| ILLUSTRATING MORE SHADOWS focusing on education and interesting practical aspects of sundial design and construction North American Sundial Society British Sundial Society Stained Glass Sundials The Sundial Primer & virtual sundials Wiki on Sundials Joël Robic's site www.gnomonica.com sundials.gnomonica.com The best sundial link site The standard BSS glossary Pocket Sundials |
| FREE or LOW COST ~ GOOD SOFTWARE FROM ELSEWHERE CAD 2d, Acrobat, Word, Excel, Powerpoint viewers, VRML browser plugin Cortona-Mozilla-Netscape-Internet Explorer, VRML world builder (ISB), Standalone VRML viewer, Sundial stuff (SHADOWS, ZW2000), etc and JustBASIC, C, Pascal, FORTRAN compilers also. And Visual BASIC and java. LOW COST: Excel& Word compatible software, DeltaCAD, and so on. ProgeCAD using LISP. The list goes on. Just click on the links higher up on any of the languages or systems and you will learn more. |
| sundial sun dial sundials sun dials design book books articles spreadsheets Gnomics Gnomonics Horology Dialling Dialing Clocks EOT Equation of time Middleton Sciathics Lunar Moon construction hobby gnomon cutout popup building astro compass astrocompass shepherd ogee azimuth altitude hour angle Jaipur VRML wrl ecliptic ISB virtual worlds kids teaching learning nocturnal star inclining reclining declining latitude longitude recliner decliner CAD lighting TurboCAD ISA Parallel Graphics planispheric astrolabe polarized light garden construct auction what not buy homebuilt interesting DeltaCAD TurboCAD JustBASIC BASIC programming programs pascal Visual Basic JAVA C++ illustratingshadows |
| FREE SUPPLEMENTS OR PAMPHLETS ~ The CD with the book has all these, and many more WHAT NOT TO BUY On EBAY and other online auction sites. Also see this page here for more guidance online PROGRAMMING DELTA CAD Notes on coding trig, human interface, and constraining lines to boundaries EOT Equation of time and astronomical EOT formula & spreadsheet and a good analemma/EOT link TRUE NORTH/SOUTH North/south by the astro compass - two techniques, and supported by the main spreadsheet WALL ALIGNMENT Wall declination determination & spreadsheet for true north south, major simplification MIDDLETON SCALES Middleton Scales simplified & Ruler A LUNAR DIAL A lunar dial with a difference - simplified AN ECLIPTIC DIAL A discussion on the ecliptic and a dial in true Illustrating Shadows fashion A NOCTURNAL DIAL Design one for any desired stars and a dial in Illustrating Shadows fashion - and a STAR MAP THE ASTROLABE How to build with simple geometry the planispheric astrolabe, everything you need to know And notes on the trigonometric formulae derivation. Also see DeltaCAD macros, and the general spreadsheet. FORMULAE COLLECTION A collection of formulae relating to gnomonics RECLINING DIALS Some notes on east and west recliners DECLINING RECLINERS Some notes on declining and reclining dials and the use of CAD CAD LIGHTING TECHNIQUES How to see the sun's shadows, eg on a sundial, for any month and time and a CAD dial plus mesh for a project is downloadable - the focus on this site is TurboCAD a 2d 3d system for about $100 PAPER CUTOUT DIALS Some interesting free paper cutout dials A POPUP PAPER SUNDIAL A paper sundial that lies flat, when opened it is a horizontal and vertical dial, see picture to the left. And ~ Fixing store bought dials and buyer's guide link ~ North/south hemisphere differences ~ Spreadsheet for many techniques ~ 3d CAD design, and Durer ~ Declination Lines ~ VRML, CAD, spreadsheet methods ~ CAD files as a starter (TCW DXF JPG etc) ~ Stained glass in a dial ~ Important dates for diallist and usable hours, bibliography, software, and page references to Rohr, Waugh, and Mayal, A simple polarizing dial ~ ~ etc ~ ~ This page lists them all. Also added, based on questions asked, what is the old housewife's trick, how does it work, when can it be used. Feb 24, 2008 FREE CASE STUDIES ~ The CD with the book has these and some A 500 lb cube declining dial, 11 pages about 600k, all details start to finish. A large analemmatic garden dial. An inclining decliner. A vertical decliner neighborhood project using empirical methods, shows Italian hour lines, 5 pages, under 200k. A circular paver equatorial, a clay pipe liner armillary. The open book dial or dual gnomonless dial back to back. An almost 45 degree declining four faced cube dial. The details are complete, however extensive notes are in the second book Illustrating More Shadows. |
