[RE-wrenches] Proposal Sketching Tool/Software

[William Miller]

Jason:

 

Very impressive.  Thanks for sharing.

 

If you do your design from a satellite image, aren’t you afraid you might miss a plumbing vent or other obstruction, or the shade from a tree that you cannot judge the height of accurately?  One foot can make the difference of 3 modules on a 3 row install.  Is it embarrassing to sell the customer x number of modules and arrive to find out you can only fit <x?

 

William

 

 

Gradient Cap_mini
Lic 773985
 <http://www.millersolar.com/> millersolar.com
805-438-5600

 

From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Jason Szumlanski
Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2014 2:17 PM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Proposal Sketching Tool/Software

 

Rather than sharing individual presentation examples, I did a screen recording of preparing a model in Sketchup Pro and Layout from start to finish. This is me preparing a real presentation package that will be used tomorrow at an in-house presentation by a sales rep. I ignored roof obstructions in the interest of time, but you can see in the video that I completed a viable presentation package in 10 minutes showing the maximum PV possible on a roof. The magic happens at 2:25 when the Instant Roof script does it's work. Here is a link to the video:

 

http://youtu.be/vs3ypUOe2_c

 

This is not sped up. I did take some minor liberties in the interest of time - I would typically spend about 5 minutes extra making sure dimensions are as accurate as possible. This particular address didn't have the sharpest imagery from Google Earth, but it was passable. I'll be well within 1' on all roof dimensions based on my past experience, and a few measurements from the ground can confirm accuracy level. I used Bing Maps to estimate a roof pitch of 5:12, which is pretty typical of the neighborhood I know this house to be within. Google street view is not available in this gated community. I assumed an 18" eave, which I generally use as a generic dimension unless I know homes in a neighborhood to have different overhangs. This home had a raised entryway and a lower beam height for the garage, so it was not the easiest home to model, but far from the hardest. I took a few minutes to set up my rendering scenes and elevations because I am anticipating this actually being used eventually for construction and permitting docs in Layout, but that's totally optional. I skipped some minor steps in Layout, too, like changing the quantity of modules in the legend. I'll go back and clean things up before sending to the sales rep. I showed off some of the shading analysis capabilities, even though it wasn't necessary for this unshaded roof.

 

​You can see the mouse clicks, but what you don't see is my keyboard presses - I have shortcuts set up for most tools and actions to speed my workflow.​

 

Preparing models from PDF or DWF plans results in a mode every bit as accurate as AutoCAD. I use essentially the same techniques. That can really blow away a homeowner (and sometimes an architect). 

 

Hopefully that answers your questions about the viability of Sketchup for doing solar energy presentations!

 

 

​Jason Szumlanski

Fafco Solar​

 

  <http://ws-stats.appspot.com/ga/pixel.png?yes__count=true&e=legacy_impression> 

 

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