Plan PV modules in the 3D editor

The 3D editor (Plan3D) is the central planning environment for every PV offer. It walks you through three phases (Building, Modules, Strings), then runs the simulation, captures snapshots, and saves the result into the offer. The same editor handles a simple gable roof and a 50-module commercial flat-roof east-west layout with optimisers and multiple inverters.

Before you start

1. The offer must be created and unsigned. After signature the editor is read-only, so you fork to a new variant to capture changes.
2. Pick the module component in your components catalog before placing. Modules come from the catalog, not from the editor.
3. Pick the planning mode at variant setup. A variant stays in the mode you chose:
   • Quick planning — 2D fast-input. Roof size, module count, and tilt, with no 3D and no obstacle modelling.
   • 3D planning — the full Plan3D editor: geometry, modules, strings, shading simulation, snapshots.
   • Use 3D when the roof has obstructions, multiple tilts, or when the customer expects a 3D-rendered offer PDF. Quick planning suits early-stage proposals with no real obstacles.
4. The start-mode decides which background imagery the editor opens on, and it's a one-time choice. Edit Solar Setup > 3D with Google Data picks Google Solar if it's available for the address, otherwise opens on Google Earth. You can switch the active background layer later (orthophoto, drone, your own image), and the start-mode you chose stays with the saved scene.
5. For shading, have neighbouring obstructions in mind. When Building AI is available, it pulls in nearby buildings automatically. Otherwise add them manually as keep-out zones (Sperrzonen) or trees.

Open the 3D editor

1. Open the offer in the Portal.
2. Go to the Planning tab.
3. Click Start planning on the PV system.
4. Choose the planning mode. Every mode except Quick planning uses the 3D editor.
5. Click Begin planning to open the editor.

The top of the editor shows the current phase: Building planning, Module planning, or String planning. Work through them in order. Finishing the building outline before placing modules saves rework later.

Pro tip: The top-left layer-stack button switches the background (Orthophoto, Google Maps, Google Solar, Google Earth, Building AI, drone model, custom image). The imagery is visual reference only and doesn't change the simulation result. Pick whatever makes the building easiest to read.

Draw or correct the roof (Building mode)

Building-mode drawing (outlines, tilts, multi-roof projects, Sperrzonen, dormers, the measure tool) is covered in Plan the building in the 3D editor. Finish Building mode there, then come back here. A few geometry notes matter once you start placing modules:

• Module groups anchor to roof surfaces. If you reshape a roof after placing modules, the auto-layout can shift and some modules may fall outside the new polygon. Reshape early, or re-run Cover roof side after large geometry changes.
• Inset / Randabstand (the setback modules keep from the roof edge) is a Building-mode property, and you can set it per edge rather than one value for the whole roof. Modules inside the inset won't auto-fill, though you can drag them in manually. Typical fire-code setbacks are 30 to 50 cm.
• Per-edge tilts on a Smart Roof bind to the edge you set. Type the angle for each tilted edge and the 3D preview re-renders so you can confirm the shape matches the real roof.
• Right-angled (90°) front dormers render as a flat vertical plane. A dormer whose front tilt is exactly 90° draws the front as a flat vertical face.

Place modules (Modules mode)

Switch to Modules mode. The bottom toolbar shifts to module-placement tools, and the right sidebar opens the Panel Overlay when a group is selected.

Auto-fill the roof

1. In the Modules sidebar, confirm the right module component is selected in the Quick Access dropdown.
2. In the Quick Access menu, choose Cover roof side.
3. The system fills each roof surface with a grid of modules, respecting Sperrzonen, dormer footprints, and the configured inset / Randabstand from the roof edge.
4. Review the result. The auto-layout is typically 80 to 90% of the final layout, so minor edge cases may need manual cleanup.

The auto-layout fills as densely as constraints allow, but it doesn't optimise for production and won't prioritise south-facing slopes. For commercial and large-residential projects, hand-tune after the auto-fill.

To maximise coverage, reduce the Inset / Randabstand on the roof (Building mode), reduce the horizontal or vertical Gap in the Panel Overlay, or swap in a smaller module type.

