Sun angles

[BrownTiger]

1) Are there particular Sun Angles that you consider when placing a house? How many sun angle do you define per plan?

 

e.g. January XX, 9am? April ??

 

2) Can't get sun angle to cast a show on interior? Is this normal?

 

BT

[DzinEye]

1)  I don't believe there are any set standards for this, and besides, any generic time and date would be region specific.
On typical city lots in some jurisdictions they want to see shadow studies for certain times/dates, but they would dictate that.
For architectural study, you may want to know if you should design some kind of window shading structure for certain times of the summer.  

 

2) You definitely should be able to arrange the sun to come through windows and cast shadows.  But if you're meaning in a particular house orientation with actual proper sun angles relative to it, then maybe you don't.  If you want to see if it works use the Generic Sun and try different combo's of tilt and direction angle.

[robdyck]

@BrownTiger @DzinEye

Actually there is a specific date and time that is by far the best to use for sun angles...August 16 @ 4:00 pm.

Quitting time on my birthday! 

Seriously though, if planning for summer shade, I do use that date and time because it's around the time of year where the sun's at its most powerful and starting to be noticeably lower in the sky...and so I feel that's when shade is most important. At least North of 49. I've had many people ask: why aren't you planning shade studies for June 21? Answer: it ain't that hot, and the sun's too high, giving you a false sense of the efficacy of your shading.

 

[glennw]

In Oz (about 35 deg south) we are typically required to do shadow diagrams for June 21 at 9am, 12 noon and 3pm.

[ericepv]

AS far as the optimum time of day to set your sun angle for, I just go by how it looks based on orientation on the lot, personal preference or customer request. To get the shadows to show on your render, be sure to check 'Show Shadows' in the edit camera DBX.