LightWorks Sun Study using Built-In Sun

[Dwight]

Has anyone used the LightWorks built-in sun to do a sun study?
Does the sun change color as the day passes?

[Anonymous]

Hi Dwight,

I recently ran some sun studies & found that they will only work when using the Archicad sun (color of the sunlight did not change during the day...). Plus as much as I like Lightworks, I find the sun/sky objects' positioning to be very temperamental; I wouldn't trust them in a sun study.

Don

[Anonymous]

Can anyone refer me to a guide to making good sun studies in ArchiCAD? There are so many scattered controls that effect renderings, that a beginner can easily miss something cruscial. I've gotten varied results in my initial experiments, so I don't know how much to trust a sun study to guide my design. Is this tool worth using for someone trying to refine their daylighting, or should I skip it and go straight to Green Building Studio or something else?

[Mishi]

Hi,

Dwight: yes it changes in shadow study. i made a nice test movie for the toronto complete waterfront and yes it changes color. you just have to make sure that you rebuild each frame since the sky and sun object is a gdl object.

Robin: do you wanna use it for interior study or exterior. for exterior i would suggest to use vectorial sun shadow since it's scaled and you can make nice diagrams for permits/proposals. for interior study i never tried but i guess you have to use the window light.

[Mishi]

Hi Don,

i agree. actually. unless it's schematic. and for illustration. but you can set in the rendering settings to override the softness of the shadow, and it's done. but than you loose the softness of the rendering.

[Dwight]

Man, oh man!

-- just a note: sun studies should have sharp shadows since that is the legal requirement.

-- i have tried the LightWorks built-in sun study and altho the light changes in intensity throughout the day, i see no color shift as would be normal for sunlight. Could we please see your Toronto job to discover your trick?

[__archiben]

Dwight wrote:
Could we please see your Toronto job to discover your trick?

it sounds like re-building the model for each frame is the trick. didn't think of that!

[Mishi]

-- just a note: sun studies should have sharp shadows since that is the legal requirement.

That's why we use vectorial shadow study from 3d internal engine. Although I'm comoplaining now, b/c they have removed the pmk export option and the 2dl cannot be included as an external drawing in the layout. but that's an other issue.

I could check again the movie i made if i find it. but it must change with rebuilt. Actually just thinkin it over, i made that in AC9 with lws. And what i've found with 11 there is no rebuilt for 3D in general and if i change the sun setting for the camera it won't rebuilt it for the rendering. you have to close and reopen the 3d again... top of that you have to zoom in and out to get the sun and skyobject updated on the floorplan too... very very anoying. this bug feature still there since 9.