What is the roof plan?
The roof plan is a technical planning tool in Eturnity Expert that lets you generate standardised roof plans directly from existing project data. Once an order is signed and the project is handed over from sales to technical planning, the roof plan serves as the central working document for the installation team and as a submission document for authorities.
Previously, such plans were manually redrawn in external tools like AutoCAD or Microsoft Visio – a time-consuming, error-prone process that required duplicate data entry. In the roof plan, roof outlines, panels and obstacles come directly from the 3D Panel layout; you add the dimensions yourself. Because the plan is based on the same data as the design, a click on Update brings it up to date with the project after changes, without redrawing anything.
Early adopters report: “Compared to SPT, very easy to use and to incorporate changes.” – “It will make our lives easier and save us time: 5–10 minutes on simple projects, 20–25 minutes on complex projects.”
What belongs on a roof plan
Above all, the installation team needs the distances between the panel rows and to the roof edge, as well as reference points from which to position the panels. Obstacles, safety hooks, snow guards and the name of each roof surface also belong on it. The legend states the number and type of panels, and the system power appears in the title block. Not every company needs every detail – which is why you can design the roof plan freely.
Roof plan, string plan or single line diagram?
Roof plan – the mechanical position of the panels with dimensions, as the basis for mounting. Dimensions are only available in the roof plan.
String plan – which panel belongs to which string and MPPT
Single line diagram – the electrical connection of the main components with the protective devices
The roof plan and the string plan are created on the same canvas but are separate documents: what you design in one does not appear in the other.
Who is the roof plan for?
The roof plan is primarily intended for:
Technical planners – who prepare installation documentation after order signing
Project managers – who need plans for installation and authority submissions
Back-office staff – who compile documentation packages without deep CAD knowledge
The roof plan is suitable for projects of all sizes – from simple residential buildings to larger commercial installations.
License Note: If the roof plan opens blurred with an upgrade window, it is not included in your current license. It is activated separately from the string plan. In the upgrade window, click Start free trial to begin a trial, as long as your company has not used it yet. Click Upgrade now to request an upgrade; our team will then get in touch with you. To learn more, contact support@eturnity.com.
Prerequisites
The Photovoltaics technology is active in the variant.
The variant is a 3D variant with at least one roof drawn in the 3D Panel layout – the roof plan works exclusively based on the 3D data model. For a 2D variant, a Warning appears, advising you to create a 3D variant.
Inverter and string design are ideally already completed, so that the legend lists the inverters.
You are working on a computer in Chrome, Edge or Firefox – the roof plan does not open in Safari.
How to find the page: Open the project > Planning group in the left-hand side menu > Roof plan. Each variant has its own roof plan.
Core principle: Everything that affects the PV system – panels, obstacles, roof outlines – is defined in the 3D Panel layout. The roof plan is the place for dimensioning, labels and annotations, not for design changes. Only then are all dependencies such as the yield calculation, string design and bill of materials updated correctly. The roof plan picks up changed data as soon as you click Update on the roof view.
Dimensions are only as accurate as the 3D model: The roof plan measures in the 3D model. If you drew the roof from an aerial image only, you will get dimensions that differ from reality. If individual dimensions differ slightly from the on-site measurements, adjust them directly in the roof plan: in the Edit roof window, click the dimension and enter the measured value, including the unit, under custom label, e.g. “2.35 m” (see Dimensioning). This does not change the drawing – for minor adjustments, that is not a problem.
Concept: Two work areas
The page – the main work area, where you place roof views and manage labels, the legend, scale, compass and title block. This is where the final document is assembled. Each page of the plan is a separate tab.
The Edit roof window – a separate window for each roof view, in which you add dimensions, create your own drawing elements such as polygons and circles, colour panels and place roof names. When you click Save, everything appears on the page.
Everything on the page is an element: the roof view, the legend, the title block, texts, frames, arrows and images. You can move any element with the mouse; roof views, images, frames and texts can also be enlarged or reduced using their handles. The legend and title block grow with the font size. If you click a roof view, the legend or an arrow, its settings appear on the left-hand edge. To open the settings for the whole page, use Settings in the toolbar; they appear on the right-hand edge. To save, use the floppy disk icon; if you leave the roof plan for another part of Eturnity, Eturnity saves automatically beforehand.
