The Solar Planning and Design Tool Kit provides specialised tools for planning roof jobs, calculating shadows and solar radiation for solar heating and photovoltaic installations, and applying texture maps for roof visualisation.
Important: This toolkit assumes you have a high level of competence in the modelling skills required to create accurate roof and wall geometry.
🧾 What the toolkit includes
The Solar Planning and Design Tool Kit contains functions for:
Planning roof jobs using the roof grid system
Calculating shadows and solar radiation for solar installations
Applying texture maps to roof models for installation visualisation
Generating client proposals and reports
🛠 The six-step process
The foundation of the Solar Planning and Design Tool Kit process is based upon creating accurate roof geometry in Roof Wizard. The roof geometry must first be correctly modelled in 3D space using dimensional data from architect's blueprints, field sketches, scanned plans, or aerial images.
Critical: If the roof modelling is not accurate, the entire solar calculation process is compromised.
Follow this six-step process for accurate results:
Define the roof geometry - Create the basic roof structure
Check the roof geometry - Verify accuracy of the 3D model
Select the location - Set geographical position for calculations
Select the local radiation table - Choose appropriate solar data for your region
Generate the shadows and solar radiation - Run calculations based on orientation to true North
Print client proposal - Generate reports using available templates
🔧 Starting point recommendations
The usual starting point is a basic hip and valley roof where the eave height is the same all the way around. From this foundation, you can create virtually any roof by adding architectural features including:
Dormers
Atriums
Gables
Verandahs
Other architectural elements
Note: Specialised roof shapes such as barrel vaulted roofs, simple flat roofs, or skillion roofs are usually handled separately from this standard workflow.
🛠 Final steps
After creating the roof geometry:
Generate the solar radiation and shadow map
Add other buildings, fixtures, and fittings that impact shadow casting
Use the template system to print necessary reports
📋 Report templates
Standard report templates are provided so you can start immediately. These templates can be edited at any time to suit your business needs.
The model extracts roof areas and quantities, plus provides simulation and calculation of solar radiation and shadows from roof features and other objects based on orientation to true North.