Daylight and shadows in Rhino

Question

I need a global day light setting with latitude and longitude dialog box that allows me cast shadows for my 3D model. Is it possible to do it with Rhino 4, or do I need another software package?

Answer

Rhino v4 and later supports both one-day and seasonal sun animations.

Daily Sun Study: Set One Day Sun Animation

A daily sun study moves the sun across the sky to show how the shadows change on a given day.

This animation type is useful if you need to see where shadows are going to fall based on the location of the sun. Architects, civil engineers, and city planners use these studies to determine if new construction will block sunlight from existing structures and green spaces.

Sun study animations do not move the camera or target locations. Instead, they animate the sun. You cannot combine sun study animations with other animation types.

Daily sun study animation setup

1. Type the latitude as a decimal value.
2. Type the longitude as a decimal value.
3. Type north angle (clockwise from y-axis).
4. Type the day, month, and year for all frames.
5. Type the start hour and minutes for the first frame.
6. Type the end hour and minutes for the last frame.
7. Type the minutes between frames.
8. Type file type.
9. Type frame capture method to use.
   All custom display modes are also listed.
10. Type viewport to capture rendered image from.
    The default is the active one.
11. Type an animation sequence name.

Seasonal Sun Study

Shows shadows at the same time of day throughout the week, month, or year.

This animation type is useful if you need to see where shadows are going to fall based on the location of the sun. Architects, civil engineers, and city planners use these studies to determine if new construction will block sunlight from existing structures and green spaces.

Sun study animations do not move the camera or target locations. Instead, they animate the sun. You cannot combine sun study animations with other animation types.

To set up a seasonal sun study animation

1. Type the latitude as a decimal value.
2. Type the longitude as a decimal value.
3. Type the north angle (clockwise from y-axis).
4. Type the day, month, and year for the start day.
5. Type the day, month, and year for the stop day.
6. Type the hour and minutes for all the frames.
7. Type the number of days between frames.
8. Select the file type.
9. Select the frame capture method to use.
   All custom display modes are also listed.
10. Type the viewport name to capture rendered image from.
    The default is the active one.
11. Type an animation sequence name.