Overview
The guided tour walks you through a complete PVX.AI design in a new drawing, from importing a site to publishing it on the web. It starts once, automatically, after PVX.AI is activated on a computer, and you can start it again at any time.
Prerequisites
PVX.AI installed and activated. The tour uses a sample site that it saves to Documents\PVXAI\Samples, so you do not need your own project data. Some steps call cloud services and use credits, as they would in a real project.
Step-by-Step Guide
1. Choose in the welcome window
The Welcome to PVX.AI window shows the five stages of a design. Click Start the guided tour to begin, or Explore on my own to close it.
2. Follow the side panel
The tour opens a new drawing and a side panel, Your first solar plant. It takes you through five stages, left to right on the ribbon: Site, Terrain, Layout, Electrical and Output. For each task, an arrow points at the ribbon button to click.
3. Work through the ten tasks
- Import the site from Google Earth (boundary, 3D terrain and satellite image).
- Analyze the soil.
- Grade the terrain.
- Convert to PV Area.
- Build the layout.
- String the modules.
- Generate the devices.
- Generate the trenches.
- Route the cables.
- Publish to the web.
4. Finish
When the last task is done, the tour shows You designed your first plant! Click Done.
5. Start the tour again
Click Getting Started on the Configurations panel, or type PVX on the AutoCAD command line.
Tips & Recommendations
- Keep the tour drawing separate from real projects. It opens its own drawing, so your work is not touched.
- New team members can run the tour to learn the order of a design before they start on a live site.
- After the tour, the help articles for each step go deeper: press F1 on any ribbon button to open its article.