Synopsis

This tutorial explains how to determine whether an object is in shade or not.

Duration

You will need about 15 minutes to complete this tutorial.

Training and Accreditation

Successfully completing this tutorial fulfills one of the practical skills required for completing Level 1 of the Shading Device Design training module.

Resources Required

To complete this tutorial, open the ExampleHouse.eco file found in the Examples folder of your Ecotect installation.

Tutorial

1. Open the file, and select the north facing wall of the Lounge zone, as shown in the following screenshot.
   

   Select the north facing wall of the Lounge zone.
2. Set the date and time that you wish to use to analyse the shading on the window. For example, use 12 noon on June 21st (the Winter Solstice, a date and time commonly used in planning assessments regarding overshadowing).
   

   Select the Date and Time to use for the shading assessment.
3. Turn on shadows in the model, via the Calculate menu or using the Shadow Settings control panel. If you then tag this object as shaded, this gives you a quick method of visually assessing the overshadowing on this wall. Note the different colour intensities visible on this wall, indicating the amount of shading occurring.
   

   Turn on shadows in the model.
   

   Tag the selected wall as shaded.
   

   You can now visually assess the level of shading.
4. To perform a more detailed analysis of overshadowing, go to the Calculate»Sun-Path Diagram... menu item. A sun-path diagram for the selected object opens in a new window.
   

   Describe the image.
5. Note the sun position as shown on the sun-path diagram - this suggests that the selected wall is partially shaded by the pergola at the specified date and time.
   

   Partial shading occurs at the selected date and time.
6. You can also use a shading mask to determine the percentage of shade covering the selected object. Expand the Shading Mask tab to the right of the diagram, and click the Calculate Shading button. In the dialog box that appears, accept them default settings and then click Ok.
   

   Click the Calculate Shading button to display the Surface Shading dialog box.
7. After some calculation time, Ecotect converts the sun-path diagram for the selected object into a shading mask, and displays the shading values as percentages of grey. Note that for this particular time and date, the selected wall is around 54% in shade.
   

   The percentage level of shading is calculated and displayed.