Sun, Geolocation, and Time of Year

Overview

The sun can have a dramatic effect on your project’s look and feel. Additionally to being able to quickly adjust the sun directly in the Enscape window, Enscape can also interpret the Geolocation and Time of Year settings from Archicad for the sun to be positioned correctly. You can quick adjust the sun settings in Enscape by using various key combinations listed below.

Time of day – Press U or I to adjust the time of day. Alternatively, you can also use Shift + Right Mouse Button while dragging the mouse right or left.

Solar angle – Press Shift + U or I to adjust the Solar angle.

Solar rotation – Press Ctrl + U or I to adjust the Solar rotation.

Reset Sun Position – Press the Home key to reset modifications made to the sun position.

Generally speaking the Sun Settings and Geolocation are adjusted in Archicad, and the Geolocation will affect the position of the Sun when adjusting the time of year. You can choose a location under the Project Location option in Archicad and adjust the time of day by selecting the 3D Projection Settings. You can also adjust the time of day in the Enscape window and save those settings for each view.

Sun Settings in ArchiCAD

You can set the initial Time of Day for a View by right clicking on the view in the View Map panel and selecting the 3D Projection Settings option in the menu.

ArchiCAD View Map Panel

Once clicked, the Perspective Setting window will open, and you can set the Sun Position by Date and Time, or by Custom which will allow you to adjust the Altitude and Azimuth of the Sun.

Once you click OK, the project will update and you will see these changes in the Enscape window.
It is then possible to further adjust the time of day within Enscape using the Right Mouse button+Shift+left/right mouse drag. These changes will however not be saved to the view that is listed in ArchiCAD View Map panel and the settings made in the Perspective Settings will be retained.

ArchiCAD Perspective Settings Window

Save Enscape Sun Position

While you are adjusting the time of day in Enscape. You can save the Enscape Sun Position by going into the View Management tab – Select the view you would like to save the sun position of.

Manage Views

There will be a section for Sun Position, then click the box to open the Enscape Sun Position settings.

Sun Position Section

You will now have 2 options to control the Sun Position:

Azimuth – Rotation of the sun around the building

Altitude – Rotation above and below the horizon line

By adjusting these sliders you will see the time the time of day change to the desired result.

*If you need to undo the changes at anytime, click the undo button.

Once you are happy with the adjustments, click the Save Button at the bottom of the window.

Azimuth and Altitude Settings

Now each time you go back to this view it the sun settings will stay the same.

*You can see if a view has the sun settings changed by the little sun icon under the views name

Updated Sun Position

Do you need help with Enscape? Please contact our technical support here
or send request directly through Enscape. Don't know how? Check this article.

Was this article helpful?

YesNo

Please provide us short feedback: (required)

If you require a response to your feedback, then you will need to provide your email address below (optional)*:

*In the framework of our postings on our website, we may ask you for your feedback on the respective posting. Here, only the input of your feedback is required. The provision of further data, such as your e-mail address, is optional. If you provide further data, such as your e-mail address, we will use this to ask you questions about the feedback, if necessary, and thus to improve our services even more specifically. The legal basis for data processing is your consent (Art. 6 s. 1 p. 1 lit. a GDPR). The granting of consent is voluntary and is given when providing the optional email address which can be revoked at any time with effect for the future. Your data will be deleted when the processing is no longer necessary to fulfill the purpose, but at the latest with the revocation of your consent.