Shadows (software)
Encyclopedia
Shadows is a software package for the calculation and drawing of sundials
and astrolabe
s, available as a freeware in its base level.
It has been developed by François Blateyron, software developer and amateur astronomer, who made it available on Internet since 1997 and continues to improve it. It is used world wide by thousands of sundial enthousiasts .
Shadows is compatible with Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP and older platforms. Since version 2.0, Shadows is available in three levels: Shadows is a freeware; Shadows Expert and Shadows Pro are sharewares and provide advanced or professional functions. Since version 3.0, it allows the creation of astrolabes.
In 2005, the French astronomical society, Société Astronomique de France
(SAF) awarded Shadows author with the Julien Saget prize for the Shadows software.
as well as astrolabes:
Shadows does not aim at providing all types of sundials but it is made easy to use for a wide public from amateurs to specialists.
Shadows draws the sundial on screen and prints it to scale 1 for its fabrication. Sundials drawn with Shadows give solar time and can include longitude correction and equation of time
. Besides solar hour, it can draw ancient hours such as italian and babylonian or unequal hours, or even draw azimuth and altitude curves.
The shadow of the style can be drawn and animated during the day.
Drawings can be copied as an image or a vector graphics (metafile or DXF
) for use in CAD programs or machine tools.
Astrolabe
s are interactive and can be used on screen by rotating the Rete and the Alidade using the mouse.
Several curves and graphs are available: equation of time
, solar graph with horizon mask, duration of the day, direction rose.
Shadows was translated by users; it is now available in French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, Portugese, Brasilian Portugese, Dutch, Hungarian, Slovenian, Greek, Polish and Russian.
Shadows Expert: Intermediate version, shareware
(in addition to standard Shadows features)
Shadows Pro: Full version, shareware
(in addition to Shadows Expert features)
Sundial
A sundial is a device that measures time by the position of the Sun. In common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from its style onto a surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day. The style is the time-telling edge of the gnomon, often a thin rod or a...
and astrolabe
Astrolabe
An astrolabe is an elaborate inclinometer, historically used by astronomers, navigators, and astrologers. Its many uses include locating and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, determining local time given local latitude and longitude, surveying, triangulation, and to...
s, available as a freeware in its base level.
It has been developed by François Blateyron, software developer and amateur astronomer, who made it available on Internet since 1997 and continues to improve it. It is used world wide by thousands of sundial enthousiasts .
Shadows is compatible with Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP and older platforms. Since version 2.0, Shadows is available in three levels: Shadows is a freeware; Shadows Expert and Shadows Pro are sharewares and provide advanced or professional functions. Since version 3.0, it allows the creation of astrolabes.
In 2005, the French astronomical society, Société Astronomique de France
Société Astronomique de France
The Société Astronomique de France is a French astronomical society that was founded by the astronomer Camille Flammarion....
(SAF) awarded Shadows author with the Julien Saget prize for the Shadows software.
Presentation
Shadows calculates various types of sundials:- plane sundials with polar style (any orientation or reclination)
- horizontal or vertical analemmatic sundial
- horizontal or vertical bifilar sundial
- cylindrical sundial
as well as astrolabes:
- planispheric astrolabeAstrolabeAn astrolabe is an elaborate inclinometer, historically used by astronomers, navigators, and astrologers. Its many uses include locating and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, determining local time given local latitude and longitude, surveying, triangulation, and to...
- universal astrolabeAstrolabeAn astrolabe is an elaborate inclinometer, historically used by astronomers, navigators, and astrologers. Its many uses include locating and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, determining local time given local latitude and longitude, surveying, triangulation, and to...
- mariners astrolabeAstrolabeAn astrolabe is an elaborate inclinometer, historically used by astronomers, navigators, and astrologers. Its many uses include locating and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, determining local time given local latitude and longitude, surveying, triangulation, and to...
Shadows does not aim at providing all types of sundials but it is made easy to use for a wide public from amateurs to specialists.
Shadows draws the sundial on screen and prints it to scale 1 for its fabrication. Sundials drawn with Shadows give solar time and can include longitude correction and equation of time
Equation of time
The equation of time is the difference between apparent solar time and mean solar time. At any given instant, this difference will be the same for every observer...
