A 3D-printable model of your solar site, modules included
The Export STL card writes the site’s 3D scene as an STL file: the terrain, the buildings and the trees the shading bake measures, with your PV modules and CAD models in place. Export it in layers for a CAD model, or as one closed solid that a slicer can print, with your company’s details engraved underneath.
What goes in
- The layers you tick: the ground, the buildings, the buildings under PV, the PV modules, the CAD models, the monuments and the trees, which come out as solid cones.
- The modules in place: fitted onto the ground, the roof or the CAD model under them exactly as in the 3D view, even when those layers stay out.
- A square around the site: you set the distance from its centre, and the card shows the square it gives, such as 400 m × 400 m.
- The level of detail: a detailed or a fast reconstruction of the buildings under PV and of the monuments.
For a CAD model
Each layer can go in a file of its own, downloaded together as a ZIP and sharing one frame, so that they reassemble exactly; or merge them into one file. Binary keeps it compact, and ASCII writes one named solid per layer. Coordinates are in metres, x east, y north and z up, centred on the site, with the lowest point at z = 0.
For a 3D printer
3-D print: one closed solid in millimetres merges the chosen layers into one closed solid on a flat base, ready for a slicer. Set the print width, the base thickness and the vertical exaggeration: a flat site reads better at 1.5 to 3. The card shows the resulting scale, such as 1:2000.
Your details underneath
Engrave the company’s contact info and logos on the back cuts your company’s name, address, phone and email, its logo and the pvSpline logo into the underside of the model, mirrored, at the font size you set.
What it needs
No streaming session: the engine downloads the site’s built tiles itself, so a large square takes a while. The tiles must be built first, and until they are, the card says so. Once the export is done, the card gives the triangle count, the file name and the map-data credit to keep with the model wherever you share or print it.
Print your site in six steps
- Open the 3D view and tick Advanced mode: the Scene tab appears.
- If the site’s tiles are not built yet, click Refresh tiles and let the build finish.
- On the Scene tab, go to the Export STL card, the last one.
- Tick the layers and set the distance around the site.
- Tick 3-D print: one closed solid in millimetres, set the print width, the base and the exaggeration, and tick the engraving if you want it.
- Click Export STL, download the file and open it in your slicer.
Questions
What does the slicer receive?
One closed solid on a flat base, sized in millimetres to the print width you set, in a standard STL file.
Do I need a live 3D session?
No. The engine builds the file from the site’s built tiles, with no streaming session; a large square takes a while.
Can I share the model?
Yes, with the map-data credit the export gives you, kept with the model wherever you share or print it.
The fastest way to judge a simulation tool is to run it on a project you already know.