| 2005 ~ ~ ~ Oct astro EOT, EOT 1904, 2104, 2004-2007, Formulae collections, TCW files, Gnomonless dial Nov Lunar dials, Ecliptic dials, Dec more vrml, nocturnal star dial, 2006 ~ ~ ~ Jan vrml animations, lighting in CAD, Feb planispheric astrolabe, Mar polarizing dial Apr Dipleidoscope May 3d stereograms Jun What people are interested in Jly Sundials not to buy Aug Case studies. Spreadsheet has calendar lines, Booklet on calendar lines. Sep Spreadsheet has analemma curve data, DeltaCAD h, v and m-dial programs, programming methods for trig to code. Sundial Day proclamation. Oct clay dial plates. DeltaCAD macros with animation, shepherd & azimuth dials. Nov DeltaCAD for dual gnomon shepherd and tables. Dec Illustrating More Shadows. DeltaCAD astrolabe improved, and formulae notes. 2007 ~ ~ ~ Jan DeltaCAD stuff. BASIC files using free JustBASIC. Feb more BASIC programs. Mar Pascal programs h-dial and v-decliner, C, Fortran, and VB programs for h-dials. VB and JAVA code graphical display. Notes for JAVA, Visual Basic, C, Pascal, Fortran, etc. Apr main spreadsheet and eot sheet cross hyperlinked. Astro compass , wall declination supplements rewritten, the new spreadsheet makes work v easy. Solstice & equinox curves for any given SH in DeltaCAD. TYPO figure 8.5 Illustrating Shadows. S5W decliner case study May DeltaCAD macro pole facing vertical decliner (case study) & VRML model (needs Cortona plugin). Great-decliner DeltaCAD macro. N and S hemispheres for V, V-dec, and H dials. Jun better DeltaCAD calendar macro. CH12 IMS expanded on the CD that goes with the book. Astro compass spreadsheet enhanced. TurboCAD VBS programs for h- and v-dec dials and notes. Actual interest by topic. V-dec Delta & Turbo CAD updated Source code for all three VB compile systems. Additional DeltacCAD stuff Aug For no reason here is a COBOL h-dial program, DeltaCAD h & v dial minor improvements. Sep Oct misc minor improvements of the computer programs. Nov DeltaCAD bifilar dial macro Dec minor update to bi-filar dial and main spreadsheet, also added the declining east and west (arrow dials) to the case study page, some minor typos. 2008 ~ ~ ~ Jan DeltaCAD, TurboCAD, and FAQ updated. LISP program for ProgeCAD, a free CAD system and for AutoCAD. SCILAB and PYTHON and Euler graphical & animated dials. Online Euler, Scilab, and Python dials. Excel for PDAs, many dial types, EOT, calendar curves, analemma 8, inclined decliner, astrolabe, supports graphs on the PDA (eg EOT & analemma, and dial plates). Main spreadsheet updated. Feb C for the Palm Pilot (PDA) using PocketC text and graphics code for v as well as h-dials, both standalone apps (xxxxx.prc) or as ones you save as a PDA memo and compile and run on the PDA with PocketC. Also an almanac program with sunrise/set, declination, EOT, and hourly altitude/azimuth for a given month and day. Vertical decliner added. Scilab, DeltaCAD, JustBASIC as well as Euler almanac added similar to PalmPilot one, and online also for Scilab and Euler. Micro and Simple Shadows booklets updated. Octave h-dial, v-dial, and v-dec dials graphical and text. Notes on the old housewife's trick, and better note in the PDA almanac spreadsheet, and FAQ updated on sunrise/set times. Clearer notes in PDA spreadsheets. March notes on DeltaCAD programming internals and methods and techniqies, a short yet useful extract from Illustrating More Shadows. A new page of programming, CAD, and other systems. Minor typos in calculated DL values book 