Visualization Guide
Visualization Guide
Visualization Guide

Conducting Solar Studies

The Solar Study utility is used to create a sequence of images that shows the locations of shadows cast by the sun over a period of time. Optionally, you can place a Solar Time Stamp cell in the view being rendered. This can display the time and date for each frame.

The Movies utility (Utilities menu > Image > Movies) is used to play back these sequences and also to perform some simple editing tasks. See Playing and Editing Sequences.

Solar study sequences also can be created using the Animation Settings tools (see Alternative method).

To create a sequence of images that shows the locations of shadows cast by the sun over time
  1. From the Utilities menu's Render submenu, choose Solar Study.
    The Solar Study dialog box opens.

  2. From the View option menu, choose the source view.

  3. In the No. of Frames field, key in the number of the frames to create.

  4. Use the controls in the Start Time section to specify the start of the time period.

  5. In the Time fields, set the duration of the time period.

  6. (Optional) Adjust other Settings as needed.

  7. Click the Save button.
    The Record Sequence dialog box opens.

  8. From the Format option menu, choose the format in which to save the sequence and, if required, select a Compression setting and Color Mode from the respective option menus in the Image group box.
    Refer to note, below, for information on choosing a format.

  9. Use the controls in the File section to name the sequence file (or the first file in the series) and specify the destination drive and directory.

  10. Click the OK button.

    It is recommended that you choose a format that creates separate frame images, such as Targa or TIFF. When you select these formats, a separate file will be created automatically for each frame in the sequence. By default, when you select one of these formats, a number is added at the end of the filename and this number will be incremented for each frame saved. For example, if the name of the file is “orbit.dgn” then the first frame of a Targa-format sequence would be named “orbit01.tga” by default. Subsequent frame files then would be named “orbit02.tga,” “orbit03.tga,” “orbit04.tga,” and so on. In the event of an interruption to the process, you can return later and pick up from the next frame number in the sequence. If you choose to use a name other than the default, you must make sure that you add a number to it for incrementing during recording.

    If you choose FLI or FLC, the sequence will be saved as a single 256-color animation file. If you choose Windows AVI, the sequence will be saved as a single 24 Bit Color animation file. For these formats, however, the whole animation has to be retained in memory as it is processed. In the event of an interruption, you will lose the entire sequence and have to start again. It is recommended that you select another format. Later, if necessary, you can convert the sequence to FLI/FLC or AVI via the Movie Player.