Configuration question for blocking direct sun from eyes

[e-Dan-K]

I'm trying to configure my blinds in my office to lower enough to block direct sunlight into my eyes, no more. I have two windows in front of my desk, laid out as shown in the diagram. I'm trying to figure out how to properly configure ACP.

My initial thought was this is a job for FOV, but I ran into the issue that I think "Office Left"s FOV Right would be "-29". However, ACP does not allow negative values for that setting.

But now I'm reading up on Glare Zones. I'm wondering if I could treat my head/chair as a glare zone and block the direct sunlight that way? There isn't a height field in the Glare Zones, but their stated goal of "Glare Zones let you pin down specific floor areas (a sofa, a desk, a TV) and lower the blind only as far as needed to keep direct sun off those spots"... Unfortunately it is "floor area"... Maybe a height field in the glare zone would be appropriate? Even for true glare that seems useful. If I had a glass table that caused a ton of glare, specifying its floor location with knowing the tabletop causing the reflection is 40" off the ground doesn't solve the problem.

Any idea what the proper configuration solution for this is?

[jrhubott]

FOV Left and FOV Right define the physical aperture of the window, the arc over which sunlight can actually enter through the glass. They're bounded by walls, frame reveal, or obstructions on each side of the window centerline. A negative value doesn't fit that model because there's no such thing as negative physical opening. What you're actually trying to encode, the sun angles where glare reaches your eyes, is what Glare Zones handle. FOV tells ACP when the sun can geometrically enter the window; Glare Zones decide what inside the room needs protection when it does.

On the floor-only schema: yes, placing a zone at the floor position under your chair will cover your eyes for most realistic sun angles. The sun ray that hits your face doesn't stop there; it continues past you and strikes the floor farther from the window than directly below you. So the blind lowering to shade that floor spot also shades you. If that's not tight enough, shift Zone Y slightly deeper into the room than your chair's actual floor position. The fastest way to calibrate is with pipeline_trace.glare_zone in the diagnostics panel, and the reason attribute on the position sensor will name the winning zone and the effective Shaded Distance.

Your glass-table point is a good argument for a height field and I've filed it as #404. No timeline to promise, but it's a reasonable extension of the model.

For details, see the Glare Zones wiki page.

[e-Dan-K]

Thank you for the quick and helpful response! I'll adjust the settings like that.

[jrhubott]

Looks like you got this sorted — glad the Glare Zone approach clicked. For anyone reading later: FOV defines the physical window aperture (always positive, bounded by the frame), while Glare Zones handle the sun-hits-my-eyes problem by protecting a specific floor-level area defined by X/Y offset from the window centre and a radius. Treating your desk/chair position as a glare zone is exactly the right model when you want to block sun at eye level without closing more than necessary.

[e-Dan-K]

Thank you for the addition! You added the feature faster than I got my blinds installed. 😀 I'll let you know how it works when the install is done!

[jrhubott]

No rush — looking forward to hearing how the glare zone performs once the hardware is in. If the sun angle at your desk changes with seasons, you may want to tweak the radius or X/Y offset slightly between summer and winter.

[e-Dan-K]

I've set up the glare zones, but it may have been unnecessary in my setup... I think my desk is so close to the window that the normal sun blocking closes the blinds sufficiently to keep the glare away. I'll let you know if I notice any siutations where it changes behavior.