Note: If you import a new module into your catalog while the editor is open, the Quick Access dropdown refreshes to show it without re-opening the editor. The picker shows the components you can actually insert into the section, so the list stays relevant.

Optimise a roof side

Each roof side can also carry a floating Optimieren (optimise) button, an AI layout optimiser. Where Cover roof side fills greedily, the optimiser sweeps several placement strategies and settles on the one that fits the most panels on that side.

1. In Modules mode, select the roof side you want to optimise.
2. Click the floating Optimieren button on that roof side.
3. The optimiser runs its sweep and streams candidate layouts live, then settles on the highest-count fit.
4. Review the result and hand-tune with the same Panel Overlay controls as any other group.

Note: Both Cover roof side and Optimieren run one roof side at a time. There's no one-click whole-building action, so on a multi-face roof, fill or optimise each face in turn.

Place a panel group manually

For atypical roofs, and when you want to add modules without using a package:

1. Confirm the right module is selected in the sidebar's Quick Access dropdown.
2. In the Quick Access menu, choose Add panel group.
3. Click once on a roof surface to commit the group. A new panel group appears with the selected module type, horizontal orientation by default. You set the grid extent afterwards in the Panel Overlay.
4. Click any module to select the whole group. The Panel Overlay opens.

Tune layout, gaps, and orientation

With a panel group selected, the Panel Overlay exposes:

• Layout type — Horizontal, Vertical, Horizontal Two-Sided, or Vertical Two-Sided. Changes module orientation (portrait vs landscape) and, on flat roofs, whether the group is single-row or two-sided.
• Gap Horizontal (cm) and Gap Vertical (cm) — spacing between modules.
• Tilt — degrees relative to the underlying surface (0° for flush-mounted on pitched roofs).
• Two-sided tilt and Double-row gap — only on two-sided layouts, designed for east-west flat-roof systems.
• Rotation — drag the rotation handle to align the group with the building's axis or a non-true-north architectural line. Available on flat roofs and on pitched Smart Roof sides (the handle appears whenever the group sits on a flat roof or a Smart Roof side).

Changes apply live. Save with Ctrl+S.

Per-group quick actions

When you select a panel group, two floating control buttons appear pinned to the group itself in the 3D scene, separate from the Panel Overlay on the right:

• Re-run auto-layout for this group — re-fills just this group against the current roof and obstacle geometry, without touching any other group on the roof.
• Duplicate / Copy — clones the group as a new panel group you can drag onto another surface.

The buttons rotate to follow the group's orientation, so they stay readable as you orbit the camera. If a button isn't where you remember it, look for it pinned to the group at its current angle.

Remove individual modules from the grid

The panel grid is boolean. To delete cells without touching the rest of the group, select the group, then click the individual modules on the canvas to toggle them off. They disappear from 3D and the bill of materials. The Panel Overlay itself carries only group-level controls (module selector, layout editor, gaps, Auto Update / Auto Balance, and Delete module group). Toggling cells on the canvas is useful for skipping a row near a chimney that the auto-layout missed.

Swap module type on placed groups

Customers regularly change module model mid-process. To swap without redoing the layout:

1. Confirm the new module exists in your components catalog.
2. Change the selection in the Modules sidebar Quick Access dropdown.
3. Select the placed panel group.
4. Apply the new module type via the Panel Overlay's module-component field.

If the new module's dimensions differ, the row or column count may need a tweak before saving.

Import a PV package

When you import a PV package (module, inverter, optimiser, and mounting components), Plan3D pulls the modules into the Modules-mode component pick and the inverter into the Strings-mode catalog. It does not auto-place modules on the roof. Run Cover roof side or place groups manually.

If a package looks like it didn't fully import, check the offer's component-list view outside Plan3D. Cables and AC-side gear live there, not in the editor.

Wire strings into inverters (Strings mode)

Switch to Strings mode. The sidebar opens inverter management, and the 3D scene becomes clickable for stringing.

Add an inverter

1. In the sidebar, click Add Inverter.
2. Pick an inverter from your components catalog.
3. Save. The inverter appears in the sidebar with its MPP tracker slots empty. To name it (such as Main Inverter, South Roof), open the inverter's detail panel and edit the name there.

