topic Re: Plan Presentation (2D Shadows?) in Visualization

Plan Presentation (2D Shadows?)

Anonymous — Thu, 11 May 2023 13:09:07 GMT

Recently, after being shown some plans from the years before me, I noticed that the Ground Plans & First Floor Plans had library objects (Tables, chairs, couches) that had a 2D shadow on the Floor Plans. It did have a Graphisoft Educational Printing logo on the top right, but I have googled this, and I can't find out how to do it. Nor any pictures to provide as an example of what I mean.

Hopefully you understand what I'm talking about, as I would like to know if this is even possible in ArchiCAD or if it might have been done outside of it.

Re: Plan Presentation (2D Shadows?)

Dwight — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:41:52 GMT

Use the cutting plane to cut off the roof.

Make a plan view in the 3D internal engine, shaded with shadows.

Save As 2dl ———— Export the shadows ONLY

MERGE the file back to the floor plan. [Original location]

Shadows will assume the color of the plane they fell on in the 3D view so they may need adjustment.

Re: Plan Presentation (2D Shadows?)

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:05:04 GMT

Dwight's method is how i've been doing it for years, however have not been entirely happy with it as the shadows produced are the ones as if the roof was cut off. What i wanted was a true indication of the amount of light/shadows being cast internally, including shadow of roof/ceiling/wall above cutting plane etc.

I happened to find out an alternative way to do this the other week that achieves what i wanted:

1) set 3d view to internal engine and switch on shadows (no contours); set to view angle from above (i.e.plan view); have all layers that you want to cast/receive shadows on. set sun settings as required.

2) use 2d marquee to draw marquee around required area.

3) use control-C to copy - in the dialog box that comes up, select none for construction elements, polygons only for shadows, and OVERLAPPING for polygons.

4) when you past this into the plan window, it will paste all shadows created. If you have multiple slabs/roof etc. receiving shadows, you will get multiple overlapping shadow fills and you will need to delete unwanted ones. One way to make this easier is to change the colour of the slab that you want shadows for to a distinctive shade. The generated shadow will be a shade of that colour (and presumably different from the others) and you can use "find and select" to isolate it.

The good thing about this is that it works in section/elevation too, allowing you to generate accurate overshadowing diagrams on adjacent buildings.

I don't have time this second to provide illustration; if the instructions above are a bit sketchy, let me know and i'll do some step-by-step screenshots.

Re: Plan Presentation (2D Shadows?)

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:43:26 GMT

I am using 3D documentation recently, it works fine for me in presentation plans.

Re: Plan Presentation (2D Shadows?)

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:03:43 GMT

I am using 3D documentation recently, it works fine for me in presentation plans.

For presentation purposes, where you are trying to indicate sunlight direction and provide some dynamic quality to the drawing it is fine, however when the objective is to determine the ratio of direct light/shadow on a specific surface (e.g. floor slab or adjacent building face) then the 3d documentation has the same shortfall as the cutting planes, that is, the elements that are not visible in 3d (so as to be able to see the required surface) do not cast shadows.

Attached is another quick example of the method described previously; in an elevation view of a boundary wall, i've pasted shadows from elements in the fore ground (located behind the elevation marker, which means their shadows would not appear by switching shadows on in the elevation settings).

Re: Plan Presentation (2D Shadows?)

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:48:01 GMT

Hey Kombibob,

Did you see my post on this thread - http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=148133

It may be worth a try perhaps?

Re: Plan Presentation (2D Shadows?)

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 03:38:00 GMT

kombibo...you refer to a copy dialogue box in a previous post...

(3. use control-C to copy - in the dialog box that comes up, select none for construction elements, polygons only for shadows, and OVERLAPPING for polygons.)

What if this dialogue box does not appear?? The whole thing copies and slows down archiCAD considerably.

Re: Plan Presentation (2D Shadows?)

Barry Kelly — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 05:10:34 GMT

That dialogue only appears when you are using the 'Internal Engine' in the 3D window.
It does not work with the OpenGL 3D view.
Barry.

Re: Plan Presentation (2D Shadows?)

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 06:23:24 GMT

Thankyou!!