Drawing a roof

Open the editor

1. In the project cockpit, on the Roofs tab, click Open editor in the Graphic editor card. The Editor button in the projects overview does the same.
2. On your first visit, a quick guide opens: steps, mouse and keys. Close it with the Got it button. You open it again with the Help button at the top right of the editor.

The editor is built for a computer with a mouse and keyboard.

How would you like to start

An empty roof offers where to take the outline from:

• Upload an underlay: a PDF, JPG or PNG of the drawing that you trace the outline from. The file can be at most 20 MB; from a PDF, the first page is used.
• Draw without an underlay: you draw the outline straight from dimensions.
• Import DXF: the roof outline and drains straight from a CAD drawing.

Scale

• With a background: in the Scale card, click Set scale, then two points in the drawing whose distance you know. Enter the Real length in millimetres and click Confirm length.
• Without a background: the default scale 1 px = 1 mm applies. You enter edge dimensions as numbers directly while drawing.
• Without a scale, the application cannot calculate the area or anything else.

Draw the outline

1. Choose the Polygon tool in the Drawing part. After choosing Draw without an underlay, it is switched on automatically.
2. Click to add the corners of the roof. Next to the cursor, you see the length and angle of the edge being drawn.
3. You can type the length as a number: after the first point, type the length in millimetres, Tab switches to the angle and Enter confirms the edge.
4. Close the outline by clicking the first point (Close appears next to the cursor), or with the Enter key once you have at least three points.
5. You remove the last point with the Backspace key and cancel the outline being drawn with the Esc key.

Aids

• Magnet snaps a point to a corner or to the midpoint of an edge. A corner takes priority.
• Guides align an edge parallel or perpendicular to another edge and to the canvas axes when it differs from them by at most 3°. They also keep the right angle when you close the outline at the first point.
• Shift holds the angle in 45° steps and turns the magnet off.
• Alt temporarily turns snapping off.
• You turn on the grid, the drawing step and dimensions in the Drawing aids part.

Openings, superstructures and drainage

• Hole is a place where the roof ends: a skylight, a penetration, an atrium. It is drawn like an outline, inside the roof.
• Superstructure is a structure that stands on the roof. It is drawn the same way as an opening.
• You place a Drain with one click.
• You draw a Gutter (a gutter or a free edge) with two clicks: start and end.
• Scupper and Overflow (emergency overflow) are placed on an edge of the outline.

Edit what you have drawn

• With the Select tool, click an area. You can then drag its corners, with the magnet and guides.
• Double-clicking an edge adds a point.
• Delete deletes the selected point or item. Ctrl+Z undoes a step, Ctrl+Shift+Z redoes it.
• The mouse wheel zooms in and out. You pan the canvas by dragging or with the middle button. Fit in the bottom bar shows the whole drawing.

Edge types and saving

• Set the type of each perimeter edge: Free, Parapet or Wall. After you select an area, you find them in the Perimeter edges part; faster via the Edges without a type badge and Complete.
• Fall protection and the flashing quantities need the edge type. The application never fills it in by itself.
• You save the drawing with the Save button at the bottom of the left panel. The Steps window on the right shows what is still missing.
• The browser remembers unsaved changes and loads them when you return to the editor. They are only written to the project with the Save button, though.

Pitched roof and facade

The canvas, aids, mouse, keys, the Steps window and saving at the bottom of the panel are the same in all editors. Only the input differs.

• Pitched roof: in the project cockpit, the Pitched roof editor card. Quick setup creates a Rectangle or L-shape footprint and the roof shape (mono-pitch, gable, hip) from a few numbers. The application works out the planes, ridge, hips and valleys. You enter a more complex roof with the By planes (advanced) option. More in the guide Roof shape and planes.
• Facade: the Enter dimensions start option creates a rectangle or a gable from the width and height in millimetres; otherwise you draw the facade. A facade is divided into views and planes (A, A1, A2 …). More in the guide Facade panel layout.