Auto-route strings

For grid-aligned systems with one or a few inverters:

1. Click Generate Strings.
2. Configure the two options: Only link modules with the same orientation (prevents mixed-tilt strings) and Maximum string length (the most modules allowed per string).
3. Click Generate strings. The system creates strings for all unassigned modules and assigns MPP trackers.
4. Review the result, and tweak manually if a string crosses a roof slope it shouldn't. Auto-routing keeps each string within the inverter's current limit, but it can still produce a sub-optimal routing.

Create strings manually

For atypical wiring (crossing dormers, custom MPP grouping, mixed modules):

1. Click an unassigned module in the 3D scene to start the string, then drag across the modules you want to connect in order (the string follows the pointer; release to finish).
2. The string appears in the sidebar as Unassigned.
3. Drag the string into an inverter's MPP tracker slot, or assign it from the string detail panel.

Modules on the same MPP tracker pull down to the lowest performer when one is shaded. Optimisers let each module operate independently.

Select a block of modules at once

To grab several modules together instead of clicking each one, use the selection tools in the bottom bar. These are available only in Strings mode. In Modules and Building modes you select objects by clicking them directly, and the selection-tool button is hidden.

1. In Strings mode, find the selection-tool button in the bottom bar. It's a split button with a chevron. Click the chevron to choose the shape.
2. Pick Rectangle to drag a box across the modules you want, or Lasso to draw a freehand outline around them. Everything inside the shape is selected.
3. Drag on the canvas to select the block, then wire or assign them as a group.

The tool you pick stays active until you switch back to a navigation tool, and each shape has a keyboard shortcut. The other bottom-bar buttons are navigation, not selection: Select and Rotate (click to select plus orbit the camera), Move (pan the canvas), and Measuring (the ruler). Those work in every mode.

Edit existing strings

• Add or remove modules — re-draw the string on the canvas: select the string and click modules to append them, or click a connected module again to drop it. The String Info panel is read-only for the module list (it shows the module count grouped by type). Module editing happens on the canvas, not in the panel.
• Re-colour or re-name — in the String Info panel.
• Move to a different MPP tracker or inverter — drag the string in the sidebar to a different slot.

Add optimisers to shaded modules

1. Select the string. The String form opens.
2. Click Add Optimizer and pick the optimiser component for the string from the selection modal (this sets the optimiser for the whole string).
3. To choose which panels carry the optimiser, click an individual panel on the canvas. A small popup appears above the panel with an Add optimizer / Remove optimizer toggle. Use it to toggle each shaded module on or off.
4. Save. Those panels now operate as independent MPPs.

Optimisers are a per-panel toggle, not a separate 3D element, so there's no visible marker on the module. To confirm an optimiser is applied, open Strings mode, click the string, open String Info, and look for the Optimizer checkbox and component dropdown.

Microinverters

Some inverters in the catalog are tagged as microinverters (one per module). Place modules, then add the microinverter assignments. There's no MPP tracker structure to manage. Check the inverter component's catalog entry for whether it's a microinverter or a standard inverter.

Run the shading and production simulation

The editor gives you two simulation surfaces that answer different questions. The Interactive Simulation panel runs in the background and shows live yield and rentability KPIs as you build the layout. Simulate Shading is a manual run that produces the annual and monthly shading-loss numbers and the heatmap.

Read the live Interactive Simulation panel

The Interactive Simulation panel gives you live yield and rentability KPIs without leaving the editor. It's how you check whether a layout is any good as you go, before you run the full shading simulation or generate the offer PDF.

1. Look for the bolt button on the canvas. It's the collapsed Interactive Simulation panel. The first time results are ready, a one-time hint points at it and then auto-hides.
2. Click it to expand the panel. It opens to the left of the canvas alongside the params sidebar, with a draggable divider to resize the two.
3. Read the status line at the top:
   • Add modules to get results — the scene has no panel groups yet, so there's nothing to simulate.
   • Calculating — a run is in flight.
   • Results ready — the KPI cards and charts below are current.
4. Read the four KPI cards: yield, autarky, investment, and break-even.
5. Switch between the PV and Finance chart tabs for the production view and the economics view.
6. Keep editing. The panel re-runs automatically whenever the panel groups change, even while collapsed, so the KPIs are warm the moment you re-open it.

