Revit Architecture 2018: Rendering Techniques – Sun Settings

By John Flanagan 

Introduction

Minor changes in the sun settings can produce very different results. In the images below the visual style was set to realistic, shadows were also turned on.

To turn on the sun path use one of these methods:

• On the View Control Bar, click Sun Path Off/OnSun Path On.
• Click in an empty area of the view to display the view properties. On the Properties palette, under Graphics, select Sun path, and click Apply. (If the Properties palette is not displayed, click View tabWindows panelUser Interface, and select Properties.)

Tip: When you turn on the sun path in the view properties, the sun path setting is saved in any new view templates you create.

Fig 1: Sun Settings - Date 17/11/2017, Time Mid-Morning

Fig 2: Sun Settings - Date 17/11/2017, Afternoon

Conclusion

These two images demonstrate how the sun’s position can affect materials, glass transparency and reflectance as well as the total feel of the image. In this example, all the settings are identical. Only the sun settings were modified to create these two different results. The morning shadows are darker and the afternoon shadows are sharper.

Tip: For a Multi-Day study, to see the sun and shadow patterns for the same point in time over a range of days, enter the same start time and end time. You can also accomplish this by specifying the Time Interval as One day.

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