Low to medium (Detail and Quality) OpenGL options are recommended.

To animate the sun interactively:

1. Insert at least one heliodon object as described in Inserting a Heliodon Object.

2. Select the desired view and render mode.

3. Select the heliodon, and click Solar Animation from the Object Info palette. Alternatively, double-click a heliodon object.

The Solar Animation dialog box opens. Click the Interactive tab. Set the Animate view, and the day, month, and time, or move the month and day sliders while observing the effects.

Click to show/hide the parameters.

Parameter	Description
Animate	Sets whether to animate the sun about the model, or rotate the model about the sun
Heliodon (Top/Plan view) or Sun (using current view)	Moves the sun over the model
View (sun to layer plane center)	Navigates around the model as viewed from the sun, showing the part of the model illuminated by the sun at that time; the model is assumed to be at the layer plane center and rotates about this center
View (sun to Heliodon center)	Navigates around the heliodon as viewed from the sun; parts of the model that are visible are the areas receiving sunlight. This mode is helpful when studying a portion of a larger model or when the model is offset from the layer plane center. Place the heliodon in the area of interest.
Interactive/Export Movie	Select whether to view the animation interactively, within the drawing, or export it to an animation file
Day/Month	Enter the day of the month and the month, either by typing digits or using the up and down arrows
Month slider	Move the interactive slider to progress through the months of the year
Hour/Min	Enter the time as hour and minute, either by typing digits or using the up and down arrows. The increment for the minute arrows is set by the Minute Interval.
AM/PM (12 Hour time display only)	Toggles between AM and PM for a quick shortcut to setting morning or afternoon
Day slider	Move the interactive slider to progress through the daylight hours
Minute Interval	Sets the increment to advance or decrease the minutes with the up/down arrows, making it easier to quickly step through the day if needed.
Local Time/Solar Time	Displays the sunrise and sunset times for the location and time of year, as well as the current local or solar time. The display of local or solar time depends on whether Use Solar Time is selected in the Object Info palette.

4. When finished with the solar animation, click OK.

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Exporting Solar Animations

Creating Solar Animations

Inserting a Heliodon Object

Solar Studies

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