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Light Types

In addition to the ambient light levels specified in the 3D Settings dialog, there are four additional ways to create light sources for render or raytrace views:

Each individual light has a set of Rendering properties that can be defined.

You can adjust a light's color, intensity, attenuation (which affects how quickly the light drops in intensity over distance) and control whether it casts shadows and whether the light is on or off.

There are three possible types of light sources that can be used to specify how a light is calculated by the Renderer:

See "Defining Light Types".

Default Lights

If you create an interior render view and no user defined lights exist, the program creates a Default Light source within the room. The Default Interior light acts like a central point source.

It cannot be adjusted in any way. If you want control over the light sources in your interior render views, you must add a light to the room that you are rendering by placing a lighting fixture or by adding a light source using 3D> Lighting> Add Lights .

Light Fixtures

Electric symbols placed in floor plan view that represent a Light Fixture may create one or more light sources in render and raytrace views. The light type and properties for each fixture can be modified by selecting the fixture, clicking the Open Object edit button, and opening the Electrical Service Specification dialog to the Render Data tab. See "Electrical Service Specification Dialog".

Use the "Light" drop-down to choose which of the fixture lights you want to edit. You can then specify the Light Type - (parallel, point, or spot), the Color, Intensity, and adjust the Offsets to determine the light position relative to the fixture.

Offset From Base controls how far the light source is relative to the position of the fixture base. The fixture base is determined by the surface that it is attached to, (i.e. wall, floor, or ceiling).

Offset in X/Offset in Y are only available when you are not editing a wall-mounted fixture. These allow you to position the light relative to the center of the fixture, along the floor/ceiling.

Offset up Wall/Offset Along Wall are only available when you are editing a wall-mounted fixture. These allow you to set the light's distance up/down the wall, and left/right along the wall.

If the light source is a Point or Spot Light, you can define its offset relative to the fixture base. For instance, if the fixture is on the ceiling you may want to set the Height Offset field to move the light source down to the location where the bulb might be in real life. By using Show Position in Render View you can tell where in the scene your light is located.

Due to limitations in the OpenGL lighting model, and limitations of raytracing, lighting looks most realistic if it is offset from a surface.

Added Lights

3D> Lighting> Add Lights allows you to quickly add a light source in the floor plan view. Added lights display 2D symbols in floor plan view and serve as sources of light in the render and raytrace views, but do not display as objects in 3D.

Added lights can be placed into objects that normally do not generate light, such as a TV.

To add a Parallel Light
  1. Select 3D> Lighting> Add Lights .
  2. Click and drag in floor plan view.
  3. When you release the mouse, a parallel light pointing in the direction that you dragged is created.

Parallel Lights can be added to the exterior or interior of a model.

To create a Point Light source
  1. Select 3D> Lighting> Add Lights .
  2. Click in floor plan view. Do not drag the pointer when you click the screen, or you create a parallel light source.
To create a Spot Light source
  1. Create a Parallel or Point Light source.
  2. Select the light and open it for specification.
  3. Change its Type to Spot Light in the Light Specification dialog.

Sun Angles

A Sun Angle arrow is a marker that displays in floor plan view and indicates the angle of the sun at a specific time and location on the Earth. Multiple Sun Angles can be created in floor plan view, each with different specifications.

Sun Angles are parallel light sources. Their location and direction are defined per plan. To accurately define the Sun's location relative to the model, use a North Pointer . See "North Pointer".

When rendering an exterior view, the program looks for the Sun Angle that is turned on. If you have multiple Sun Angles, select the one you want to use and turn it on on the Render tab of the Sun Angle Specification dialog. Verify that all others are turned off and the program render sthe correct Sun Angle. If a Sun Angle does not exist, the program uses the Default Sun.

To create a Sun Angle
  1. Make the first floor or foundation level the current floor. Sun Angles can only be created on these floor levels.
  2. In floor plan view, select CAD> Special> Sun Angle and click the screen where the Sun Angle arrow should display.
  3. In the Sun Angle Specification dialog, specify the Sun Angle's Earth Data and other information. See "Sun Angle Specification Dialog".
  4. After it is created, a Sun Angle can be moved to a different location in floor plan view. Shadows are not affected.

A Sun Angle's position is specified by Latitude and Longitude. The following table lists a sample of latitude and longitude values for some cities:

3D> Lighting> Toggle Sunlight controls the display of either the Default Sun or the current Sun Angle as a source of light.

Default Sun Light

If you create an exterior render view and no Sun Angle exists, the program creates a Default Sun. The Default Sun acts like a sun but its location is not based on any real world locations.

The Default Sun can be opened for specification in a render view by selecting 3D> Lighting> Adjust Lights . If there are no other lights in the view, the default sun's Light Specification dialog opens. See "Light Specification Dialog".

If there are other lights in the scene, but no Sun Angles, the Adjust Lights dialog opens. Select Default Sun from the list of available light sources and click Adjust to open the sun's Light Specification dialog. See "Adjusting Lights".

The Default Sun acts like a parallel light source. In the Default Sun's Light Specification dialog, you can specify:

If you place a Sun Angle in floor plan view, the Default Sun can no longer be used as a light source in exterior render views unless the Sun Angle's light is turned off.

Shadows

Sun Angles allow the shadow cast by a building at any time of the year to be displayed in floor plan and render views.

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To display shadows created by a Sun Angle
  1. On the Render tab of the Preferences dialog, check Show Shadows for Preview and/or Final View. See "Render Panel".
  2. Select a Sun Angle and click the Open Object edit button.
  3. On the Render Data tab of the Sun Angle Specification dialog, make sure that Casts Shadows is checked.
  4. To display the shadow in floor plan view, click the Make Shadow button on the Earth Data tab.

Multiple Sun Angles can be placed in the same plan to allow the simultaneous display of shadows cast at different times in floor plan view.

Specify different line colors and/or styles for shadows cast by multiple Sun Angles on the Line Style tab of the Sun Angle Specification dialog.

If no Terrain Perimeter has been created, shadows fall on an imaginary plane at height zero, the default height for the first floor. If a Terrain Perimeter exists, shadows are modified to indicate where the real shadow would fall on the actual terrain.

Deleting Shadows

There are several ways to delete the shadow created by a Sun Angle.


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