Adding Sunlight to a Model

The sunlight that you add to a model takes location, time, date, and atmospheric conditions into account.

While you can add multiple directional, point, and spot lights, you can add only one instance of sunlight to a model.

Adding sunlight requires the PhotoView 360 add-in, which is available only with SOLIDWORKS Professional or SOLIDWORKS Premium.

To add sunlight to a model:

  1. From a part or assembly, click View > Lights and Cameras > Add Sunlight .
    The PhotoView 360 add-in turns on automatically if you have not previously enabled it.
  2. In the PropertyManager, under Location, Time, and Date, specify the options:
    1. For North direction, select a planar face or an edge.
      A north direction vector that is perpendicular to the selected face or collinear with the selected edge projects onto the scene floor.

      Click Reverse Direction to reverse the north direction by 180 degrees.

      To align the sunlight scene horizon correctly, ensure that the scene floor is parallel to the bottom of the model.
    2. For Location , select a location from the list, or select Specify Location and enter values for North latitude and East longitude .
    3. Enter values for the time:
      Time zone from GMT Specifies the time zone for the sunlight location relative to Greenwich Mean Time.
      Date Specifies the date to apply the sunlight.
      To specify an equinox or solstice, click and click one of the following options:
      • Northward Equinox
      • Northern Solstice
      • Southward Equinox
      • Southern Solstice
      Time of day Specifies the time to apply the sunlight.
  3. To specify advanced options such as haze, sun diameter, ground albedo, or sky gamma, click Advanced.
    Click Dynamic help to display detailed help when you move the pointer over the controls.
    These controls affect only the PhotoView 360 preview and final render. Changes to the controls are not reflected in SOLIDWORKS RealView.
  4. Optional: Click Save Information To File to save the information to a file.
  5. Click .