Your first roof plan
When you open it for the first time, the Select a roof window appears (later via Roof in the toolbar). Select Entire project or an individual roof and click Add roof.
The Edit roof window opens; the Measurement tool is already active. Add the dimensions the installation team needs (see Dimensioning) and click Save.
Drag the roof view to the position you want on the page and resize it using the corner handles. If the plan is to be printed to scale, click the roof view and, under Roof element settings on the left, select a Scale.
Click Generate PDF in the tab bar at the top. The preview opens with the Export file sidebar.
Enter a File name and click Save document. The PDF is then stored in the project's File manager, assigned to the variant.
Entire project or individual roof
Entire project (preselected) – shows all roof surfaces in top view, aligned to north. Ideal for an overview plan or when you want to display multiple roof surfaces on one page.
Individual roof – select it in the list (by its name or as “Roof 1”, “Roof 2” …) or by clicking it in the 3D preview. The view lies in the plane of the roof: on pitched roofs with the eaves horizontal, on almost flat roofs with the longest edge horizontal. Ideally suited for detail plans with dimensioning.
Tip for multiple roof surfaces: A proven approach is to first place the entire project as an overview image in one corner of the page and arrange the individual roof surfaces with dimensioning below it. This way, the installation team always has the overall orientation in view. For the overview, switch off Show roof elements in legend; otherwise, the legend lists all roofs and panels of the project, including those that are not shown in detail on the page.
You can place multiple roof views on the same page and position them freely using drag-and-drop. Double-click a roof view to open the Edit roof window for that view.
In the “Edit roof” window
You open the window by double-clicking a roof view or via the Edit roof plan button. Expand switches it to full screen. Apply your changes with Save, or discard them with Discard.
Caution:Reset to default view immediately deletes all dimensions and all drawn elements of this roof view. As long as the window is open, you can restore them with Undo.
Dimensioning
The Measurement tool is active when the window opens.
Double-click on a line – automatically adds the dimension for that line.
Double-click on a panel, an obstacle or a polygon – adds all outer dimensions of the element. You dimension a roof edge by edge.
Manual dimensioning – Click two objects one after the other, e.g. a panel row and the roof edge: Eturnity dimensions the shortest distance between them. The dimension line snaps to corners, edges, obstacles and panels; hold down the Ctrl key (Mac: control) to set a free point exactly at the mouse pointer instead, without snapping.
The default unit is metres. Under Settings in the window, you can switch the Measurement unit to mm, cm or m; it applies to this roof view.
Tip for precise values: If you enter a value directly via the keyboard while drawing a polygon, a polyline or a circle (e.g. 500) and confirm with Enter, the edge will be exactly 500 mm long in the view of an individual roof (for a circle, the diameter) – instead of a rounded value. This is recommended for presentations and official submissions.
If you select exactly one dimension, the Measurement settings appear on the left, with the 3D length and the custom label field. There, you replace the number shown, including the unit, with your own text of up to 50 characters, e.g. “2.35 m” or “2.35 m ± 2 cm”. This does not change the drawing; for slight deviations from the on-site measurements, this is the simplest method. If you drag one end of the dimension, the custom label is removed; moving the dimension line in parallel keeps it.
Note on height differences: If you add dimensioning between points at different heights of the 3D building model (e.g. across separation lines), the height difference is included in the measurement. The displayed length is then geometrically correct but does not correspond to the horizontal distance. Dimensioning should therefore be set only within a single roof plane.
