Notes for IVP Workshop Seminar 2 Shading Design Tuesday 6th January 2009

In this seminar we will be focusing on the design of shading devices. We will be look at the following: Basic Ecotect Tools The movement and path of the sun Displaying Shadows Shading Design The Sun Path Diagram In the Ecotect help file, look at the first three sections under Analysis, called Shadows, Overshadowing, and Solar Exposure. Before you do anything, you need to load a weather file. If you want to laod the Singapore weather file, you will need to download it. http://www.squ1.com/downloads/weatherdata

Basic Ecotect Tools In Ecotect, there are a number of Panels on that right that give you access to most of the tools. The use of the basic panels will be demonstrated: Selection Information Zone Management Material Assignments Display Settings Visualisation Settings Shadow Settings Movement and path of the sun In Ecotect, to get a sense of how the sun moves is really easy. Click on the Shadow Settings tab on the right: Switch on Display Sun Path Switch on Annual Sun Path Click the Display Shadows button Move the sun by dragging (hold shift to change the month) Also try the View From Sun Pos button Displaying Shadows To cast a shadow on another object: Click on the Shadow Settings tab on the right: Under Tag Objects, click on the Shaded button To see sun rays reflected off a surface Click on the Shadow Settings tab on the right: Under Tag Objects, click on the Reflector button Click the Show Solar Rays button To create a shadow animation Click on the Shadow Settings tab on the right: At the bottom, click on the Hourly button. To change the colour of a shadow, In the menu, go to Model > Zone Management Under general Settings change the Shadow Colour

Shading Design Ecotect allows you to draw using the sun. Imagine that there is a piece of string stretched between the sun and a stationary point in your mode (the Transform Origin). As the sun moves around, the string will slice through your geometry in the model, and this can be used as a way of drawing. To create the perfect shade: Draw a shading surface that is excessively large. The shading surface may be a group of surfaces. Move the Transform Origin to a point on the bottom edge of your window. Select the shading surface In the menu, go to Calculate > Shading and Shadows > Project Transform Origin > Solar Shading Profile Set the Date / Time Range and switch off Extend Profile option. A series of lines will be drawn on the shading surface. If there is more than one line, then it is a good idea to group these lines (Edit > Group Objects). Move the transform origin and repeat. Note: The lines generated by this procedure may be exported. This is particularly useful if your model originated in another modeler, and you want to change the original model rather than just changing the Ecotect model. To export geometry to Rhino: In the Ecotect menu, go to File > Export > To External Analysis Tool In the Save As Type select AutoCAD DXF Files Choose a name and location and click Save In Rhino open a new file using the Large Object Meters option In Rhino menu, go to File > Import and select the DFX file Delete any unwanted imported geometry. Scale the geometry by 0.001 about the origin. Save the Rhino file. Open the original Rhino model. In Rhino menu, go to File > Import and select the Rhino file. The lines should appear in the right location. Sun Path Diagram To see the solar window (solar horizon): Select one object In the menu, go to Calculate > Sun Path Diagram On the sun path diagram, to change the projection: Click on the tabs on the bottom

On the sun path diagram, to calculate the shading mask: Select one or more objects Under Shading Mask, click the Calculate Shading button On the sun path diagram, to clear the shading mask: Under Shading Mask, click the Manage button Select Clear Calculated Shading On the sun path diagram, to see the shading mask in 3D: Under Projection Type, click the Show in Visualization button

Things to add: Using the shading designer