. Besides solar hour, it can draw ancient hours such as italian and babylonian or unequal hours, or even draw azimuth and altitude curves.
The shadow of the style can be drawn and animated during the day.
Drawings can be copied as an image or a vector graphics (metafile or DXF
AutoCAD DXF
AutoCAD DXF is a CAD data file format developed by Autodesk for enabling data interoperability between AutoCAD and other programs....
) for use in CAD programs or machine tools.
Astrolabe
Astrolabe
An astrolabe is an elaborate inclinometer, historically used by astronomers, navigators, and astrologers. Its many uses include locating and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, determining local time given local latitude and longitude, surveying, triangulation, and to...
s are interactive and can be used on screen by rotating the Rete and the Alidade using the mouse.
Several curves and graphs are available: equation of time
Equation of time
The equation of time is the difference between apparent solar time and mean solar time. At any given instant, this difference will be the same for every observer...
, solar graph with horizon mask, duration of the day, direction rose.
Shadows was translated by users; it is now available in French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, Portugese, Brasilian Portugese, Dutch, Hungarian, Slovenian, Greek, Polish and Russian.
History of versions
- version 3.3 (December 2010)
- version 3.2 (January 2010)
- version 3.1 (July 2009)
- version 3.0 (May 2008)
- version 2.2 (January 2006)
- version 2.1 (January 2005)
- version 2.0 (March 2004)
- version 1.6 (January 2001)
- version 1.5 (February 1999)
- version 1.0 (September 1997)
Features of the three levels of Shadows
Shadows: Freeware version- Plane sundials with polar style (horizontal, vertical declining, equatorial, polar, meridian dial)
- Drawing of the sundial to scale 1; Any dimension, orientation or reclination
- Suitable for any location on Earth, on northern or southern hemisphere (2800 locations pre-installed)
- Drawing of the style to scale 1, ready to be cut out
- Tables of coordinates of hour lines and declination lines
- Drawing of declination arcs and hour lines (solar or mean time), with or without longitude correction
- Moveable, resizeable text frames, with list of pre-installed mottoes
- Drawing of the curve of equation of time, in various shapes
- Drawing of compass and azimuth circle
- Full on-line help, user interface translated into 13 languages.
Shadows Expert: Intermediate version, shareware
(in addition to standard Shadows features)
- declining-reclining plane sundials
- Analemmatic sundials
- Cylindrical sundials (shepherd's dial, armillary sphere, ...)
- Tables of solar and astronomical ephemeris
- Drawing of italian and babylonian hours
- Insertion of images for decoration
- Export of data and images
- Drawing of the construction layout (epure)
- Simulation of the shadow casted by a roof
- Animation in orientation and reclination of the sundial
- Tool for the calculation of the wall orientation
- Direction rose
(in addition to Shadows Expert features)
- planispheric and universal astrolabeAstrolabeAn astrolabe is an elaborate inclinometer, historically used by astronomers, navigators, and astrologers. Its many uses include locating and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, determining local time given local latitude and longitude, surveying, triangulation, and to...
s - vertical declining analemmatic sundial
- Bifilar sundials
- Drawings in azimuth and altitude
- Sidereal hoursSidereal timeSidereal time is a time-keeping system astronomers use to keep track of the direction to point their telescopes to view a given star in the night sky...
, unequal hours - Solar graph with horizon mask
- Export of drawings in WMF and DXF (AutoCADAutoCADAutoCAD is a software application for computer-aided design and drafting in both 2D and 3D. It is developed and sold by Autodesk, Inc. First released in December 1982, AutoCAD was one of the first CAD programs to run on personal computers, notably the IBM PC...
) - Export of animations in AVI
- Tool for the calculation of sundial parameters from a photograph
- Efficiency graph of a solar panel
See also
- Official Web site of Shadows
- Gallery of sundials made by Shadows users
- SundialSundialA sundial is a device that measures time by the position of the Sun. In common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from its style onto a surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day. The style is the time-telling edge of the gnomon, often a thin rod or a...
- AstrolabeAstrolabeAn astrolabe is an elaborate inclinometer, historically used by astronomers, navigators, and astrologers. Its many uses include locating and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, determining local time given local latitude and longitude, surveying, triangulation, and to...
- The Astrolabe by James E. Morrison