Draw annotation elements
Use Polygon, Polyline and Circle to draw in additional information:
Polygon – for any areas, e.g. fitting panels, snow guards, marked areas (e.g. “leave area clear”) or elements that have been removed (e.g. a dismantled chimney – as an obstacle in the 3D Panel layout, it would prevent panels from being placed there)
Polyline – for open lines, e.g. the cable route from the roof to the inverter
Circle – for round objects such as safety hooks or cable penetrations
For each element, you can:
assign a colour under Colors and show only the outline with Transparent fill color – useful for authority requirements, as some authorities require a specific colour for demolition work, for example
give it a name under Label in legend – this automatically appears in the legend
select several elements of the same type using the Select & Move tool and Shift + click, and rename them together so that they appear as a single legend entry – this works if they also have the same colour and fill type
Practical example (Switzerland): Some municipalities require PV panel fields to appear visually closed. With the polygon tool, fitting panels or filler plates can be drawn and marked in a matching colour. Alternatively, fill the free space in the panel field with fitting panels directly in the 3D Panel layout: select the panel field > Fitting panels section > Fill space with fitting panels. The roof plan then shows them via the fitting panels layer and lists their area in the legend.
Adjust panel colours for authorities
With the Panel selection tool, you select panels directly in the window and, in the Panel settings, change their Fill color and Stroke color – for example when authorities require new panels to be marked in a specific colour (e.g. red). Each new colour appears as a separate row in the legend. Add the appropriate text there, such as “new” and “existing”. Panels without a colour of their own do not get a row in the legend; for “existing”, colour these panels as well.
Roof surface names
In the window, go to Settings > Layer visibility and switch on Roof name labels. The names are taken automatically from the 3D Panel layout; to use a different name, change it there. With the Move roof label tool, you move the labels: click a label – it is highlighted in purple – and move it using drag-and-drop. If only certain names should appear (e.g. when only a single roof surface is shown on a page), switch off the Roof name labels layer and add the names you want to the page with Text.
Configure the roof view on the page
Click a roof view; Roof element settings appears on the left.
Layer visibility
Under Layer visibility, you specify for each roof view which layers are visible. A toggle only appears if there is content for it:
Roof outlines
Roof name labels
Obstacles
Roof plan items (your polygons, polylines and circles)
Panels
Panel index
fitting panels
Dimensioning
Some layers are linked: switching off Panels also switches off Panel index, and Roof outlines takes Roof name labels with it. If you switch Panels back on, Panel index stays off until you switch it on separately; the same applies to Roof name labels when you switch Roof outlines back on.
Scale, compass and alignment
Scale – for building permit and installation plans that need to be printed true to scale. You can choose from 1:2000 to 1:50. If a scale does not fit the page format, it carries the suffix change page; if you select it anyway, Eturnity adjusts the page format – first by rotating the orientation, otherwise by using the next larger format up to A1.
Show compass and Show scale – add a compass and a scale bar. Both belong to this roof view, move with it and can be positioned freely. The scale bar adjusts when you enlarge or reduce the roof view or select a scale.
Alignement – only for an individual roof: To page (default) shows the roof as it lies in its roof plane. North rotates the view so that north is at the top. Useful in combination with a compass when authorities require a north orientation. You mainly need the compass when a view does not point north.
Show roof elements in legend – If you use a roof view purely as an overview plan and do not want it to appear in the legend, switch this off.
Legend, title block and page
Legend
The legend is generated automatically and contains the relevant elements of the roof plan: roof information, panel data, your drawing elements, panel colours, obstacles and the area of the fitting panels – and, if the string design has been set up, the inverters. By default, it appears at the top right of the page and can be moved freely. The texts appear in the project's Correspondence language, because the plan goes to customers and authorities.
Click the legend; the Legend settings appear on the left.
Show/hide sections – Under Sections visibility, hide the panel data or the roofs, for example, if they are not relevant for a recipient (e.g. an authority). You hide individual entries in the Legend section using the eye icon; Show hidden legend labels brings them back.
Edit names – In the selected legend, click an entry in the Legend section and edit the name directly in the text field. Roofs, panel data and inverters can only be hidden as an entire section. Add your own note with Add field: one free field per legend, with line breaks via Enter.
Columns – one, two or three under No. of columns
Adjust font size – In the page settings, you can increase the legend font size if labels appear too small on smaller page formats. Dimension figures and roof names grow with it.
