Placing Panels Flexibly: Techniques and Best Practices

Why Flexible Panel Placement is Important

You already know the basics: draw panel field or double-click for complete coverage. But in practice, you often need more control and flexibility to optimally use every roof area.

Typical challenges:

• Protruding edges in manually drawn panel fields
• Symmetrical or multiply covered roof areas (e.g., flat roofs with maintenance corridors)
• Triangular roof areas that are not optimally utilized
• Panels must be added or removed subsequently
• Uneven distribution in complex roof shapes

In this article you will learn:

• Trimming panel fields for clean edges
• Copying and pasting panel fields
• Splitting and reorganizing panel fields
• Adjusting panel offset for triangular areas
• Expanding and reducing panel fields
• Subsequently filling edges with panels
• The right combination of all techniques

Video Tutorial: Flexible Panel Placement

In this video from our Video Training Center, you'll see all techniques in action:

Basics: Drawing and Aligning Panel Fields

Before we get to the advanced techniques, a quick refresher of the basics:

Drawing Simple Panel Fields

1. Select the Panel Field Tool
2. One click is enough to start
3. Draw the panel area step by step on the roof area
4. The area is automatically filled with panels

Aligning Panels Flush

After drawing, you can specify which side the panels should be aligned flush to:

1. The newly drawn panel field is still selected
2. Click on one of the edges of the panel field
3. The panels are aligned flush to this edge
4. On the other sides, there may be protruding edges

Why is this relevant? You decide where you want a clean edge (e.g., toward the gutter) and where protruding areas are acceptable.

Technique 1: Trim Panel Field

Manually drawn panel areas often contain protruding edges that are not covered with panels. You can elegantly remove these.

When to Trim?

• After manually drawing a panel field
• Before placing additional panel areas next to it
• When you want to use space efficiently
• Before copying the panel field

How to Trim a Panel Field

1. Select the panel field you want to trim
2. Click on the tool "Trim panel field" in the toolbar
3. The protruding, unoccupied edges are automatically removed
4. The panel field now encloses exactly only the actually placed panels

Advantage: Trimmed panel fields are particularly easy to copy, move, and place next to other panel fields, since no unnecessary overhangs are in the way.

💡 Best Practice: Always trim panel fields before copying them. This way you have clean, identical copies without protruding areas.

Technique 2: Copy and Paste Panel Fields

This function is ideal for symmetrical or multiply covered roof areas – for example, on flat roofs with maintenance corridors between panel rows.

Copy Panel Field

1. Select the panel field you want to copy
2. Press Ctrl + C (Windows) or Cmd + C (Mac)
3. The panel field is now in the clipboard

Paste Panel Field

1. Press Ctrl + V (Windows) or Cmd + V (Mac)
2. A copy of the panel field appears
3. Move the copy to the desired position
4. Click to place it

Practical use cases:

• Flat roofs: Multiple identical panel rows with maintenance corridors in between
• Symmetrical roof areas: Same panel arrangement on left and right
• Multiple identical roofs: E.g., for townhouses or commercial buildings

💡 Pro tip: Combine trimming and copying. First trim the original panel field for clean edges, then copy multiple times. This way you get identical, perfectly trimmed panel fields.

Technique 3: Split Panel Fields

Sometimes you need to split an existing panel field into two separate areas – for example, to create a maintenance corridor or arrange panels differently.

How to Split a Panel Field

1. Select the panel field you want to split
2. The panel field is marked blue and is "active"
3. Now select individual panels within the field:
   • Method 1: Individually by clicking on panels
   • Method 2: Drawing a selection frame with right mouse button pressed
4. The selected panels are now highlighted
5. Hold down the left mouse button on the selected panels
6. Move the panels
7. When moving, a new panel field is automatically created
8. The two panel fields are now independent of each other

What happens to the original panel field? It keeps the remaining panels and may have protruding edges. Use the trim tool to remove them.

Practical applications:

• Create maintenance corridor between panel rows
• Arrange panels in different orientations (horizontal/vertical)

⚠️ Important: The selection frame only works with the right mouse button pressed, after the panel field is already activated (marked blue). With the left mouse button you would move the panel field instead of selecting panels.

Technique 4: Adjust Panel Offset

The panel offset determines how panels are arranged on the sides of a panel field. This is especially important for triangular or irregular roof areas.

What is Panel Offset?

The offset indicates how far the first panel row starts from the edge of the panel field. By changing the offset, you can optimize the panel arrangement and accommodate more panels on irregular areas.

