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Some of Valentin's PVSOL Premium potential customers might have, as I did, decided to buy the software based on 3D modeling and shading simulation capabilities. Several anecdotal evidences of this capability can be found on this forum, and on promotion materials spread across several media by Valentin Software sales team. Let me give some examples below... Above - PVSOL Online Shop suggests drone usage for photogrammetry Above - Youtube tutorial suggesting the use of photogrammetry software for 3D import (Pix4D) Above: Feature advertised online since 2017, note the mention to "3D objects created with photos taken from a drone" I guess these examples should be enough to prove the spin over 3D photogrammetry and real life 3D models import into PVSOL. Most people most probably will do the same as we did, download the software and try it out with simple small examples, and it does work, how nice... we then decide to buy the software. Unfortunately it's only when starting to use it for real, with real projects, real data, real photogrammetry, that the trouble starts... errr... ok... let's go smaller then... decimate 3D model and retry... oops... there is a limit of ONLY 500.000 vertices! Anyone with the thinnest experience in photogrammetry knows 500k vertices is nothing, any model with such a low count of vertices is either a single building alone with very little detail and very decimated, or the scene is in terribly low quality with lots of 3D defects. This 500k vertices limit renders the 3D photogrammetry almost useless. In order to work with photogrammetry 3D models one has to decimate the model to a number of vertices really below the 500k vertices limit, because as reported in this other thread (without answer for weeks now) the vertices count is wrong and includes some own PVSOL vertices as overhead, limiting even further the model quality. We have no choice but to comply with the previously unmentioned limits, and we decimate the model further, making the 3D almost unrecognizable, and voila it finally loads and we can start designing the PV system believing all is well now, apart from the 3D miserable quality: This illusion ends as soon as we press the "Start shading frequency" button with the option to show shading percentages on the modules. With the example above, with only 320 modules, the application crashes with an "out-of-memory error": Now this is very strange because this is a 16GB machine and memory usage by PVSOL process never went above 1.4GB on all of the tests we did, so there is a nasty bug here. Valentin official answer is to just say we ran out of memory (despite proof we did not), and telling me "We would use the planning mode with map section.", yes really! So we are working with a 3D model decimated already to just a few hundred vertices, and still PVSOL can't cope with it. Astonishing! We did not give up, and went to the extent of DELETING part of the 3D model objects, parts that would not interfere with shading on the modules, and decimated even further. The result was an .obj file with just 82.034 vertices, that’s 16% of what PVSOL claims to be able to handle, and guess what... it still crashes and can't simulate shading. Conclusion: Don't be fooled by Valentin Software claims over the use of 3D import of photogrammetry models, it's nothing but a toy for micro systems, it's not for professional use. Hope this narrative is useful to anyone considering buying PVSOL Premium based on 3D photogrammetry imports. PS: I have found PVSOL capabilities in regards to computation to be flawless thus far, if you don't mind a miserable 3D component, it's worth it. The 3D module however is just lame. PPS: The worst part on this is that Valentin Software refuses to admit it has a memory management bug, and provides no real assistance nor solution apart from dropping 3D import.

Hello, I'm Leon and we are working on the project that involves 3d scanning with a drone. We've made 2 flight attempts so far and got pretty good scans but the problem is that STL files are so huge, 350+mb at least. What steps can be taken to reduce the size of 3D scans without significant loss of quality? We've never faced a problem like this before - in fact, all our efforts were aimed at improving the quality of 3d scans. Would you mind enlightening me? Does changing the file format reduce its size? Our software can export STL, OBJ and other formats (https://www.artec3d.com/3d-software/artec-studio#compare-studios). Is there any 3D application that can decrease the quality of 3D model textures? We may try to make another flight and "split" a 3D scan into several parts, but I'm not sure it will work. Any advice would be greatly appreciated Regards.

Hi everyboby. I'm trying to create a new PV model for a building (on PVSol Premium). When I have to choose some 3d models, the option "map section" doesn't appear. So, I can't use maps neither use jpg images. Do I have to activate the map option from somewhere? Please help me. Thanks in advance! L.

