SOLARCHVISION-BIM is a desktop software application designed and developed by Mojtaba Samimi (M.Arch) in the Processing language. It is available for GNU/Linux, macOS, and Microsoft Windows.

Table of contents

• Copyright and license
• Installation
  • Clone using SSH
  • Clone using HTTPS
  • Requirements
  • Before running the program
  • Run using Processing IDE
  • Run using command line
  • Download EPW files
  • Download CWEEDS files
• Graphical User Interface
  • Adding an object to the scene
  • Selecting objects
  • Altering objects
  • Modifying objects
  • Matching and aligning objects
  • Quick layout and 3D setup
  • Climatic studies
  • Weather layers
  • Location menu
  • Case bar
    • Range Sliders
    • Statistical Options
  • User interface keyboard shortcuts
    • General
    • Camera and viewport control
    • Selection and scene interaction
    • Time, weather, and impact visualization
    • Layout and graph controls
    • Graph scaling and display options
    • Graph visualization modes
  • Command line
    • Location
    • Selection and editing
    • Object creation
    • Mesh creation
    • Viewports
    • Camera control
    • Views
    • Shading and rendering
• Additional resources

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Copyright and license

The code and documentation are released under the GPL v2.

Installation

Clone using SSH

git clone git@github.com:archmoj/solarchvision_bim.git

or

git clone git@github.com:archmoj/solarchvision_bim.git --depth 1

Clone using HTTPS

git clone https://github.com/archmoj/solarchvision_bim.git

or

git clone https://github.com/archmoj/solarchvision_bim.git --depth 1

Requirements

Processing v4 must be installed, as SOLARCHVISION-BIM is a Processing sketch.

Before running the program

You should adjust the BaseFolder variable inside solarchvision_bim.pde.

String BaseFolder = "/home/solarch/org/solarchvision_bim";

Run using Processing IDE

The solarchvision_bim sketch can be opened in the Processing IDE and executed using the Play button.

Run using command line

To compile and run the solarchvision_bim sketch, adjust <PATH-TO-PROCESSING> in the following command as needed.

Please note that the command must be executed from the parent directory containing the solarchvision_bim folder.

<PATH-TO-PROCESSING>/processing-java --sketch=solarchvision_bim --run

Download EPW files

To download EPW/TMY (Typical Meteorological Year) data for various locations, a script is provided inside the scripts folder.

You need to adjust the outFolder variable in the download_epw.js file to point to your installation directory.

In addition, node.js is required to run the script.

node scripts/download_epw.js

Download CWEEDS files

For locations in Canada, there is another database called CWEEDS, which includes multi-year climate data under the Engineering Climate Datasets (https://climate.weather.gc.ca/prods_servs/engineering_e.html).

The files for the region of interest can be extracted and placed inside the solarchvision_bim/input/climate/CWEEDS/ folder.

Graphical User Interface

Once loaded the UI would look like this:

Please note that in above example the Setup | 3D-model 7 option is selected. Also the rendering is set to Shade Global Solar option via 3D-shade menu.

Adding an object to the scene

You can choose a desired object such as Houses, Parametric Surfaces, Box, Cushion, Cylinder, Sphere, Octahedron, Icosahedron, Pyramid, Hyper, Plane, Polygon, Extrude, Surface, Polyline, Point, 1D-Tree, 2D-Tree, Person, and Camera from the 3D-create menu.

After selecting the desired object, you can use either right-click or left-click on a surface in the 3D viewport to add it to the scene:

• Right-click adds the object to the land surface.
• Left-click adds the object to the surface of existing 3D models.

The default parameters used for creating new objects can be found under Geometries & Space → Create.

Alternatively, you can use the command line to generate new objects. For example, the following command adds a section with width and height of 100 units at a distance of 0.1 units above the origin:

section u=100 v=100 z=0.1

See the Command line section for more information.

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Selecting objects

You can use the 3D-select menu to select objects of different types, including Land, 1D, 2D, Group, Face, Vertex, Soft, Solid, Section, Camera, and Polyline.