1, page 115, 156. April Minor improvements to misc items. May FAQ re noon lines. Main spreadsheet. June PDA notes and programs minor text or compile improvements, and EOT and declination for 4 days on either side of a day in a month. Azimuth DeltaCAD dial correction for some reference longitudes, dial plate options, and 7 month circles as opposed to the original three. Also vertical north facing dial, h-dial and other misc improvements in a number of programs. June 29 UPDATES: Reference Page ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Illustrating More Shadows (Book 2) updated Feb 3, 2008 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Illustrating Shadows (Book 1) updated March 16, 2006 |
| FREE BOOKLETS ~ Extracted from the main books ~ The CD with the book has all these, and some MICRO SHADOWS how to build a horizontal dial, no theory, 15 pages Feb 2008 SIMPLE SHADOWS how to build a horizontal dial, and why it works, EOT also, 45 pages Feb 2008 CUBIC SHADOWS multi face dials, 60 pages CUTTING SHADOWS paper cutout and POPUP paper dials DECLINING SHADOWS Calendar line drafting, altitude and azimuth methods, graphical and spreadsheet, also with tables PROGRAMMING BASIC Converting trig to code, constraining lines to boundaries, human input, and so on |
| FREE ~ CAD files ~ The CD with the book has these and some DeltaCAD is used by many diallists and it has a BASIC like programming, only 2d but lots of sundial programs (commonly called macros) are available from NASS and BSS sources. It is low cost. Here are some of mine, an h-dial, a v-dial, an m-dial (horizontal, vertical, meridian), and an h-dial with calendar or declination curves, an equatorial dial with calendar lines, a polar, and an azimuth dial, they are longitude corrected with quarter or half hours, and a shepherd's dial both one and two gnomon. The planispheric astrolabe (see picture to the left) Many dials are animated, hour lines vs latitude, or gnomon shadow. They automatically refresh the screen as they run a data range. These are not intended to compete with other excellent macros (see NASS & BSS www). They are for educational purposes in that (1) they are copiously documented, (2) they show animated lines or shadows, or calendar lines. Another calendar curve DeltaCAD macro. Vertical decliner N facing, vertical E/W great decliner. Misc improvements in the "h-dial" angles for extreme hours for some longitude differences is fixed. N and S hemispheres for V, V-dec, and H dials. Bi-filar dial. Notes comparing DeltaCAD and TurboCAD programming scripts updated. Almanac added. Programming notes on user interfacing and dialling techniques. Azimuth dial major enhancements. Also, north facing vertical dial improvements, h-dial and other misc improvements in many of the dial programs. June 29, 2008 |
| FREE ~ CAD files, VRML user rotatable 3d dials, virtual sundial worlds ~ The CD with the book has these Some CAD VRML files: are here, e.g. 12 rays of equinox on gnomon's nodus to dial plate, and other models such as the Durer general model, Earth orbits the sun, Ecliptic model, Sun moving over the ground, Equatorial dial, Armillary dial, Horizontal dial on a column, Sun orbits earth and tropics, Roman and Egyptian. Also, a cube dial, plus gnomon plus sun travel mesh. This vertical decliner is very instructive. These are viewed in TurboCAD, or in Internet Explorer with the Cortona plug-in, or in a stand alone viewer. Some virtual worlds [condensed wrl]: a VRML sundial garden, the Jaipur Sundial observatory from India also. Have fun with VRML, get the browser plug-in, and experiment with parallel graphics ISB product. This page has links to VRML builders and browsers for Windows as well as Apple stuff. For animation, Parallel Graphics ISA product was used. Great for teaching sundial components. Animated solar systems, animated moon/earth/sun, and animated Polaris/Cassiopeia/Ursa Minor are in these worlds! A collection of many recent excellent worlds but not sundial related are here also (managed by Parallel Graphics). And Other non sundial worlds are here. A guide to building vrml models inTurboCAD is here. Some 3d (as in antique stereoscope) dial jpg images you can see. The solar mesh used for setting accurate CAD lighting, in 3d. Some other dials also in 3d - mostly built in CAD, but some photographed. |
