Roof builder 1 – Roof creation and modifications

Introduction

• Create a roof by drawing it manually or picking it from an existing drawing
• Create different roof types
• Modify roofs by assigning ridges, slopes and edge heights, as well as adding offsets and parapets

Building preparation & roof creation

After specifying the location, you can create and set up a roof according to specific parameters. There are two options:

• Draw the roof manually
• Pick a roof from the drawing

Draw the roof manually

1. Open the Roof builder, and specify the building height
2. Define an offset from the building edges
3. Click Draw roof
4. Left-click and trace the outline of the roof to draw it
5. Press Space or Enter on your keyboard to finalize the roof outline

6. Go to any of the isometric views to check the roof

In this example, we’re selecting SW Isometric. This way we can see how the roof looks in 3D space.

Pick a Roof from the Drawing

1. Open the Roof builder
2. Specify the building height (e.g. 8 meters)
3. Define the offset distance around the building (e.g. 0 meters)
4. Click Pick Roof
5. Select the outline of the roof.
6. Press space or enter to finalize

7. Go to any of the isometric views to check the roof

In this example, we’re selecting SW Isometric. This way we can see how the roof looks in 3D space.

Roof tools

PVcase offers tools to modify your roof design so that it adapts to real-world complexities. This way, you can easily add a ridge, or assign a slope, edge height or parapet to your roof. Finally, if you need to make further adjustments, you can always modify the roof even after it’s ready.

Add ridge

You can assign ridges to any roof type, by following the steps below:

1. Click Add Ridge
2. Enter the desired value for Height from ground (e.g., 16 meters)
3. Enter the desired value for Offset from ridge. Note that, if 1 meter is entered, 1 meter will be added to the left of the ridge and 1 meter will be added to the right of the ridge, resulting in a total of 2 meters.

4. Click Add

   

5. Select the roof
6. Draw the ridge using the left mouse key to specify the location (e.g., in the middle of the roof)
7. Press Space or Enter to finalize

To see the added ridge, go back to the 3D view.

Assign height

There is also the option to change the height of a specific edge of the roof.

1. Click Assign height 
2. Select one of the roof edges
3. Specify a new height
4. Press Space or Enter to finalize

Assign slope

You can also assign a slope to the roof:

1. Click Assign slope
2. Click on the lower roof edge to select it
3. Click on the higher roof edge to select it
4. Specify the angle of the slope
5. Press Space or Enter to finalize

If you go back to a 3D view you'll see that the slope was added.

Assign parapet

In addition, there is an option to assign a parapet to the roof. To do so, click Assign parapet and you will be presented with two different options:

• Sloped parapet. This type of parapet will be calculated from the roof height and it will be the same across the whole roof even if the wall height is different.

• Horizontal parapet. This type of parapet will be calculated from the ground level so the height of the parapet may differ depending on the wall height.

To assign a parapet to a roof:

1. Click Assign parapet
2. Select the roof
3. Define the width of the parapet (e.g., 0.5m)
4. Press Space or Enter
5. Define the height of the parapet (e.g., 0.3m)
6. Press Space or Enter
7. Define the offset, if needed (e.g., 0.1m)
8. Press Space or Enter on the keyboard to finalize

To see the added sloped parapet, go back to the 3D view.

Assign offset

You can easily assign an offset to any side(s) of your roof, using the Assign offset function.

1. Click Assign offset
2. Select the side(s) of the roof where you want to assign the offset and click Enter
3. Insert the offset width

Move corner

If you need to make small modifications to an existing building, you can do that by using the Move corner function:

1. Click Move corner
2. Select the roof (when prompted)
3. Press Space or Enter to finalize the selection.
4. Select the corner of the roof that you need to move and change its location

Roof types

The Roof builder allows you to easily create four-sloped roofs or L-shaped roofs.

Using the Roof tools, you can create either one of these roof types.

Four-sloped roof

To create a four-sloped roof with a longer ridge in the middle:

1. Draw the roof with the specified height, ensuring a clear definition of the roof shape
2. Place triangle ridges on one side of the roof and separately on the opposite side
3. Draw a ridge between the two triangles formed on both sides of the building, adding a specific height to it

L-shaped roof

To create an L-shaped roof:

1. Draw the building's L-shaped outline (the longer part of the building and the shorter part should form an L shape)
2. Select it as a roof in the roof builder settings
3. Click Add ridge
4. Draw your ridge line
5. Confirm no irregularities in realistic view