The Interactive Simulation panel is available on both residential and commercial planning, with nothing to switch on.

Note: This panel shows yield and rentability, not shading loss. The annual and monthly shading-loss percentages still come from Simulate Shading in the Shading Control panel. The two surfaces feed the same offer KPIs and expose different slices live.

Run Simulate Shading

1. Find the Shading Control panel (typically the right sidebar).
2. Click Simulate Shading.
3. A progress bar appears as the simulation runs.
4. Results render: annual shading loss as a headline number, plus a monthly breakdown chart.
5. The numbers update the offer's solar KPIs, visible on the offer page after you save.

Reading the numbers: under 5% is excellent, 5 to 10% is typical on most roofs, and over 10% is significant (re-arrange modules, add optimisers, or revisit Sperrzonen). Heavy winter losses point to tall-obstacle shading; heavy summer losses point to east-west obstacles.

The simulation is deterministic. The same scene always produces the same numbers, so re-run it after any change (new modules, a moved string, a new Sperrzone) to refresh the KPIs.

The simulation reads panel positions, orientations, module type, inverter wiring, MPP grouping, obstacles, trees and neighbour shadows, roof tilts, and the tariff parameters you set on the planning. It doesn't model cable losses, transformer losses, soiling beyond the default, microclimate effects, or time-of-day tariff windows.

Shading is computed in 3D. For a flat top-down image to put in the PDF, take a top-down camera snapshot of the simulation result.

Read the Reonic Score heatmap

The shading heatmap colours each panel by its Reonic Score, a shading-efficiency score from 0 to 10, one value per panel. A 10 is a panel that tracks the sun well and is never shaded; lower scores mean more shading or a worse orientation.

The colour bands are red below 4, yellow below 5, lime below 6, and green at 6 and above. Read the heatmap to spot which panels drag the array down, then re-arrange modules, add optimisers, or revisit obstacles to lift the low scorers.

The Reonic Score is a planning-UI metric. The customer offer PDF reports a separate shading figure, not the Reonic Score.

Capture views for the offer PDF

The offer PDF shows up to 4 custom 3D viewpoints plus 1 default as a multi-view visualisation. The default is captured automatically the first time you save Plan3D state.

1. Use the camera controls: drag to rotate, right-drag to pan, scroll to zoom.
2. Toggle Orthographic vs Perspective in the Camera mode toolbar. Orthographic suits top-down technical views, Perspective suits hero shots.
3. Click the Compass to snap the view to true north if you want the PDF orientation predictable. The compass shows a single direction letter for the current heading.
4. Click Add view in the top toolbar (it's the camera button; you can store up to 4 custom views).
5. The image appears in the Snapshots panel as a thumbnail. Click a thumbnail to jump the camera back to that saved viewpoint. The thumbnail order is fixed by capture order and matches the order in the PDF. To change the order, delete and re-take the views in the sequence you want.

Pro tip: Snapshot resolution depends on canvas size at capture time, not display DPI. Expand Plan3D to full screen (or the largest monitor you have) before capturing. A small editor window produces a low-resolution image, and the difference shows in the customer PDF.

For a cleaner customer-facing image, hide string overlays before capturing. The snapshot captures the current viewport, so turning off the Strings layer (or any other overlay) before clicking Add view changes the rendered image without affecting the underlying data.

If you change the scene after snapshotting, the stored image doesn't auto-refresh. Re-take the snapshot to update it.

Switch the background imagery layer

The Layers panel (top-left of the canvas) switches the visual background. Your choices:

• Google Solar (3D) — a 3D solar mesh, checked per building and loaded in the background. Where coverage is missing, the tile shows Google Solar is not available in your region.
• Google Earth (3D tiles) — photo-textured 3D city tiles. Mutually exclusive with Google Solar.
• Drone model — your photogrammetry model, where photogrammetry is enabled and a completed job exists. The model anchors to the project's real-world coordinates, so there are no manual move, rotate, or scale handles. If it sits over the wrong location, fix the project address.
• Building AI — auto-generated outlines plus auto-roof seeding, where Building AI is enabled.
• Own image — upload your own orthophoto, drone still, or architect's PDF. This layer exposes move, scale, and rotate handles for anchoring against the project's coordinates.
• Bing Maps / Google Maps / Apple Maps / Orthophoto — flat 2D imagery providers.