You can also use the following selection methods:

• Pick and Window selection modes to select or deselect objects
• Add objects to or remove objects from the current selection
• Select all and Deselect all options

It is also possible to convert one selection type to another. For example:

• Groups >> Faces selects all faces belonging to the selected group(s)
• Faces >> Groups selects all groups associated with the selected face(s)

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Altering objects

You can use the 3D-alter menu to modify properties of existing objects.

After selecting a modification option, use the mouse wheel to adjust the object properties interactively.

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Modifying objects

The 3D-modify menu provides several modifiers for editing 3D surfaces.

For example, the Insert Corner Openings modifier inserts an opening base parallel to the edges of the selected surface(s).

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Matching and aligning objects

You can match and align objects using the 3D-match menu.

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Quick layout and 3D setup

The Setup menu provides quick access to predefined:

• Time viewport layouts
• 3D viewport models

You can enlarge the time viewport to expand and view complete layout graphs.

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Climatic studies

General studies such as:

• Wind pattern (active)
• Wind pattern (passive)
• Orientation potential (active)
• Orientation potential (passive)
• Hourly sun position (active)
• Hourly sun position (passive)
• Annual cycle sun path (active)
• Annual cycle sun path (passive)

can be accessed from the Analysis menu. These studies are displayed in the time viewport.

For studies related to the 3D model, such as:

• Urban solar potential (active)
• Urban solar potential (passive)

you must pre-bake the selected Section or Camera using:

• PreBake Viewport, or
• Pre-bake Selected Sections

before running the analysis.

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Weather layers

Two types of weather layers are defined:

1. General layers
   • Available directly from weather data files
   • Missing values may be filled using post-processing techniques
2. Developed layers
   • Not available in the original weather files
   • Generated through software post-processing

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Location menu

You can use the Location menu to select a project location and download or load weather and geographic data.

By default, the software uses EPW/TMY (Typical Meteorological Year) data.

Additional supported datasets include:

• Climate files containing multiple years of data (e.g., CWEEDS)
• Ensemble forecast datasets (e.g., NAEFS) for visualization and simulation
• Observation datasets (e.g., SWOB records)

Additional features include:

• Land Mesh and Land Texture require an API key
• Troposphere allows loading WMS forecast data to visualize hourly cloud formations using datasets such as HRDPS (High Resolution Deterministic Prediction System) or GDPS (Global Deterministic Prediction System)

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Case bar

The Case Bar is located above the Command Bar. It consists of three range sliders on the left and nine statistical options on the right.

Range Sliders

The range sliders allow users to select the desired:

• Hours
• Days
• Forecast Scenarios (or Years when using long-term input data)

To define a range:

• Use left-click to set the start of the range.
• Use right-click to set the end of the range.

Statistical Options

The statistical options determine which scenario close to the selected data aggregation is used to run simulations in the viewports. Available options include:

• Minimum
• Average
• Maximum
• 25th Percentile
• 50th Percentile (Median)
• 75th Percentile
• Middle
• Mid-High
• Mid-Low

The first six options compute standard statistical measures based on the selected data range.

The Middle, Mid-High, and Mid-Low options are built-in methods that apply weighted selection criteria to sorted data records.

User interface keyboard shortcuts

When the command bar is disabled (default mode), you can use keyboard shortcuts to perform various tasks.

General

• TAB: Enable or disable the command bar
• Shift+TAB: Switch between active and passive views inside the 3D viewport

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Camera and viewport control

• ` and ~: Zoom in and out in the world viewport
• + and -: Zoom in and out in the 3D viewport
• , and .: Move the camera closer and farther
• 2 and 8: RRotate the camera up and down
• 4 and 6: Rotate the camera left and right
• 1 and 3: Move the camera left and right
• 7 and 9: Move the camera up and down
• 5: Rotate the camera to look at the origin
• 0: Move the camera closer
• / and *: Move the camera toward and away from the selection
• UP, DOWN, LEFT and RIGHT: Rotate the camera around the selection