SPREADSHEETS the main spreadsheet and major EOT spreadsheet and for Documents To Go versions 7.006 ~ 10.0020 and with graphics too! |
| Case Studies of many of the dials pictured below |
| This is in both the SUNDIAL and the VRML web ring. Click where it says HERE to get to the vrml web ring - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > > |
EXCEL - spreadsheet of horizontal vertical and declining dials, EOT (astronomical), astrolabe, meridian, polar, analemmatic dial, almanac, analemmatic 8, sunrise/set, graphical dial depiction, deducing a dial plate's latitude, deducing wall declination, lunar phases, inclined decliner dials, middleton scales, and so on. Main sheet and EOT sheet now cross hyperlinked. Wall declination sheet simplified dramatically, and the front page made easier to use, and more flexible. Additionally, variants exist for the Palm Docs To Go system. DeltaCAD - DeltaCAD macros for planispheric astrolabe, shepherds dial, tables, and h, v, m, p, q, and declining incliners. Some have shadow or hour or calendar animation. Notes on using the h-dial with calendar lines on a v-dial and how to do it. NOTE: if you double click a DeltaCAD macro, it will then invoke DeltaCAD, and while the macro will run, it may say "basic script error". To avoid this nuisance message, bring up DeltaCAD first, then MACRO, E, FILE OPEN, and then run that file, or see these notes here. Added pure calendar curve macro for solstices/equinoxes, 7 curves, changeable default declinations. Pole facing and E/W great decliner also. N & S hemisphere for V, V-dec & H dials. Also has the bi-filar dial macro (with animation). DeltaCAD users group [NASS DeltaCAD page is here] TurboCAD - TurboCAD VBS programs for h-dial and v-dec dial and notes, also TCWs here. Systems that do not need a million folders and executable support stuff. FORTRAN - the legacy languages continued. My page links to the free compiler, and my notes as well as the source and executable for an h-dial. For completeness, see COBOL stuff here. JustBASIC - a free BASIC compiler (see here), use these programs for m, p, h, v dials, m-inc and calendar curve data also, if you don't have Excel or DeltaCAD. Better output comments. PASCAL - program for h-dials, v-dials (declining also), and notes etc uses the free PASCAL compiler IDEs (see here small 8mb and large 28mb free systems) Conversation not object oriented. C/C++ - program added for h-dial. Conversation console input/output, not object oriented. Notes compare with Visual C++. Also C for the PDA LISP - for ProgeCAD (AutoCAD) Scilab, Euler, Octave, and Python code also. VISUAL BASIC and JAVA need a million folders and executable support stuff. Visual Basic - shows the detail code for an h-dial producing both tabular and praphical data. JAVA - in this case a tabular output for h-dials and the notes from beginning to end on building the code, as well as the code and associated folders also. Also, a graphical horizontal dial program. The notes are excellent on showing what the books don't say. Assumes NetBeans 5.5 (also see Python above) [NASS JAVA page is here] OTHER SYSTEMS for programming are covered. For example PocketC for the Palm Pilot. Even COBOL! And for the Palm Pilot there are specially designed Excel sheets using Documents To Go, and they are excellent on a PC also. The above are programs which use code I have written. There are other excellent standalone programs such as SHADOWS, SUNDI, ZW2000, etc. |
