Adding Rooftop Objects to Your Design

Summary:

 Most roofs aren't empty — there's usually a water tank, an AC unit, a chimney, maybe a ladder or walkway. This guide shows you how to add all of these to your design, so what your customer sees looks like their actual roof.

Where to find it

1. Open your project in Design Studio.
2. Click the “Objects and Trees” icon in the toolbar.
3. A panel opens on the side showing everything you can add.

The four categories

• Trees — plants and trees for landscaping context.
• Roof Add-ons — fixtures that sit on the roof, like tanks, vents, and chimneys.
• Structure Elements — ladder, walkway, and handrail — used for safe access to the panels.
• Generic — plain shapes like cubes and cylinders, for anything else.

Adding any object — the basics

1. Find the object you want in the panel.
2. Click and drag it onto the roof.
3. Click it any time afterwards to select it and open its settings.
4. Use the settings panel to resize, rotate, or move it into place.
5. Click away, or hit “Done,” to close the panel when you're finished.

Step-by-step: each object

Here's exactly how to add and set up each object.

Water Tank

ROOF ADD-ON

The most common rooftop fixture on Indian homes — a cylindrical tank on a stand.

1. Drag Water Tank from the Roof Add-ons section onto the roof.
2. Pick the size that matches the real tank — 500L, 750L, or 1,000L — from the size dropdown.
3. If the real tank is a different size, resize it by hand: either evenly in all directions, or just raise it higher using the separate height handle near the stand.
4. Once you resize by hand, the size field will simply say “Custom” instead of a litre value — that's expected.
5. Rotate and drag it into position to match the roof photo.

Tip: Whichever way you resize the tank, shading always recalculates to match its new size — there's no need to redo anything else.

AC Outdoor Unit

ROOF ADD-ON

The condenser unit that sits outside on the roof or ledge.

1. Drag AC Outdoor Unit onto the roof.
2. Resize its length, width, and height freely to match the real unit.
3. Rotate and position it where it actually sits.

Solar Water Heater

ROOF ADD-ON

A rooftop solar water heater on its own stand — usually placed near the water tank.

1. Drag Solar Water Heater onto the roof.
2. Resize it to match the real unit.
3. Rotate and position it, typically close to the water tank.

Chimney

ROOF ADD-ON

A brick or metal flue chimney rising above the roofline.

1. Drag Chimney onto the roof.
2. Resize height and width to match.
3. Position it where the flue actually exits the roof.

Turbine Vent

ROOF ADD-ON

A spinning metal roof ventilator — one of the taller roof fixtures, so it's worth placing accurately for shading.

1. Drag Turbine Vent onto the roof.
2. Resize to match the real vent.
3. Position it over the actual vent opening.

Pipe Vents

ROOF ADD-ON

A simple plumbing vent stack.

1. Drag Pipe Vents onto the roof.
2. Resize if needed.
3. Position over the pipe opening.

Satellite Dish

ROOF ADD-ON

A standard residential satellite dish and mount.

1. Drag Satellite Dish onto the roof.
2. Resize the dish if it's a different size than the default.
3. Rotate to match the direction it's pointed, and position it.

Mast Head

ROOF ADD-ON

A thin antenna or utility mast.

1. Drag Mast Head onto the roof.
2. Resize height as needed.
3. Position it where the mast actually stands.

Eyebrow Vent

ROOF ADD-ON

A low-profile static roof vent.

1. Drag Eyebrow Vent onto the roof.
2. Resize if needed.
3. Position over the vent.

Skylight

ROOF ADD-ON

A standard flat residential skylight.

1. Drag Skylight onto the roof.
2. Resize to match the real skylight, if needed.
3. Position it over the actual opening.

Tip: Skylights come with a small clearance zone by default, so panels won't automatically sit flush against one.

Fan Vent

ROOF ADD-ON

A low-profile static roof cap vent.

1. Drag Fan Vent onto the roof.
2. Resize if needed.
3. Position over the vent opening.

Ladder

STRUCTURE ELEMENT

A simple vertical access ladder against the roof or an elevated structure.

1. Make sure you already have a design version created — ladders are added to one design at a time, not the whole project.
2. Drag Ladder from the Structure Elements section onto the roof or structure.
3. Set the height to match how far it needs to reach (starts at 2m).
4. Adjust the tilt so it leans naturally — anywhere between 60° and 80° (starts at 75°).
5. Rotate it to line up with the access point.

Tip: Width and colour are fixed on this object, so there's nothing to set there.

Walkway

STRUCTURE ELEMENT

A flat deck for safely walking to and cleaning the panels.

1. Make sure you already have a design version created first.
2. Drag Walkway from the Structure Elements section onto the roof.
3. Decide if it should lie flat or be raised: leave “Elevated” off for a walkway that follows the roof surface, or switch it on to add legs and a base.
4. If elevated, set the height — usually around 1.2m (4 ft), just enough to reach the panels comfortably.
5. Choose a surface: FRP grating or solid.
6. Resize the length and width, then rotate and position it.