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Selection and scene interaction

• DELETE: Delete selected item(s)
• Shift+UP, Shift+DOWN: Move/rotate/scale (or change properties of) the selection
• c and C: Switch the viewport to available cameras in the scene
• ENTER: Rebuild global & vertex solar energy/impact data
• SPACE: Record the frame

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Time, weather, and impact visualization

• d and D: Change the impact display day in the 3D viewport
• t and T: Change the forecast hour used to display the troposphere

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Layout and graph controls

• Ctrl+UP and Ctrl+DOWN: Change the current weather layer displayed in the hourly graph (Layout 0 — default layout)
• Ctrl+LEFT and Ctrl+RIGHT: Change the current impact layer displayed in the daily graph (Layout 0 — default layout)
• Ctrl+PAGE_UP and Ctrl+PAGE_DOWN: Switch between layouts (enlarge the time viewport to view the full layout)
• Ctrl+;: Show or hide the impact summary

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Graph scaling and display options

• Ctrl+' and Ctrl+": Adjust the vertical scale factor of the hourly time graph
• < and >: Increase or decrease the number of joined days (30 days by default for monthly graphs)
• ( and ): Increase or decrease the number of displayed days
• [ and ]: Increase or decrease the horizontal interval used for the probabilities graph
• { and }: Increase or decrease the vertical interval used for the probabilities graph

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Graph visualization modes

• s and S: Change the sky scenario ("All data", "Sunny", "Partly Cloudy", or "Cloudy")
• v and V: Show or hide raw values on the hourly time graph
• b and B: Show or hide probabilities on the hourly time graph
• n and N: Show or hide statistics on the hourly time graph
• m and M: Show or hide sorted values on the hourly time graph

Command line

Use TAB to enable or disable the command line, or click inside/outside the command line area (the dark region at the bottom).

Below is a list of available commands. Both lowercase and uppercase variants are accepted.

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• CLS: Clears the command line screen
• OPEN: Opens a saved project
• SAVE.AS: Saves the project with a new name
• SAVE: Saves the project
• HOLD: Holds the scene
• FETCH: Fetches the scene
• IMPORT: Imports an OBJ file
• EXECUTE: Executes a script file containing multiple SOLARCHVISION commands
• EXPORT.OBJ.TIMESERIES: Exports the scene in OBJ format at different hours (multiple files)
• EXPORT.OBJ.DATESERIES: Exports the scene in OBJ format at different days (multiple files)
• EXPORT.OBJ: Exports the scene in OBJ format
• EXPORT.RAD: Exports the scene in Radiance RAD format
• EXPORT.SCR: Exports the scene in AutoCAD SCR format
• QUIT: Exits the software

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Location

• LONLAT: Sets the longitude and latitude of the location

LonLat ? ?

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Selection and editing

• SELECT: Selects various categories

Select all/last/nothing/invert/groups/model2ds/model1ds/vertices/faces/solids/sections/cameras/landpoint

• DELETE: Deletes the selection or various categories

Delete all/selection/groups/model2ds/model1ds/vertices/faces/solids/sections/cameras

• COPY: Copies the selection

Copy n=? dx=? dy=? dz=? rx=? ry=? rz=?

• MOVE: Moves the selection

Move dx=? dy=? dz=?

• ROTATE, ROTATEX, ROTATEY, ROTATEZ: Rotates the selection

Rotate[X|Y|Z] r=? x=? y=? z=?

• SCALE: Scales the selection

Scale s=? sx=? sy=? sz=? x=? y=? z=?

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Object creation

• PERSON: Creates a person

Person m=? x=? y=? z=?

• TREE2: Creates a 2D tree using vertical and horizontal sections

Tree2 m=? x=? y=? z=? h=?

• TREE1: Creates a parametric fractal tree in 3D

Tree1 m=? degree=? seed=? x=? y=? z=? h=? r=? tilt=? twist=? ratio=? base=? Tk=? Lf=?

