Adding Sunlight

Sunlight in Vectorworks Fundamentals is created by projecting parallel rays from a directional light.

The Vectorworks Design Series products have expanded capabilities with the Heliodon tool; see Solar Studies.

To set the sun position:

1. Select View > Set Sun Position.

The Set Sun Position dialog box opens. Enter the sun position information.

Click to show/hide the parameters.

Parameter	Description
Site	Specifies the site’s latitude and longitude
Time Zone Meridian	Specifies the site’s time zone; one hour of difference is equal to 15º of longitude
Page North	Normally, the drawing is oriented to page north (true north, not magnetic north), and true north matches the top of the page, with no compensation required for proper sun position. If the drawing was not created with this orientation, specify an angular offset in degrees from page north. The North indicator should match true north in the drawing.
Date	Specifies the time of year
Time	Specifies the time of day
Daylight Savings	Select if daylight saving time is in effect
Results	Based on the settings made, displays the Azimuth (South at zero degrees, without Page North rotation), Azimuth N. Relative (North at zero degrees, without Page North rotation), Elevation (degrees above the horizon), and True Solar Time (takes into account daylight saving time, site longitude and time zone, and the earth’s orbit and tilt)

2. Click OK and verify the results. If a directional light is selected before choosing the Set Sun Position command, the command modifies the angles of light to the new azimuth and elevation. If no light is selected, the tool inserts a new directional light at the specified sun position.

A shadow analysis can be performed for a site by inserting several light sources with identical parameters except for time of day.

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Adding Light

Shadow Analysis

Applying Colors

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