Only one 3D layer (Google Solar, Google Earth, or the drone model) is active at a time. Toggling one on disables the others. A 3D Data available! banner under the layer-stack button nudges you when a 3D option exists for the building but none is enabled. A Newer drone model available! banner takes priority when a fresher drone model is ready.

The layer choice is visual reference. Shading is computed from the geometry and obstacles you drew, not from the imagery. This matters when the shading source isn't on the roof: use Google Solar to see neighbouring buildings and trees, then place a Sperrzone or tree in that footprint so the simulation casts the shadow.

For the full photogrammetry workflow (flying, uploading, processing, importing the model), see 3D drone photogrammetry.

When the 3D scene won't render

• WebGL 2.0 not supported — use a recent Chrome, Edge, or Firefox, enable hardware acceleration, and update your graphics drivers. If you can't fix WebGL, switch the layer to Orthophoto. 2D imagery doesn't require WebGL 2.0 and geometry drawing still works.
• Grey background, no buildings — the 3D tiles aren't loading. Refresh, and if it persists switch to Orthophoto.
• Satellite imagery corrupted, offset, or unusable — switch providers via the Layers panel, or upload an Own image and anchor it to the project coordinates. If photogrammetry exists, switch to the Drone model.
• Wrong location — fix the project address. The editor re-centres on the corrected coordinates on the next open.

For the full satellite-fallback workflow, see Plan the building in the 3D editor.

Edit the planning after signature

After signature the editor is read-only. To keep working, fork the offer to a new variant: this gives you a fresh editable copy, while the signed variant is preserved as the customer received it. Module edits, layout adjustments, string re-wiring, and obstacle additions all use the same forking workflow. See Variants — fork after signature.

