No Shadows in "Final View with Shadows"

[Rich Winsor]

Damn, it looks like someone else has been tinkering with their castle drawing too. Very impressive, you have taken crenelation to a new level. I see several interesting things taking place in your drawing. Is this a 3D view that was generated from the A (attic floor)? And on what floor did you generate the crenels on the roof of the keep? If you look closely it appears that the crenels on the front, back and left side walls of the keep roof are not generating shadows. Note the lack of “notches” on the shadows cast by the left wall top on the ground in the courtyard below. It’s harder to see but the front and back walls don’t show the shadowing that is present on all the second floor crenelation. These are the kind of results I was getting when generating views from floor levels below the attic.
As for your confusion regarding adjusting the default sun settings maybe I can shed some light (pun intended) on the subject. The two basic settings that control the light are “Tilt Angle” (a measure of how high the sun is in the sky) and “Direction Angle” (an indication of which direction the light is coming from). I have prepared a little sketch (see thumbnail #1) showing the range of these angles. The default is set up so that a “Direction Angle” of 90 degrees will always shine directly on the front of the building. If you keep this in mind it’s pretty easy to predict the shadow directions, no matter what the orientation of the building may be in the 3D view. Reverse engineering your drawing I would estimate the default sun settings you used to be in the neighborhood of: Tilt Angle…about -45 degrees and Direction Angle…about 180 degrees. Why the “Tilt Angle” measurements are in negative numbers escapes me and leads to unneeded confusion. I have included some very simple thumbnails illustrating the effects of some basic changes. You also have the option of changing the color of the light (see last thumbnail). If you want to experiment a very simple drawing is beneficial because it eliminates all the waiting for the “Final View with Shadows” to generate.
BTW, where did you find those wicked spires? Very nice touch.

[JoAnn]

Yep. I couldn't stop tinkering. You must already know how that is...like trying to stop a speeding train!

My 3D is generated from floor 1 (it made no diff. which floor I used). The crenelation walls are generated from floor 3 (for 2 story outer bldg.) and attic floor for the 3 story keep.
I used soffitts, then blocked/copy/paste to simplify and speed things up.

I found the spires at 3d warehouse.

I really liked your sun chart.. It helped me to better visualize how the sun settings interact with each other (I wasn't comprehending it that way, prior to your chart display).
Soooo....I went into a photoshop frenzy and created this sun shadow chart of my own!

I hope these charts help anyone else out there who are sun shadow challenged!