The short answer
Open the PVcase drawing (DWG or DXF) in AutoCAD and click Layout > Import > Import PVcase Design. PVX.AI converts the design that is in the open drawing into native PVX.AI objects: PV areas, terrain, racks with their piles, the electrical design, exclusions, trees and roads. PVX.AI does not open PVcase project files, so export or save a DWG from PVcase first. After the import, check what came across, add the racks to your library, and re-run the steps you want PVX.AI to own.
1. Prepare the drawing before you import
The importer finds PVcase objects by their original PVcase layer names and the data PVcase stores on each rack. Most failed imports come from a drawing that was tidied up after it left PVcase.
- Keep the PVcase layer names. Do not rename or merge them.
- Do not explode the rack frame blocks, and do not strip object data from them.
- Thaw the PVcase layers. Frozen layers are skipped.
- Keep the design in model space. Layouts (paper space) are not scanned.
- Set the AutoCAD geolocation on the drawing if you can. PVX.AI uses it first to georeference the project, then the PVcase location setting.
What to do: open the DWG as PVcase exported it, check the layers are thawed, then follow Importing a PVcase Design.
2. Check the units
PVX.AI converts every PVcase length to the right size whatever unit the project used. If the drawing’s unit setting does not match the PVcase project unit (a metre project saved as feet, for example), PVX.AI corrects the drawing unit and prints one line on the command line saying so. US survey feet drawings are kept as they are and read at the exact survey foot, so State Plane coordinates do not shift.
Projects in millimetres or inches, or with an unreadable unit record, get a warning. In that case the terrain and the terrain-following trackers are skipped, while rigid racks and the electrical design still import.
What to do: read the command line after the import. If you see a units warning, set the drawing to metres or feet and import again. See AutoCAD Versions, Language, and Units.
3. Know what is converted and what is not
Converted into PVX.AI objects:
- PV areas, named PV-1, PV-2 and so on, with their rack selection and azimuth filled in.
- The existing terrain, as a PVX.AI terrain surface.
- Fixed, tracker, East-West and terrain-following racks. Trackers come in at their true length, and split terrain-following trackers are joined back into one tracker.
- Piles, copied one for one from the pile schedule PVcase stored on each rack. If a rack’s schedule cannot be reproduced, that rack comes in with no piles and a warning, never with made-up piles.
- Strings, DC boxes, string and central inverters, transformers, cables and trenches.
- Exclusion zones, trees (as shading objects), roads, stations and fences.
Not converted: the graded (proposed) surface, grading pads and spot levels; harness and trunk DC layouts, AC combiners, substation and HV cables; BESS; multi-row tracker groups (each row becomes its own rack); and PVcase project settings such as stringing templates. All trenches land on the DC trench layer, so move AC trenches by hand if you keep them.
What to do: plan to redo grading in PVX.AI rather than expect the PVcase graded surface to come across. The PVcase objects themselves are never changed: their layers are hidden and frozen, so you can thaw them to compare.
4. Add the imported racks to your library
The import creates rack specifications inside the drawing, named after their shape, for example PVC 1×28 T0. They do not appear in your rack library on their own. PVcase does not store the module make and model, so the module carries the placeholder brand “PVcase import”.
What to do: open Database > Products > Racks and click Import from drawing to bring them in. Then edit them, or set up your own rack and module, so later layouts use real product data. See Creating Trackers (Detailed Design) and Creating Solar Modules (Importing PAN Files). To swap a placed rack for another spec in the drawing, right-click it and use Swap Rack.
5. Re-run the design steps in PVX.AI
Once the design is native, decide which parts PVX.AI should take over. A common order:
- Run Collision Analysis on the imported layout to see which racks miss their pile reveal or clearance limits on the existing ground.
- Grade only where needed, with area grading or by adapting the terrain to the piles.
- Keep the imported strings and devices, or rebuild them with PVX.AI stringing and cabling. Building a new layout or clearing racks removes the electrical design of the PV areas it touches.
- Export to PVsyst with PVCollada, or publish to the web viewer.
What to do: start with Collision Analysis, then Terrain Grading and Defining Solar Stringing.
6. If the import finds nothing, or you need to run it again
If PVX.AI reports that no PVcase design data was found, the PVcase layers are frozen (often because the drawing was already imported) or were renamed. The import adds objects to the drawing, so running it twice would create duplicates. To start over, press Ctrl+Z twice straight after the import (the first removes the rack outlines, the second removes the import), or reopen the original DWG.
For a comparison of the two workflows, see Switching from PVcase on pvx.ai.