Defining Your Location and Time of Day

This is the “geographic” North, as opposed to the “magnetic” North which you see on a compass. The value you specify determines where North is on your screen, and affects the angle of the sun for daylight rendering. The number in degrees that you enter is in relation to the 90° perpendicular orientation of your drawing. A value of 1º makes the top of the screen North. A value of 90º makes the top of the screen East, and the left side of the screen North.

It is assumed that information regarding building orientation to True North can be taken from, or calculated from, a surveyor's certificate. However, True North can be calculated from a Magnetic North reading taken at your building site. For more information, see Calculating True North from Magnetic North.

You can define where your model is located in the world, as well as set the time of day. This determines how much daylight there will be in the scene.

To define your location and time of day:

Select View > 3DTrueView > 3DTrueView Options, or click the 3DTrueView Options button on the 3DTrueView toolbar.

In the Program Settings dialog, select the Global Settings tab.

Select a country and city from the appropriate drop boxes. You can add or edit a city if needed. Just click the Add City or Edit City button. You will need to know the longitude, latitude and time zone of the city. You can save new or edited cities to the city template for use in other projects if you want.

To set the month and day, select a month by clicking the arrows on the month bar at the top of the calendar, then click a number on the calendar.

To set the time of day, enter a time in the Time edit box, or use the slider to select a time. Enable either the am or pm radio button. Clicking Set Current Time reads the current time set in your computer system and defaults to the next smallest 5-minute increment of time. For example, 12:04 becomes 12:00.

To keep track of changes in time due to daylight savings, enable the Daylight Saving check box.

To set the angle from True North, enter a value in the Angle from True North edit box.

Click OK.