| Illustrating Shadows (book 1) ISBN 0-9765286-8-1 Lib Cong 2005900674 315+ pages of hands on, empirical, geometric, trigonometric, CAD, and spreadsheet dial design with 100 pages of charts, tables, formulae, and lists of useful information. Building small sundials using wood, PVC, and other small construction media. 3rd edition and last printing >> Table of contents and index << Get the printed book today and there is a discount for NASS, BSS members. Includes a CD with the book in color, spreadsheets, booklets, TurboCAD figures & DeltaCAD macros. etc etc |
| PICTURES Page 1 ~ of the author's sundials polar, horizontal, stained glass, meridian, capuchin, shepherds, vertical, durer, globe, cube, decliners, inclined decliners, armillary, equatorial, etc. (concrete, glass, copper) - outside or long lasting. Typical of book 2 dials. Page 2 (PVC, wood) - fine detail yet less weather proof. Typical of book 1 dials. Page 3 artistic photos of the dials in book 2. Some are rather interesting or amusing. Page 4 Some of the author's stained glass non sundial work. And some 3d JPG pics also just for fun. |
 |
| Before you buy a sundial click here and check here for two valuable guides and here for my "What sundials not to buy", photos & notes, I made it public domain please give to any and all. And ooops... what to do now you bought it - how to fix it. |
| This website and its free books, booklets, programs, case studies, take a lot of effort to design, build, and maintain. If you like what you see, please buy the books or the CD. For example, the DeltaCAD macro for the astrolabe was a first in astrolabe programming, and took hundreds of hours from start to finish, and it is free to you. The books and CD provide the incentive for further development. And help when I teach classes on sundials at the local university |
| ABBREVIATIONS used: h-dial (horizontal), v-dial (vertical), m-dial (meridian dial), p-dial (polar dial), q-dial (equatorial dial), z (azimuth), s-dial (shepherd dial), a-dial (astrolabe), n-dial (nocturnal dial). Also d (declination curves), and, inc: incliners and dec: decliners, and -a if animated (which some DeltaCAD, Euler, and Scilab programs do). SUNDIAL PARTS: are here with explanations (for the common horizontal sun dial (nodus, style sub-style, gnomon, dial plate, etc). |
| Illustrating More Shadows (book 2) Library of Congress Control Number: 2006930654 - ISBN 0-9765286-9-X >>> Table of contents and index and some sample pages <<< 320 pages on glass, concrete, and clay dials, more on 3d CAD (TurboCAD), DeltaCAD programming, recliners, decliners, and inclined decliners, each with their own chapters, and calendar curves, etc. The ideal book to follow Illustrating Shadows, especially if you want to build garden dials to last. The book is available via PayPal, and the CD has all the usual stuff, plus the latest copy of Illustrating Shadows (Book 1) and llustrating More Shadows (Book 2). This book, while reviewing Illustrating Shadows, has much more additional and new material. Discount for NASS, BSS members |
 |
| ILLUSTRATING MORE SHADOWS ~ ~ a journey of discovery ~ ~ sundials ~ ~ and how to make them ~ ~ ~ as well as how to use, or make, the things that can design them ~ |
| June 29, 2008 updated |
| Buy book 1 using PAYPAL today |
 |
| BOOKS: $25 normal + s&h or $20 NASS/BSS + s&h same price for either book Illustrating Shadows Illustrating More Shadows BOTH books on CD $15 USA, or $25.00 Canada, Mexico, etc |
| The printed books come with a CD of 70 CAD, 35 pdf, 30 xls, 25 vrml, 50 CAD templates, and animations. It also has the books in full color in pdf. |
| Buy book 2 using PAYPAL today |
| Everything else is free (if you like this site's items, buy the CD!) |
| for details click here |
both books on a CD includes all extra related files |
| PYTHON java alternative |
| buy both books on a CD now PAYPAL |
| PalmPilot PocketC and .prc |
 |
 |
 |
