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Hi all, I have a question about defining a reference edge on a imported 3D model. I've replied to a topic in wich you suggested how to do this but that option is not available when I work with an imported 3D model. This reply is shown below and can be found at https://forum.valentin-software.com/topic/465-correct-angle-of-3d-extruded-map-building/: _____ Hi there, I am wondering how you can define your reference edges? As you stated: I work a lot with 3D .dae models from sketchup. When I model a building in PVSOL, I have the option to define the reference edge. When I use the 3D model I don't see this option, and I am forced to wiggle about with the degrees of the orientation of the modules. Am I missing something here or can you please direct me into the right direction? Should I open a new topic for this, for possible future inquiries about this matter? Thank you in advance! _____ Since no reaction has been given yet, I'm opening this new topic. Please advise, it's not intuïtive nor efficiënt to haggel about with degrees. Thank you very much in advance and I hope to hear for you! Benjamin

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.