Architectural diagram tutorial

Share how to create sun path diagrams, applicable for :

  1. Urban design diagram

  2. Architectural diagram

  3. Site diagram

  4. Shadow diagram

  5. and more

Reference Diagrams

Softwares used:

  1. SketchUp: Modeling and editing sun paths, winds, views, etc.

  2. Photoshop: Editing images exported from SketchUp, creating animations for the sun and wind.

This tutorial is more difficult than the Sun path diagram tutorial  because the diagram includes: contour lines, many symbols motion (winds, views,.. etc.)

All files (2D + 3D) used in the tutorial are included

All files used in the tutorial (3D sun path, model houses, symbols, etc.)

(It will cost a small fee, please support me, thank you very much)

Link download at Gumroad

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Some completed projects, documents available for download

My portfolio

Tutorial (step-by-step guide and videos):

  1. Determine the coordinates of the location research
  2. Add location, terrain and contour lines for model research on the architectural diagram. (in SketchUp software)
  3. Add Sun path and customize with coordinates on the architectural diagram.
  4. Set up the scenes to export files and motion shadows
  5. Export shadow animation
  6. Create motion for the Sun and symbols on the architectural diagram. ( in Photoshop software)
  7. Final results (motion architecture diagram)

Let’s get started !

[STEP 1 ]

Determine the coordinates of the research location on the architectural diagram.

  1. Let me take an example, the customer sent me the address of the area to be researched: …. Valenciana,Spain
  2. Use google map to get coordinates of that location:
[STEP 2 ]

Add location, terrain and contour lines for model research on the architectural diagram. (in SketchUp software)

  1. Open file 3D-HOUSE-ONLY.skp
  2. Add location for file: File/ Add location / paste coordinates (received in step 1) in address / Set Geolocation.
    1. Move the project to the correct map image. Then, Import context.
    2. In this diagram I don’t want to see the satellite image so I turned off the layer.
  3. Delete the topographic map layer in the research site
    1. Temporarily disable the tree layer, to reduce the load on the computer
    2. Unlock map layers, by default when importing terrain they will be locked
    3. Double click on the map layer in the study area
    4. Use Intersect faces with model to isolate the part you want to delete.
    5. Delete the map parts inside the model because they are hiding the model part
  4. Draw contour lines for the terrain
    1. Draw a rectangle larger than the existing terrain. Drag that rectangle to the center of the model. Righ click , Make component
    2. Copy 30 more rectangles, each 5000mm (5 meters) apart
    3. We use Intersect faces again to create contour lines from the intersection of the rectangle and the terrain.
    4. then delete the rectangle, we will see the contour line
    5. Clean them up
[STEP 3 ]

Add Sun path and customize with coordinates on the architectural diagram.

  1. Import 3D Sun path in file: File/ import/ Browse and select files: 3D-SUNPATH.skp . File included in All files used in the tutorial (It will cost a small fee, please support me, thank you very much)
  2. Hide the bottom part of the Sun path,
    1. View / section planes
    2. Active cut
    3. Then we turn off section planes
  3. Customize sun path according to project coordinates (received in step 1) :
    1. Turn on the protractor of Sun path.
    2. Open the Sunpath group, open the first layer.
    3. Place the protractor at the center of the arrow (as shown in the image) and rotate it to an angle equal to the first number of the coordinates (it is Latitude). 
    4. Turn off the protractor to clean up the diagram
  4. Drag the sun path to the area to be studied.
  5. Turn off the protractor to clean up the diagram
  6. Combine all sun path layer into a folder for easy management.
  7. Add more symbols: wind and views
    1. Open file 3D Symbol (download link)
    2. Copy and paste
  8. You can use SketchUp Pre design to determine the main wind direction.
[STEP 4 ]

Set up the scenes to export files and motion shadows

  1. Switch the camera to Parallel projection
  2. View angle adjustment: clear visibility of the sun’s path and the object to be studied.
  3. In the Scenes tab, press the (+) button to create a scene. I named the scenes camera.
  4. I’ll be exporting shadow video from 6am to 6pm, so I’ll set up one scene at 6am and one scene at 6pm. In the Scenes tab, press Add to create a scene. I named the scenes June-6am. Do the same for the scene at 6pm
  5. Do the same for the scenes in December and September/March (These are important times of the year)
  6. I will set the transitions time from scene 6am to scene 6pm to be 12s corresponding to 12 hours. Window / Model info / Animation / Scenes transitions
  7. Select only the scene to export. Here, I select the DEC-6AM and DEC-6PM scenes and check “include in animation” (note that other scenes must have this check mark removed)
[STEP 5 ]

Export shadow animation (SketchUp 2023)

  1. Export all objects and symbol: i will separate the objects into *.png images with transparent backgrounds for processing in Photoshop.
  2. Export shadow animation: File/ Export/ Animation
    1. Sketchup 2024 is having an bug that cannot export animation videos. And the current time is 1.2025 and there is still no update to fix this bug. So I will save the file and open it in Sketchup 2023 to export the video.
    2. Select only the scene to export. Here, I select the June-6AM and June-6PM scenes and check “include in animation”. I will set the transitions time from scene 6am to scene 6pm to be 12s corresponding to 12 hours. 
    3. Recheck the video export options, video resolution matches image size, if different then we will have to resize them in photoshop.
    4. Uncheck “Loop to starting scene” to make the video lighter and avoid confusion.
    5. Similar animation exports: June and September
[STEP 6]

Create motion for the Sun and symbols on the architectural diagram. ( in Photoshop software)

  1. Open Photoshop software
  2. Background and text:
    1. Import all exported objects from sketchup, except shadow animation
    2. Remove unnecessary details
    3. Turn off satellite map
    4. Combine layers together for easy management
    5. Add text to diagram
    6. Combine layers together for easy management
    7. Convert them into a smart object
  3. Make motion for symbols ( winds, view…)
    1. Split the Winds object into win1 and wind 2
    2. Turn on Timeline ( Windows/ Timeline) 
    3. Create a mask for the wind 1, and unlink
    4. Drag timeline to 1s, active Layer mask position.
    5. Drag timeline to 0s, drag layer mask to the starting point of wind 1 movement
    6. And at 2s, drag the layer mask to the end point of wind1
    7. Press Play to test the motion
    8. Do the same with the wind 2, views….
  4. Make motion for Sun
    1. Import the shadow video (exported from sketchup)
    2. Drag that layer down, just above the background, multiply blend mode 80%
    3. Drag the time of the objects to the same time as the video
    4. Import sun object, resize object to fit diagram, 80% transparency
    5. Activate Transform
    6. The video is 12 seconds long, which represents 12 hours. The start point of the timeline corresponds to 6am, the end point corresponds to 6pm, and the midpoint corresponds to 12pm.
    7. Simple with 8am, 10am, 2pm, 4pm milestones
    8. The smaller the milestones, the smoother the motion diagram.
    9. Press play on the timeline to see the results.
  5. Collect objects, to duplicate them
  6. Press play to see the result
[STEP 7]

Final results (motion architecture diagram)

  1. Save file Photoshop before rendering.
  2. Rendering video: File/ Export/ Render video
  3. I set the format to H.264 and the size to 1080p
  4. Then press Render and wait for the result.Do the same for September and December

Doing the same with the 2 months March/September and December, we get the product:

Sun path Diagram at June 21st

Sun path Diagram at September/ March 21st

Sun path Diagram at December 21st

Thanks for watching !