Title block
The title block is automatically populated with company, project and system data and sits in the lower right corner of the page. It can be moved freely. Click it to edit three fields directly: Document type (prefilled with “Roof plan”), Scale (prefilled with the scale of the first roof view in the legend) and version. The page name and page format come from the page; the other details come from the project, customer and company data. The Date of issue is the date on which you open the plan.
Page settings
Settings in the toolbar opens the Page settings on the right-hand edge:
Format – A4, A3, A2 or A1
Orientation – landscape or portrait
Font size – Small, Medium or Large
Legend and Title block – show or hide per page
Recommendation for larger projects: Choose A3 as the page format so that dimensioning and legend text remain easily readable.
Other elements on the page
Arrow – for notes, cable penetrations or other annotations. Line weight and colour are adjustable.
Frame – to highlight or separate areas, e.g. to visually distinguish an overview from a detail plan
Text – for free labels, room designations or supplementary notes
Image – for external images, e.g. cadastral extracts as background maps or cross-section drawings of mounting systems. PNG, JPG, JPEG, GIF and WEBP files up to 8 MB are allowed; convert a cadastral extract in PDF format into an image first.
Map and 3D View – insert an image of the map or of the 3D model respectively. Edit image then opens, where you draw with Line and correct with Eraser.
Cadastral plan as background
To display the PV layout on a cadastral extract, proceed as follows:
Upload the cadastral image using the Image tool.
Select the image and click Send to back in the toolbar to move it behind all other elements.
Then add the Entire project roof view, hide unnecessary layers (e.g. roof outlines, obstacles) and scale the display so that the panel fields are overlaid on the cadastral image.
The positioning is done by eye and is not dimensionally accurate – but it is usually sufficient to demonstrate the panel layout to the authority.
Manage multiple pages
For more complex projects, or when you need different plan versions for installation and authorities, you can create multiple pages:
Add page – creates a new page and immediately opens Select a roof. Each page can be configured independently.
Duplicate (three-dot menu on the tab) – Duplicate a finished page and adapt it for a different recipient (e.g. hide the legend or change layers).
Rename page – Assign meaningful page titles (e.g. “Roof South – Installation”, “Roof South – Authority”). The title also appears in the title block.
Delete page – Remove pages that are no longer needed. The last page always remains.
Typical example: Two versions of a page
Create a complete plan page with all information for the installation team.
Duplicate this page.
On the copy, hide layers that are irrelevant for the authority (e.g. Dimensioning or Panel index).
Rename the pages accordingly.
Export the required page(s) as PDF.
Track layout changes
If the 3D Panel layout is changed after the roof plan has been created, hover over each roof view: an outdated one shows the Outdated badge and the Update button. One click synchronises the roof view with the new data – without manual rework. Each roof view is updated individually.
Important: Custom annotations (arrows, text elements, polygons), dimensioning and layer settings are preserved during the update. However, after an update, check whether positions and dimensioning are still correct.
Export PDF
Click Generate PDF in the tab bar. Eturnity saves all pages and opens the preview with the Export file sidebar.
Enter a File name and check the document type under Report type (preselected: Roof plan).
Under Page selection, select which pages to export.
Click Save document. The PDF is then stored in the project's File manager; Download opens it in a new tab, from where you can save it.
The exported PDF contains all visible elements of the selected pages, including the legend and title block if they are shown. Anything beyond the edge of the page is cut off in the PDF. The PDF can be integrated directly into approval documents, installation packages or customer reports.
Good to know
Checking local requirements is up to you: Which colours, views and details a plan must contain varies by country and often by municipality. Eturnity therefore gives you freely configurable tools instead of rigid templates, but does not guarantee that a plan meets any particular requirement.
No Safari: The roof plan does not open in Safari. Use Chrome, Edge or Firefox on a computer.
No version history: There is no automatic version management. Older versions remain available as PDFs in the file manager; the version field in the title block helps you tell them apart.
No combined PDF: The roof plan, string plan and single line diagram are saved as separate PDFs.
3D projects only: The roof plan supports only projects with 3D layout.