• BOX2P: Creates a box using two corner points

Box2P m=? tes=? lyr=? x1=? y1=? z1=? x2=? y2=? z2=?

• BOX: Creates a box using center point, width, length, and height

Box m=? tes=? lyr=? x=? y=? z=? dx=? dy=? dz=? r=?

• HOUSE1: Creates a house-like structure with roof folded in all directions

House1 m=? tes=? lyr=? x=? y=? z=? dx=? dy=? dz=? dh=? r=?

• HOUSE2: Creates a house-like structure with roof folded in one direction

House2 m=? tes=? lyr=? x=? y=? z=? dx=? dy=? dz=? dh=? r=?

• HOUSE3: Creates a house-like structure with roof folded in the second direction

House3 m=? tes=? lyr=? x=? y=? z=? dx=? dy=? dz=? dh=? r=?

• CYLINDER: Creates a cylinder

Cylinder m=? tes=? lyr=? x=? y=? z=? dx=? dy=? dz=? deg=? r=?

• SPHERE: Creates a sphere

Sphere m=? tes=? lyr=? x=? y=? z=? d=? deg=? r=?

• SUPERSPHERE: Creates a supersphere (deforms from cube to star-like object)

SuperSphere m=? tes=? lyr=? x=? y=? z=? dx=? dy=? dz=? px=? py=? pz=? deg=? r=?

• CUSHION: Creates a cushion-like object

Cushion m=? tes=? lyr=? x=? y=? z=? dx=? dy=? dz=? deg=? r=?

• OCTAHEDRON: Creates an octahedron

Octahedron m=? tes=? lyr=? x=? y=? z=? dx=? dy=? dz=? r=?

• ICOSAHEDRON: Creates an icosahedron

Icosahedron m=? tes=? lyr=? x=? y=? z=? d=? r=?

• POLYGONMESH: Creates an equilateral polygon mesh

PolygonMesh m=? tes=? lyr=? x=? y=? z=? d=? deg=? r=?

• POLYGONHYPER: Creates a hyperbolic surface based on an equilateral polygon

PolygonHyper m=? tes=? lyr=? x=? y=? z=? d=? h=? deg=? r=?

• POLYGONEXTRUDE: Creates an extrusion from an equilateral polygon

PolygonExtrude m=? tes=? lyr=? x=? y=? z=? d=? h=? deg=? r=?

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Mesh creation

• MESH2 to MESH6: Creates meshes using 2 to 6 points

Mesh2 m=? tes=? lyr=? x1=? y1=? z1=? x2=? y2=? z2=?

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Viewports

• ALLVIEWPORTS: Displays all viewports
• ENLARGE3D: Enlarges the 3D viewport

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Camera control

Includes commands such as:

• PAN, PANX, PANY
• LOOKORG, LOOKDIR, LOOKSEL
• TRUCKX, TRUCKY, TRUCKZ
• ORBIT, ORBITZ, ORBITXY
• CAMERAROLL, CAMERAROLLZ, CAMERAROLLXY
• TARGETROLL, TARGETROLLZ, TARGETROLLXY
• ZOOM, NORMALZOOM
• PERSPECTIVE, ORTHOGRAPHIC

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Views

• TOP, FRONT, LEFT, RIGHT, BACK, BOTTOM
• S.W., S.E., N.E., N.W.

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Shading and rendering

• SHADE.WIRE: Wireframe view
• SHADE.BASE: Base shading
• SHADE.WHITE: White shading
• SHADE.MATERIALS: Material shading
• SHADE.GLOBAL: Global solar values shading
• SHADE.REAL: Per-vertex solar values shading
• SHADE.SOLID: Solid parameter shading
• SHADE.ELEVATION: Elevation shading
• RENDER.VIEWPORT: Renders the viewport
• PREBAKE.VIEWPORT: Pre-bakes the viewport

Additional resources

BIM6D Presentation

Presentation at Ouranos

TU-Berlin book: Intelligent Design using Solar-Climatic Vision (Energy and Comfort Improvement in Architecture and Urban Planning using SOLARCHVISION)