Sundial Explorer is an interactive program to assist in the construction of sundials. You can try a variety of locations and orientations and Sundial Explorer will instantly show you the result. You can limit the range of hours displayed, orient the dial in any way you want with 4 degrees of freedom. For super accuracy, Sundial Explorer will even correct your dial to agree with the clock on any preselected day from the present to the year 27,000 AD.
Sundial Explorer let's you make a dial for anytime zone, not just local Solar time. It takes your longitude into account when you choose a reference meridian. You could even make a Sundial for your area that gave the time for a city on the other side of the world.
You won't have to enter coordinates either, Sundial Explorer has the locations of 2,700 cities built in. You have complete control over level of detail on your dial, from hours all the way down to minutes. After you've worked hard on your dial, you can save it and load it later for continued work. When you've finished, just print the dial out and construct it following the easy to follow instructions included in Sundial Explorer. Don't delay, download today!
Sundial Explorer is written in 100% Java and is free to download by anyone. Java 1.4 or better is required.
You will need to download and install the Java3D extension in order run Sundial Explorer. Java3D is what gives Sundial Explorer its unique 3D interface that makes it such a pleasure to use. Most users only need the JRE version. Be sure to download the executable that's appropriate for your operating system. You can choose between OpenGL and DirectX. If you're on an older version of Windows, it's probably safer to download the OpenGL version, it's more likely to be on your system.
Download: Sundial
Explorer
Download: Java3D Extension
To run Sundial Explorer, just double click it.
For the look and feel that Sundial Explorer was built with, and the one seen in all the screen shots, you can optionally choose to download this file Skin LF. Just make sure you put it in the same directory as Sundial Explorer.
Screen Shots
