CIE Standard General Sky (Types 1–15)

ClassCIELighting
FamilyDiscrete light array (Turtle geometry, wraps PerezSunSky)
StandardCIE S 110:2003 (ISO 15469:2004)

Introduction

The CIE Standard General Sky defines 15 sky types ranging from fully overcast (type 1) to clear (type 15), parameterised by two indicatrix functions for luminance gradation and scattering. In GroIMP, CIELighting wraps PerezSunSky and selects Perez coefficients that match the chosen CIE type. Solar position is computed from geographic coordinates via the Goudriaan algorithm.

CIE sky type overview

TypeDescription
1CIE Standard Overcast Sky — diffuse, no sun
2Overcast, with slight brightening towards sun
3Overcast, moderately graded, slight solar effect
4Overcast, moderately graded, towards sun brightening
5Sky of uniform luminance
6Partly cloudy, without gradation, slight solar effect
7Partly cloudy, without gradation, brightening towards sun
8Partly cloudy, with gradation, slight solar effect
9Partly cloudy, with gradation, strong solar effect
10White-blue sky, slight solar corona
11CIE Standard Clear Sky — low luminance turbidity
12Clear sky, low luminance turbidity, polluted atmosphere
13CIE Standard Clear Sky
14Clear sky, high luminance turbidity, polluted atmosphere
15White-blue turbid sky

Parameters

ParameterTypeRangeDescription
skyTypeint1 – 15CIE sky type index (see table above).
cloudCoverfloat0 – 1Cloud cover fraction (interpolates between overcast and clear Perez coefficients).
latitudedouble−90 – 90 °Geographic latitude.
dayOfYearint1 – 365Day of year.
hourdouble0 – 24Solar time (decimal hours).

Renderer compatibility

Twilight (Sunflow)
GPUFlux
OpenGL / Proteus