Direct Free Roof Area

This function allows a free roof surface to be created without first generating a roof contour polygon. After selecting the function, a small dialog box opens that contains only a dropdown list. In the dropdown list, the roof surface type for the roof area can be selected.

If the dialog box is closed with the 'OK' button, any points for the roof area can be chosen. The procedure of the function then corresponds to that of the 'Free Roof Surface' function when in its dropdown list 'determine roof area via' the option 'arbitrary points' was selected. After the selection of points is completed, the roof contour polygon and the roof surface are generated automatically.

However, if the selected points are not coplanar, another dialog box opens that allows you to determine what the program should do. There are two options:

Approximate:

By pressing the 'Approximate' button, a planar roof surface is generated that lies as centrally as possible among the points. Next, you determine the orientation of the roof surface by choosing the direction of the eave or the rafters. Alternatively, this can be determined automatically (approximately) by the program. In that case, the roof surface may acquire an undesired orientation. Finally, you select a point through which the roof surface should pass. The roof contour polygon and the roof surface are then generated.

Skewed:

By pressing the 'Skewed' button, a skewed or nonplanar surface is generated. Next, you determine the orientation of the roof surface by choosing the direction of the eave or the rafters. Now you can define the grid width for segmenting the skewed surface. If the program should simply use the division defined by the previously chosen points, close the dialog box with 'OK' without entering a value. If those points are too far apart, you can define a finer grid by using a fixed or variable grid width or by specifying the number of fields. Using a fixed grid width will produce a residual field at the end of the skewed roof surface, whereas 'variable grid width' and 'number of fields' produce uniform grids. You should ensure that later the rafters do not lie exactly on the segment boundaries but preferably centered within the segments.