http://www.valentin-software.com/services/fw/yt-val-en/dl-pvsolprem-en [Transkript] In this tutorial you will learn how to use photo matching to model your building with SketchUp and use it in PV*SOL premium. "You will need: - Two Pictures of the building you like to model - SketchUp Make or Pro - PV*SOL premium 2018" The pictures should be taken at a 45° angle from two opposite corners. Next we create a folder structure containing our project data. Create a new folder, rename it and create three subfolders "Models", "Images" and "Exports". Drop the pictures into the "Images" folder. Start SketchUp. Activate the used tools by right click the toolbar and select the tools as needed. Open the drop down menu "Camera" and select "Match New Photo...". Navigate to your "Images" folder and select an image. The yellow square is the origin of the coordinates. The red line is the x-axis, green the y-axis and blue the z-axis. Pull the yellow square onto a corner of the roof. The corner should be visible from both pictures. Now drag the y-axes (green dashed line) on two parallel edges of the building and align them with the green squares at the end of the lines. Do the same with the x-axis. The x- and y-edges of the house must be offset by 90° to the y axis. To check the alignment, you can drag the origin to another corner of the house. The z-axis should coincide with a vertical edge of the house. For adjusting you can use the x- and y-axis handles. Check the alignment with other edges of the house. When you hover with your mouse over the z axis, the cursor changes into two little arrows. Click with the left mouse button and change the scale by moving the mouse. To complete the photo match click with the right mouse button and select "done". Select the Rectangular Tool and draw the base surface of the front roof from the coordinate origin. Select the Tape Measure Tool, move the mouse over the z-axis until a red square appears. Then click with the left mouse button and move the guide line to the center point (blue circle) of the edge. Select the line tool and draw the front edge of the roof. Make sure that the end point of the line is on the guide line. If you press the middle mouse button and hold it down, you can rotate the view by moving the mouse. Draw the remaining edges of the roof. If you click on the blue tab, the scene changes back to the photo match view. Left click three times to select the whole model. Then click with the right mouse button and select "Make Group". If there is no volume, there is either an open area, a single line or an area within the body. Check if the object has a volume. If there is no volume, there is either an open area, a single line or an area within the body. Select the Rectangular Tool and draw the base of the remaining roof. With activated Select Tool mark the edge and drag it with the Move Tool. Draw a vertical guide line through the middle of the edge. It's time to match the second picture. Repeat the steps from the first photo match. The coordinate origin is located on the same roof corner and the axes must have the same alignment. Adjust the house edge with the move tool. Rematch the first picture by right click on the tab and select "Edit Matched Photo". Adjust the x and y-axis a little bit so that the rear edge of the roof matches the picture. When ready, right click and select "Done". Using the Tape Measure Tool, click on the slanted roof edge and type in 0. The guide line should be on the edge. Draw a vertical guide line through the center of the page. Select the Line Tool and draw the side of the roof from the intersection point of the guide lines. Remove the guide lines by clicking on edit in the menu bar and select "Delete Guides". Left click three times to select the whole model. Then click with the right mouse button and select "Make Group". Check if the object has a volume. If there is no volume, there is either an open area, a single line or an area within the body. Now we model the chimneys and roof windows. Select the Line Tool and draw on the surface of the roof. Move the cursor over the top edge of the roof and look for the pink 90° offset reference line. Extrude the surface with the Push/Pull Tool by about 1 cm. To do this, select the tool, then click on the area and type in 0.01. With the Line Tool you can model the chimney. When drawing the lines, make sure that you snap into the axes (x, y, z). The drawn line is colored according to the reference axes. The color of the surfaces is darker than the remaining surfaces. This is because the normal of the flats are twisted. The dark areas should be inside the object. To invert, right-click on the surface and select "Reverse Faces". In order for an object to become a solid body, there must be no surfaces within the object. The internal surface of the chimney must be removed. To do this, we select the area and delete it with the Delete key. Left click three times to select the whole model. Then click with the right mouse button and select "Make Group". Repeat the steps for modelling the remaining roof details. This time we don't create a group, but choose "Make Component...". The difference between a group and a component is the linking of copies of these objects. This means that changes to a copy of a component are automatically applied to all other copies of that component. There are three identical roof windows. We only model one window and make copies of the component. If we want to change the roof window in retrospect, we only have to change one copy. To make a copy of the window, select the move tool and press the ctrl on the keyboard. A small plus on the cursor indicates that we are in copy mode. Then we go to a corner of the window and click with the left mouse button. Now we drag the copy to the next window position. Next we model the roof frame. First of all, we draw the shape of the frame with the Line Tool. Then we draw the roof shape. For a better view we move the objects to individual layers. To do this, we click on the plus sign in the layer section of the side menu and then we name our new layer. Afterwards we mark the objects and change the layer in the section "Entity Info" in the side menu to the newly created layer and we uncheck the Visible option. Repeat the steps for the other models. Mark the surface. Then select the Follow Me Tool and click on the shape of the roof frame. The color of the surfaces is darker than the remaining surfaces. This is because the normal of the surfaces are twisted. The dark areas should be inside the object. To invert, right-click on one surface and select "Reverse Faces". Then right-click again and choose "Orient Faces". Delete the surface. Triple click on the model and "make group". Check if a volume is displayed. Move the objects to individual layers. To do this, we click on the plus sign in the layer section of the side menu and then we name our new layer. Afterwards we mark the objects and change the layer in the section "Entity Info" in the side menu to the newly created layer and we uncheck the Visible option. To model the ground floor, we need reference lines. To do this, we select the Tape Measure Tool and move a reference to the z-axis (blue) to the house edge. It is important that the reference line is "drawn" on the roof, otherwise it hangs somewhere in the 3d-room and has no relation to the house. Then we use the Line Tool to draw an edge from the reference line along the y-axis. The Line Tool automatically snaps into the x-axis. Then we move the edge with the move tool along the reference line until it matches the house edge. Repeat the steps for the remaining edges. Delete protruding edges with the Erase Tool. Then use the Pull/Push Tool to extrude the ground surface. Save your project in the models folder. Next we assign materials to the objects. To do this, we open the material menu and select the desired materials. For simplicity's sake, I use the materials that are already in the model. To apply the materials, we simply click on the desired object. To export the model we select in the file menu export > 3d model. We select "*. dae" file and click on options. Select "Triangulate All Faces" and "Export Texture Maps". Click on "Export". "In PV*SOL premium select the import option, load the exported model and drag it into the simulation environment. The scale of the model may need to be adjusted." Your model is ready for simulation. Thank you for watching. As texture we use the background images from the Photo Match perspectives. Activate the Photo Match view by clicking on the corresponding tab. Double-click on the "Roof" object to activate it. Then select the roof surface. Then right-click and choose "Project Photo". Repeat the steps for all visible surfaces of your object. Do the same with the other objects of the house. If the question is asked: "Trim partially visible faces?" it is important to answer with "no". Repeat the steps for all objects with both views.