Adding Sunlight to a Model

The sunlight 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 is turned on automatically if you have not previously enabled it.
  2. In the PropertyManager, for 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 is projected onto the scene floor.
      Click Flip 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 click 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.

      Time of day

      Specifies the time to apply the sunlight.

    sunlinghtpmbasiaddsunlightc.png
  3. To set advanced settings 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. Click PM_OK.gif.