How can I model shading for PV?

Finding it very diffucult to model the effect of shading on my PV. SAM will import s3d file, but that format seems to be practically unheard-of! I have a very accurate model of my PV/house arrangement in Sketchup which I
would like to use in SAM to model the shading, but I can't find any way to import it into SAM. I can export 3D from Sketchup using all the following formats: 3ds, dae, kmz,dwg, dxf,fbx, obj, wrf, xsi. None of these file formats are accepted by SAM, it will only accept s3d but, since hardly nobody on the internet seems to know what s3d even is, I cannot find any way to convert any of the Sketchup export formats.

What is going on? Can't you provide import into SAM using a more available file format?

I find the little drawing feature in SAM shading to be very difficult to use, not to mention that I already have an accurate 3D model of my geometry--just need a way to import it into SAM.

Hello,

As you note, SAM uses its own format for the shade calculator's three-dimensional representation of the shading scene. It is not possible to import drawings in other formats, or to export the drawing from SAM to another format.

Thank you for this feedback -- I will pass it on to the development team.

Best regards,
Paul.

Thank you, Paul!

Hello Paul,

this functionality would help a lot ,saves a lot of work since the built environment is often available in some format from CAD packages. Did the development team decide on this topic yet? I could not find it yet in the newest SAM release.

Best regards,
Koen

Dear Koen,
We have been thinking about how to implement this for the next version of SAM. Would you mind [url=mailto:sam.support@nrel.gov?subject=Sample%203D%20file%20for%20shading%20tool t=_self]emailing me[/url] an example of the kind of file you would like to import into SAM?
Best regards,

Paul.

Hi Paul,

i'd love to, but I cannot find the attach file button in reply messages in this conversation. What do you advise me to do?

thanks
Koen