Change Panel Offset

1. Select the panel field
2. On the left side find the setting "Panel spacing"
3. You see offset values for different sides of the panel field
4. Change the offset for the desired side
5. The panels are automatically rearranged

Example: Optimally use triangular roof area

1. You have covered a triangular area with panels
2. On one side there is still a lot of space, but no more panels fit
3. Change the offset on the left side
4. The panel rows shift
5. Suddenly more panels fit into the triangular shape

Why does this work? With triangular areas, the available width varies by height. By shifting the starting point of the panels, you can optimize the arrangement so that the panels fit better into the tapering shape.

💡 Pro tip: Experiment with different offset values. Often, small adjustments can accommodate 1-2 additional panels, which makes a significant difference in larger systems.

Technique 5: Expand and Reduce Panel Fields

If you want to enlarge or reduce an existing panel field subsequently, use the select and move tool.

Expand Panel Field

1. Select the tool "Select and Move" from the toolbar
2. Select the edge of the panel field you want to expand
3. The edge is highlighted
4. Hold down the mouse button on the edge
5. Drag the edge in the desired direction
6. The panel field is expanded and automatically filled with additional panels

Reduce Panel Field

The same process works in the other direction:

1. Select the edge you want to reduce
2. Drag the edge inward
3. Panels that no longer have space are automatically removed

Temporarily Disable Snap Function

When expanding/reducing, the edge snaps to certain grid points. If this bothers you:

1. Hold down the Ctrl key (Windows) or Cmd key (Mac)
2. The snap function is temporarily disabled
3. You can move the edge freehand

Practical use cases:

• Subsequently adding panel rows
• Adaptation to changed customer wishes (e.g., smaller system desired)
• Optimization after on-site visit (more space than expected)
• Fine-tuning for exact system sizes (e.g., achieving exactly 10 kWp)

Technique 6: Fill Edges with Panels

After expanding or adjusting a panel field, individual edges may not yet be completely filled with panels. You can fill these subsequently.

How to Fill an Edge

1. First deactivate the "Select and Move" tool:
   • Click on an empty area outside the panel field
2. Select the Panel Field Tool
3. Select an edge of the panel field
4. The edge is automatically filled with additional panels, if space is available

Why is this step necessary? When expanding with the move tool, the panel field becomes larger, but not always are all possible panels automatically placed. Edge filling ensures that really all available spaces are used.

Technique 7: Automatic Complete Coverage

Probably the most used function.

Complete Coverage with Double-Click

1. Select the Panel Field Tool
2. Make a double-click on an empty roof area
3. The entire roof area is automatically completely covered with panels
4. Obstacles are considered with minimum distances

When is this method particularly valuable?

• When you have already drawn all obstacles
• When you want to use the entire roof area
• For simple to medium roof shapes
• As a starting point that you then refine with other techniques

Combination with other techniques: Often the double-click coverage is the perfect starting point. Then you use other techniques for optimization:

1. Double-click for initial coverage
2. Trim for clean edges
3. Adjust panel offset for optimal use of triangular areas
4. Remove individual panels where necessary

Best Practices and Pro Tips

Optimize Workflow

• Rough to fine: Start with rough panel fields, then refine step by step
• Obstacles first: Draw all obstacles before placing panels – saves time deleting
• Trim regularly: Trim panel fields regularly for clean overview
• Copy instead of redrawing: For similar areas always copy – faster and more consistent

Avoid Common Mistakes

• Optimize too early: Place all rough areas first, then optimize
• Forget offset: For unsatisfactory coverage of triangular areas always check offset
• Fight snapping: Use Ctrl to disable snapping instead of fighting against it

Efficiency Tips

• Learn keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl + C / V for copy/paste
• Shift for temporary tools: Shift pressed = temporarily move tool
• Right mouse button for selection: Selection frame only with right mouse button
• Double-click whenever possible: Fastest method for initial coverage

Summary: The 7 Techniques at a Glance

Next Steps

After mastering these advanced techniques, we recommend:

• Modeling Complex Roofs and Dormers – Apply these techniques to demanding building geometries
• Drawing Roof Areas to Scale – Combine precise measurements with optimal panel placement

Practice makes perfect: With a little practice, you'll find the right combination of these techniques for every situation – and quickly and easily achieve the desired panel layout.

The complete Video Training Center – Module 3 shows all techniques visually and with practical examples.