[Plugin] Put shadow on current day and hour

[Matt666]

Hi all!
I created a mini-plugin that puts shadows on current date and hour. But when I try it, SU "forgets" one hour... I don't know why!
Perhaps it depends of country it is installed and customized...
So: Can you test it, and tell me if SU forgets this hour out of France??? Or can you tell me why?

Thank you!

EDIT: Problem solved. Plugin works!
EDIT2: Works well on SU V7 free and Pro. If you use an older version, please Jim's plugin to set your location.

[Pilou]

Is that work also with the free version who has only a default Days hours location place?

[Daniel S]

I´m in Argentina. My current time is 8:49 am and the plugin says 11:49 am.
I think that the difference of three hours is because i´m in GMT -3.

Daniel S

[Matt666]

Ok, thank you Daniel!
Can you try code updated in the first post, please?

Is that work also with the free version who has only a default Days hours location place?

Hi Pilou! I have a free version. So yes, it could works on it!

[Daniel S]

Now is working right...
I´m happy with this version... my country is happy too!!

Thank you,
Daniel S

[Matt666]

[watkins]

Dear Matthieu,

A brief explanation would be useful. I take it that your plugin updates shadows to the current, local time when selected. So, if I select the plugin at 15:25 Oxford UK time, the shadows show correctly for that location and time. Is that correct?

Regards,
Bob

[KevinKarney]

Hi All
To correctly display the shadow of an object, one needs the
"Local Apparent Solar Time" - which is a function of the Sun's altitude and azimuth in the sky at your particular location. The local apparent solar time is 12:00 when the Sun is due South (or North in the Southern Hemisphere).

Your watch and your computer indicate Civil Mean Time which is related to "UTC (Universal Time Coordinated)" - which is Atomic Time (and within a hair's breadth is the same as the out-of-date Greenwich Mean Time). Atomic Time is maintained by the Bureau International des Poids et Meseurs, which is a UN Agency. It averages out the time from a large number of atomic Cesium clocks around the world

Civil Mean Time = UTC + Time Zone + Daylight Saving Hours

Local Mean Time = Civil Mean Time +/- (the Longitude difference between your time zone longitude and your local Longitude) * 4 minutes

Local Apparent Solar Time = Local Mean Time + "The Equation of Time"

The Equation of Time is the difference between mean and apparent time. There is a difference between the two, since the Mean Sun (by definition!) is a virtual object that goes around the equator at a uniform speed, while the True Sun moves around the Ecliptic (23 deg to the Equator) at a non-uniform speed (in a ellipse). I attach a graph of the Equation of Time.

Confused.... But Sketchup has all this technology built in! It's shadows are spot-on for local apparent solar time.

Check this out 1) set June 14th when the equation of time is zero. 2) set your local Latitude and Longitude. 3) Draw a vertical stick. 4) Select the time around midday when the shadow is due North or South. The time you get +/- 12 will be the difference in longitude between your time zone longitude and your local longitude * 4.

[Pilou]

Hi Pilou! I have a free version. So yes, it could works on it!

Yes but what about good Latitude, longitude inside the free?

[Matt666]

Hi Pilou!
I don't know. I do some tests, and Longitude/latitude parameter is customized in menu Window/Model info->Location.

Sans titre 1.jpg

Copy and paste code below in the ruby console, you will have all shadow infos.

Code: Select all

Sketchup.active_model.shadow_info.keys.each{|k|puts(k+": "+Sketchup.active_model.shadow_info[k].to_s)}

Hi KevinKarney!
Sorry, but I don't understand you problem (my poor english!!)... This plugin just putd SU shadows on the current date & time... Can you tell me what I should do to correctly display the shadow of an object? Thank you! If I able to..

[Pilou]

@Matt : this don't exist in the free
Console gives that

City: Boulder (CO)
Country: USA

Latitude: 40.017
Longitude: -105.283

ShadowTime: Fri Nov 08 14:30:00 Paris, Madrid 2002 (Normal I have this regulate at this time)
I must verify what place is
Latitude: 40.017
Longitude: -105.283

[TIG]

http://download.sketchup.com/OnlineDoc/ ... cation.htm

Explains difference between Pro and Free Location Tools...

[Jim]

This is my solution for version 6 Free users:

http://sketchuptips.blogspot.com/2008/0 ... ation.html


Version 7 Free does include the Location settings.

[Pilou]

Thx for all these tricky solutions

[Matt666]

Aah, ok... Pilou uses V6!
You are completely out, man!

[Gaieus]

Yup,Location was not put into the free (Windows*) SU 5 and 6 but now with SU 7 it's there. Nevertheless by taking a GE snapshot, you can always "geolocate" your model (or use Jim's plugin)
_______

*Interestingly, it was only a Windows "(un)feature" only, as the Free SU 6 for the Mac has location.

[Matt666]

Ok, thank you Gaieus!

A brief explanation would be useful. I take it that your plugin updates shadows to the current, local time when selected. So, if I select the plugin at 15:25 Oxford UK time, the shadows show correctly for that location and time. Is that correct?

Exactly, watkins

[Pout]

i would at this to your script:

Sketchup.active_model.shadow_info["DisplayShadows"]=true
This will immediately also show the shadow in the model.
Otherwise one will not see the shadows if the are not set on

[remus]

Pout, turning on shadows as soon as you set them could be a little annoying, as it would lock SU up in a large model. Better to leave them off (if they are already off) and let the user turn them on, i reckon.

[Matt666]

Yep, that's why I didn't set shadows on in the code...

[Pout]

Pout, turning on shadows as soon as you set them could be a little annoying, as it would lock SU up in a large model. Better to leave them off (if they are already off) and let the user turn them on, i reckon.

True, but isn't it also a bit confusing for the user? The user sets the shadow to 'now' and i suppose that when a user does this, he wants to see the result of that action. Not?

I don't know if there are any guidelines an what to use as default behaviour on functions like this... It would be usefull to know so i can adjust some of my functions according to that guideline.

[remus]

I suppose if the user is using this plugin they already have a good idea of what its going to look like, so showing them isnt neccesary.

More generally, most people just use common sense.