Things to know

• Start-mode and auto-detected obstacles. The start-mode (Google Solar vs Google Earth) is decided once at Edit Solar Setup > 3D with Google Data and stays with the saved scene. Switching the active layer later changes what you see but not the start-mode. Plans started on buildings where only Google Earth was available may surface fewer auto-detected obstacles, so if Building AI missed a chimney on such a building, add a manual Sperrzone.
• Building AI reports how many dormers it detected. After a Building AI auto-detect run, the Building AI overlay shows the count of dormers it found, alongside the roof and obstacle seeds. Use it as a quick sanity check: if the overlay says it placed 2 dormers but the real roof has 3, add the missing one manually before placing modules.
• AI obstacle detection covers roof obstacles and trees together. Roof obstacles (chimneys, dormers, vents) and trees are detected together, so detection speed and accuracy behave consistently across a scene.
• Carports and canopies can be planned as separate Flat Roofs with their own outlines and tilts. There's no dedicated carport primitive: model the structure as Smart Roof or Flat Roof at the right height.
• Free-field PV (ground-mounted) has a pragmatic approach: draw a Flat Roof at the ground footprint with a tilt edge matching the mounting-frame angle, set the inset to your row-spacing, and place modules as on a commercial flat-roof array.
• Plan3D models roof-mounted PV. Modules sit on roof surfaces (Smart Roof or Flat Roof). Wall-mounted and façade PV are planned in your other tools.
• Hundreds of modules are supported without a hard cap. Performance degrades smoothly. Very large commercial projects (400+ modules) have slower interactions and longer simulation runs, so hand-tune after auto-layout rather than re-running it. On a heavy scene the editor offers a performance mode. It switches on automatically once if the frame rate stays low for a few seconds, then becomes a manual toggle ("Performance mode active" in the layout controls). It drops live shadows and softens edges to keep dragging smooth. It changes only the rendering, not the plan data or the simulation numbers, and you can turn it back off after the heavy editing pass.
• Obstacle validation messages. Sperrzone kann nicht teilweise mit dem Dachrand überlappen means the polygon crosses the roof edge. Sperrzone kann sich nicht selbst schneiden means the polygon self-intersects. Ungültige Platzierung der Sperrzone means it's otherwise invalid. Fix the polygon and re-save.
• Current-exceeded vs orientation warnings are separate. If a string's total current exceeds the inverter's limit, the inverter overlay's Current section shows an inline MPP Tracker current exceeded: tag (DE MPP Tracker Stromstärke überschritten:) with the affected tracker numbers. The warning is advisory and the system still lets you save. A separate orientation-mismatch warning, Modules have different orientation, comes from a different check. If you see an orientation message on a string whose orientation is actually consistent, check both conditions independently: is orientation really mismatched, and is the summed string current over the per-tracker limit? Resolve whichever holds.
• MPP voltage for multi-string trackers. Strings sharing one MPP tracker are wired in parallel, so they share voltage rather than adding it. The inverter detail overlay reports the maximum across the parallel strings, matching the 2D wiring view.
• Undo holds 100 history states. On heavy outline editing, save partway as a checkpoint. Saved states are preserved even when the undo stack is full.
• Snapshots are camera state plus a rendered image. If you change the scene after snapshotting, the stored image doesn't auto-refresh, so re-take it. Snapshots survive variant duplication and signature-lock: they persist on the offer PDF as of the moment the variant was signed.
• The Mobile App is a viewer. Plan3D editing happens in the Portal. Capture site notes on the Mobile App, then return to the Portal for edits.
• The drone model is the supported 3D-model import. Plan3D loads the photogrammetry model from a completed drone-imagery job. To bring in an existing building model, run a photogrammetry job from drone imagery; otherwise model the roof in Building mode using the orthophoto as a guide.
• Plan3D models modules, strings, inverters, and obstacles. Cable routing, trenches, and conduit live in your installation tools.
• Exportable simulation outputs are the annual and monthly shading numbers, the monthly breakdown chart, and the camera snapshots.
• A blue square instead of the building means the seed geometry didn't load. Refresh, and if it persists contact Reonic support with the offer URL.
• Time-of-use tariffs are configured in your planning grid parameters, not inside Plan3D. The simulation reads them when you re-run shading and production. The editor stays tariff-agnostic.
• Why you plan modules in 3D. The offer PDF renders the array as a multi-view 3D visualisation, so it needs the roof outline, tilts, and module placement to produce an accurate render. The 3D geometry also drives the shading simulation, which is what produces trustworthy yield numbers on a roof with obstacles.
• Comparing two variants' production. Plan3D works on one variant at a time. To compare side by side, create two variants on the offer and compare the KPIs on the offer page. This is also how you model a repowering or an existing-plus-upgrade case: record the existing array using the Existing Energy / Existing Solar planning fields and set any different feed-in tariff on Planning > Solar > Solar parameters, then plan the additions on top.
• Module pricing for packages without per-module prices. Pricing happens at the components-catalog level, not in Plan3D. Set the module's component price as the per-unit cost (package total divided by module count) so the offer math works at the unit level.
• The string plan in the PDF. The string plan (Verschaltungsplan) renders as a chapter inside the offer PDF when the variant has a 2D or 3D solar plan. The closest standalone route is the Internal Summary PDF, which includes the circuit-plan chapter alongside cover, table of contents, checklist, solar, component list, images, and notes. See Modify the offer PDF.
• Confirm the roof outline against Google Solar yourself. Google Solar's mesh sometimes blends neighbouring buildings into one roof or shows roof areas that aren't installable. Check the roof outline against the orthophoto and Street View. The layer is visual reference for tilts and shape, not a substitute for the roof polygon the simulation reads.

Need help?

• Step-by-step questions about Plan3D — contact your Reonic account manager.
• Feature requests or something missing — drop a note to your account manager.
• Bug reports (Plan3D won't open, scene missing, modules disappear after save, simulation returns clearly-wrong numbers) — include the offer URL, a screenshot, browser console errors, and what you expected versus what you see.

Last updated on August 4, 2026