OpenSolar launches beta of 3D design tool (check it out)

OpenSolar, the innovative free software platform digitizing the solar industry we featured on The Pitch (above), launched the hotly anticipated beta version of OpenSolar 3D. Starting today, users of OpenSolar’s software can enable 3D Beta mode, which allows salespeople in areas with digital surface map data to ‘paint’ solar panels directly onto the roofs of three-dimensional models to accurately design solar solutions in an immersive customer experience and at amazing speed.

“Designing a customer’s solar solution live with them in this ‘virtual world’ is so engaging. I can literally just touch panels directly onto a 3D model of the customer’s roof and fly around the property live with them online, checking out how it looks and seeing how the shadows move over the course of the day. And the software figures out pitch, azimuth and shading without me doing anything. It’s a game-changer,” says Vince Imperiale, president and owner of Seapoint Solar in Bringantine, NJ.

A look at OpenSolar 3D

OpenSolar 3D beta allows solar professionals to guide their customers through highly detailed three-dimensional designs, built-in real-time with accurate and clearly visible shading, as well as integrated utility and manufacturer data.

Integrated energy and finance data enable cost and payment modeling that also supports battery storage and time-of-use energy calculations.

“Our goal was to unlock the value of digital surface map data to create a beautifully simple and efficient design experience,” said OpenSolar co-founder Adam Pryor, who invented the first remote solar design technology in 2007. “Making the next generation of modeling technology available to the maximum number of solar professionals is a great next step for OpenSolar.”

The new 3D design toolkit features:

• ‘fly-around’ technology to take virtual tour of the property and the solar solution with the customer
• Automatic scale, pitch and azimuth calculations – all tied to OpenSolar’s calculation engine including time-of-day solar-storage-grid performance
• Automatic shading calculations down to sub-string level.

— Solar Builder magazine

[source: https://solarbuildermag.com/news/opensolar-launches-beta-of-3d-design-tool-check-it-out/]