Overview

This article shows how to create a Solar Study with the help of the Visualization workflow in OpenBuildings Designer. 

Method

To create a solar path study follow these steps:

• Under the Visualization workflow, from the Home tab go to the Utilities tool group and click on the Solar Study icon:

• The Solar Study dialog box includes a number of functions that contain various settings.

• The View should be the one from which you want to run the study - Views with an Isometric rotation and shadows work best.
• Provide a resolution according to your choice - Higher resolution creates a better quality display of the study.
• No. of Frames interprets the smoothness of the video - The higher the frame number, the swifter is the transition.
• Speed describes the number of frames run per second - The higher the speed, the faster the video.
• Set the Render Mode to a suitable style, avoiding wireframes as it does not provide any shadows.
• Select your Start Time, Date and Year - Keep the date as provided in the lighting manager.
• Provide the Duration according to the number of hours you for which would like to run the study.

Upon saving, you will be prompted to save the study recording to a location with a desirable format as per your preference.

OpenBuildings Designer then runs the study in the background and creates a recording of the same, that you can later access from the location you selected.