For a rooftop, it is always seen that there are some obstacles or objects that cover the rooftop and are not eligible to place the solar panels. Let us see how to trace them out and make the placeable space on the roof for solar installation easily.
Stepwise we can learn how to trace the obstacles on roofs.
Shortcuts for modelling tools.
Polygon -P
Cylinder - C
Tree - T
Consider a roof that has obstacles and the base is created using flat roof tool as given below,
Tip;
Use 'x' key on the keyboard to see the x-ray view or the clearer view of the roof.
You can see there are various blocks available and we can see them one by one for each model.
Initially, the polygon needs to create for the obstacle as follows, use the polygon tool or press 'P' from keyboard to activate. Then, trace the obstacle over the roof.
Tip;
You can either drag the tool or use the TAB key to enter the measured values of the polygon or cylinder diameter.
When you need to trace a cylindrical object use the shortcut key 'C' or choose the cylinder from the model tool on the layout.
You can manually enter the dimension or drag the axis from the center to start tracing the cylinder as given.
There is always a choice to copy-paste a similar object with, Cntrl+C and ctrl+v.
In a similar pattern the trees that are nearer to the building can also be traced using the tree modelling tool. Shortcut key would be 'T' and there are 2 parts to draw a tree.
Trunk height and crown width. For each, you can use TAB key to enter the required dimensions to trace the trees around.
Realize the traces you have modelling 3D for a better picture.
By this way, one can trace all the available obstacles of any rooftop.