| ~ ~ ~ ~ Changes and Updates to books, booklets, software, and the web site ~ ~ ~ ~ |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| TurboCAD Deluxe (now here) Here are some TCW files, and some DXF. A solar travel CAD (TurboCAD) template - see also article on using it. Also there are CAD files with the mesh and several dials all ready for you to use. The CAD system I use is TurboCAD deluxe, available for $150 approx, often on sale for $99, excellent 3d modeling, does 2d, download my lighting mesh to see true lighting. TurboCAD Professional (used to be here) Here are some VBS macros with notes tested on V11, 12, and 14, for the h-dial and v-decliner ~ only supported in TurboCAD Professional edition. Hint: buy the Deluxe then do a "competitive upgrade", save many dollars. Notes comparing DeltaCAD and TurboCAD programming scripts updated. ProgeCAD (here) is a free 2d CAD system with programmability using LISP, see my LISP examples page here. The LISP system is somewhat "quaint" and reminds me of the IBM 7090 system from the early 1960s, however their purchased version supports Visual Basic. The h-dial and the v-dial (non decliner and decliner) programs work, and the improved notes in the zip file are helpful. Minor bugs fixed. |
| Link to free Acrobat pdf reader |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Python try any dial online (select from the zip file) |
| Online dial design ~~~> (or try one of the many many software systems in many computer languages) |
| Euler h-dial online |
| SciLab h-dial online |
| NASS JAVA dials ~ excellent works of art |
| C/C++ (PC) |
 |
 |
| PalmPilot ~ Excel DocsToGo |
 |
| WHAT YOU MAY PURCHASE TO HELP YOU (and the web site!) |
| COMPARISON OF FREE OR LOW COST COMPUTER, CAD, GRAPHICS, OR COMPILER SYSTEMS. One web page covers all. March 9, 2008 FREE ~ EXCEL SPREADSHEETS FOR DIALING ~ [ PDA Docs To Go Excel with dial plate graphs~ use on a PC also ] May 2008 These are Excel format and work with the lowcost Software602 program. For example, and not limited to... A general dial spreadsheet with many worksheets, and covers all dialing aspects about 700k, a longitude correction for most dials, declining incliners, azimuth / analemmatic dials for gardens and parks, and hyperlinks back and forth. Dial location data is on the front screen, and an almanac page added. Calendar line sheet for: nodus-base distance to hour line, and dial-center distance along an hour line. analemma curves for latitudes +0 to +65 aimed at noon, or times on either side. Wall declination sheets simplified. Astro compass degree method data. Other separate standalone sheets are... FREE ~ BASIC PROGRAMS - source as well as executable ~ (all sorts of dial programs) These use the free JustBASIC system and cover h, v, v-dec, p, m & m-inc dials as well as calendar curve derivations, and polar/meridian also. Also an almanac. These match the DeltaCAD macros and the Excel spreadsheets. Feb 2008 FREE ~ PASCAL PROGRAMS - source and executable ~ (an h-dial and a v-dial with declination) These use either of the free Pascal systems whose links are on the free software as well as the Pascal page. H and V dials (declining). FREE ~ C PROGRAM - source and executable ~ (an h-dial) Using the free IDE for C/C++. Like the Pascal and BASIC programs, these are conversational and easy to follow, they are not object oriented. Notes updated to compare with Microsoft's Visual C++ ALSO: C for the Palm Pilot (PDA) using PocketC Feb 2008 FREE ~ FORTRAN PROGRAM - (an h-dial) Using the free compiler and linker, this is an h-dial program matching the C and Pascal programs. COBOL ~ program inclusing trig functions and a free IDE system - (an h-dial) No apologies for this one, just to show it can be done. The code for the trig functions is included. ATAN is limited to 45 degrees, two versions. FREE ~ Visual Basic stuff with graphics for horizontal dials an h-dial [in all three systems] Using the free IDE for Visual Basic from ENVELOP, they are event driven. Extensive notes on building the VB program and working code examples also. The notes cover the free Envelop system, the free MS VB Express, and the paid for VN .NET 2003 system. Code for a |