Setting north in model for shadows function?

[sproutsradio]

I generally model places with front being south or street side. If, on the actual site, the building will be angled significantly off a north/south axis, is there a way to set the compass direction of the shadow function as different from the drawing axis?
Hope this gets the idea across.
Thanks

[DaveR]

Use the Solar North extension to set Solar North as desired. It’s in the Extension Warehouse.

https://extensions.sketchup.com/extension/393f5153-ba5f-4f5f-849f-46b32cf64bd4/solar-north

[sproutsradio]

Great, will check it out. And thank you!

[Geo]

@sproutsradio

If, on the actual site, the building will be angled significantly off a north/south axis, is there a way to set the compass direction of the shadow function as different from the drawing axis?

As has been said, the Solar North plugin enables you to set true north in relation to the model.
There are four settings one needs to verify for correct shadows.

North Orientation

North is only one of four parameters you must set to display shadows that accurately portray the real world. • Geographic Orientation — Relationship of True North to the model. • Geographic Location — Latitude and Longitude • Time — Year, Month, Day, Hour and Minute • UTC Offset — The difference between local time and the Coordinated Universal Time standard. By default, the +Y solid green Axis is true north to the shadow engine. However, the +Y Axis is no longer true north if you geo-…

Setting a compass north point

With reference to your topic title: “Setting a compass north point” Bear in mind direction in SketchUp is True (geographic) direction not Compass (magnetic) direction. In most locations the two differ. How much depends upon your location. Magnetic variation >20° is not uncommon.

[sproutsradio]

Thanks for the reminder. Having read Patrick O’ Brian, I have been schooled in the importance of latitude & longitude.

[janvin]

Just noticed that the compatibility for the Solar North doesn’t include SU2020… I’ll install it anyways as I recently upgraded to SU2020 and have used it in the past, but I know SU tends to crash (more often) due to plugin incompatibility…

So, question is, is there a native way to achieve solar north settings?

[sproutsradio]

Yes, I chose not to install. It is an important bit of functionality for solar modeling and a native solution would be proper. And, be good to know how it’s going.

[DaveR]

@janvin

Just noticed that the compatibility for the Solar North doesn’t include SU2020…

On it’s own that doesn’t indicate whether or not it is compatible with 2020. As a matter of fact it works just fine in SketchUp 2020. In this case it’s just a matter of the compatibility list not getting updated yet.

[sproutsradio]

Great, thanks!