The Sustainability tab in the right panel lets you test how sun and daylight affect your design while you work. It has four tools: Sun hours (hours of direct sunlight across your model), Shadow (shadows cast by your model and its surroundings at a chosen time), Illuminance (daylight levels in lux) and Sun Path (the sun's movement for your site's location). Use them to check orientation, massing and openings early, then carry the results into Present Mode.
Before you start
Topography is required. All four tools need topography in the project, so import a site before you run an analysis.
Sun hours is for concept models built from spaces and masses. It can't be run on a BIM model.
Illuminance is for BIM models in BIM Mode. It can't be run on concept models made of spaces. BIM Mode is available on the Pro, Organization and Enterprise plans.
Import a site for analysis
Click the project name and choose Import.
In the Snaptrude's Toposolid section of the Import dialog, click Import Site.
Find your location with the Search places, addresses, or coordinates box or on the map.
Choose what to bring in: Elevation, Neighborhood Buildings and Satellite. Turn on Neighborhood Buildings to include surrounding buildings in your shadow studies.
Optional: under Property Parcels, pick the parcels for your site on the map.
Click Import site.
Move the topography into position relative to your model.
Note: Parcel data is available for sites in the US and Canada. Elsewhere, draw the site boundary yourself.
Run a sun hours analysis
Open the Sustainability tab in the right panel.
Choose Sun hours.
Set the start date and end date for the period you want to study.
Click Run Analysis.
Your model is colored by how many hours of direct sunlight each area gets. Blue means the fewest hours and red means the most. A legend shows the range.
Run a shadow analysis
Open the Sustainability tab in the right panel.
Choose Shadow.
Use the sliders to set the month, date and time of day.
Click Run Analysis.
Move the sliders to see how shadows change through the day or across the year.
How shadow analysis behaves while you work:
It stays on when you switch between 2D and 3D, and the sliders stay in sync between the two views.
Its state is kept per project. When you reload the project, the shadow analysis panel is still active.
The sun position updates as you move the sliders, and shadows update when objects in the model change.
Run an illuminance analysis
Open your model in BIM Mode.
Open the Sustainability tab in the right panel and choose Illuminance.
Set the start date and end date for the analysis.
Click Run Analysis.
The model is shaded as a heat map of daylight levels, with a legend showing values in lux. The colors show which areas get direct sunlight and which get very little. Results reflect your openings, windows and exterior materials.
Tip: Compare design options by changing the model and running the analysis again. For example, replace a glass wall with a brick wall and compare how much sunlight gets in.
Show the sun path
Open the Sustainability tab in the right panel.
Turn on Sun Path.
The sun path diagram maps the sun's movement for the location of your imported site. Turn it on alongside the other analyses to understand why an area gets more or less sun, or why a shadow falls where it does.
Use analysis results in Present Mode
Run a Sun hours or Illuminance analysis and set up the 3D view you want to show.
Click Save View (camera icon in the bottom bar) while the analysis is visible.
Switch to Present Mode and bring the saved view onto a sheet from the Views tab.
The view comes in with its own separate legend. The view and its legend are grouped so they move together. To position them separately, right-click the group and ungroup it.
Troubleshooting
The analysis won't run: Check that the project has topography. If not, import a site first.
Sun hours gives no result on my model: Sun hours runs on concept models (spaces and masses), not on BIM models.
I can't run Illuminance: Switch to BIM Mode. Illuminance needs a BIM model.
Shadows look wrong: Check that the topography sits in the right place relative to your model, and re-import the site with Neighborhood Buildings turned on if neighbours matter.
Related articles
Import a Site: Parcels, Terrain and Context
Draw a Site Boundary
Saving and Managing Views
Creating Sheets in Present Mode
Introduction to BIM Mode