Tip: An elevated walkway always stays level, even on a sloped roof — the legs simply adjust to compensate.

Handrail

STRUCTURE ELEMENT

A safety rail drawn along any edge that needs guarding.

1. Make sure a design version exists, with a walkway or edge in place if that's what you're guarding.
2. Drag Handrail from the Structure Elements section.
3. Click point-to-point along the path you want to guard, the same way you'd draw a cable — no need to close the loop.
4. Click “End run” when you've finished the path.
5. Posts and rails appear automatically, evenly spaced along the line you drew.

Tip: If you resize or move the walkway afterwards, the handrail won't follow automatically — just redraw or nudge it into place.

Setting clearance space around objects (setbacks)

Some rooftop objects need a bit of open space around them so panels aren't placed too close — this space is called a setback.

What you'll see while designing

• A soft yellow striped zone appears around an object if it has a clearance distance set — this marks the recommended keep-out space.
• A red warning tint appears on any panel dragged into that zone, so you can spot and fix it before sharing the proposal.
• Auto-layout already avoids these zones on its own — if you're using the tool that fills a roof with panels automatically, it will route around the clearance space for you.

How the default distance is set

Out of the box, most objects have no clearance requirement (0m) — the one exception is Skylight, which keeps a small 0.3m clearance by default. If you're not seeing a clearance zone around an object you placed, that's expected unless your account admin has changed the setting. Handrails don't have a clearance setting at all — they're thin enough that it isn't needed.

To set or change the default clearance distance for your team:

1. As an installer, you don't need to set this yourself each time — ask your account admin to open Control and go to Project Configuration.
2. In Project Configuration, find the clearance (“setback”) setting for the object type you want to adjust — for example, Water Tank, Chimney, or Ladder.
3. Enter the clearance distance, in meters, that should be kept clear around that object type.
4. Save. This becomes the default clearance distance applied automatically, going forward, whenever that object is placed.

Best practices

• Match sizes to the real roof. Use a site photo or a quick site visit to confirm tank size, AC unit dimensions, and so on, before finalizing a proposal — it keeps your shading numbers accurate and your design credible to the customer.
• Place roof fixtures before running auto-layout. If your tank, vents, and other add-ons are placed first, the panel layout tool will automatically avoid them when it fills the roof.
• Position objects precisely, not approximately. Because each object's real position feeds into shading, even a small placement difference can shift the numbers on nearby panels.
• Duplicate, don't restart. If a design version already has ladders, walkways, or handrails you want to keep, duplicate that version instead of creating a fresh one from scratch.
• Check clearance zones before sharing. Give the design a final look for any panels sitting in a red-tinted clearance zone, especially around ladders and walkways used for maintenance access.
• Preview it the way the customer will see it. Rotate the 3D view to the angle used in the proposal to make sure objects look natural and nothing overlaps oddly.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Do these objects actually affect my shading and production numbers, or are they just for looks?

A: They're factored in for real. Each object's size and position affects the shading and production calculation the same way a tree or a nearby structure would.

Q: Will adding several objects slow down my design or proposal?

A: No — the library is built to stay fast to load and view, even with several objects placed on one roof.

Q: Will the customer see these objects in their proposal?

A: Yes, they appear in the 3D view exactly as you've placed them. Some objects, like Ladder, also include a “show to customer” toggle, in case you'd rather keep it visible for your own shading accuracy without showing it in the customer-facing proposal.

Q: Can I remove an object after I've placed it?

A: Yes — select it and choose delete from its edit panel, just like any other design element.

Q: What if the object or size I need isn't in the library?

A: Use the closest match and resize it to fit, or fall back to a plain shape from the Generic section.

Q: Do I need to redraw my ladder, walkway, or handrail every time I make a new design option?

A: Only if you start a brand-new design version from scratch. Duplicating an existing version carries them over automatically.

Q: Why is there no gap between my chimney or water tank and the nearest panel?

A: Setback distance defaults to 0m for most objects unless your account admin has set one — see the Setbacks section above.

Q: Will this change anything in my existing, already-designed projects?

A: No — existing designs keep whatever shape they already had. Only new objects you place going forward use this library.

Related help center articles

A few other articles that pair well with this guide:

• Elevated Structures — How to Design Elevated Mounts on Indian RCC Rooftops
• How to Design in 3D
• How to Use Shareable Proposal Links on OpenSolar

A few things worth knowing

• Roof Add-ons (tank, AC unit, chimney, vents, and the rest) are placed once and automatically appear in every version of the design for that project.
• Ladders, walkways, and handrails belong to one design version at a time. If you create a brand-new version, you'll need to add them again — or simply duplicate the version you already set up.
• A soft yellow zone may appear around some objects — this is a recommended clearance space. A panel placed too close will show a warning.
• None of this affects your existing designs — it only applies to new objects you add from now on.