SPOT




The Living Room Scenario In the following scenario, an architect is designing a house where the living room has a large aperture oriented to the south. His main reason for this arrangement, is that his wants to maximize the amount of direct sunlight during the winter and minimize it during the summer. This scenario describes how Spot could help him visualize direct sunlight entering this space during those months. To begin, a 3D model of his project is imported into Space Pen. Spot is now ready to run. Tip: Click on the images below to enlarge them.
	>Inputs.The user drags the mouse over a calendar to select a period of time (for example, 8AM-5PM during January-March). A geographic location must be selected from those pre-listed or the coordinates can be entered manually for non-listed locations.
	>Advanced inputs. Several parameters can be adjusted in the "advanced inputs" window. These include the test's frequency and the distance between the test points. Other parameters such as the transparency of the annotations generated by Spot can be changed as well.
	>Selecting an area on the 3D model. Once the function "Time interval" is launched, the solar azimuth and altitude range over the current period of time and a color code are displayed in the bottom panel. The user selects an area by drawing its aproximate edge directly on the 3D model.
	>Spatial distribution during the winter. Once the mouse is released, the program retrieves the boundaries of the stroke and colors it according to a color code. The color of a point depends on the number of times it is lit at regular intervals during the selected period of time. In the example, the user can see that there is a lot of direct sunlight on the selected area during the winter months.
	>Spatial distribution during the summer. The same test can be perfmormed for another period of time, for example all day during the summer. In our example, the living room will be protected from the sun during the summer, except from the areas located near the window.
	>Temporal distribution during the year. The user can retrieve the temporal information that is the distibution of direct sunlight for a given point. A clicked point in the 3D model is marked with a certain color that creates a relation with a calendar generated for this point and displays the temporal information .
	>Navigable animation. Now that the user is aware of the sun distribution over a year in this space, the function "Given moment" is used to simulate the shadows cast by the sun under a clear sky. The time and date can be quicky changed in the bottom panel to navigate the diurnal and the annual cycles. The last analyzed surface will be updated.
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This is a research project of the Design Machine Group..............................