The designPH tools are accessed via (1) toolbars and (2) menu items added to the SketchUp interface. All of the standard SketchUp tools (3) and menus are available for use when working with designPH, as are those belonging to other plugins.
Launching designPH
Make sure you have closed and restarted SketchUp after finishing the installation of the plugin.
When SketchUp is started for the first time after installing designPH, the toolbar(s) should be visible at the top left of the screen (if any appears to be missing, check that toolbars from SketchUp or other plugins are not over-lapping!)
In designPH 2.0, only the Launch Button will appear at first and the other tools will appear after clicking Launch.
In designPH < 2.0 the toolbars will appear as below and most of the tools will be initially greyed-out.
The window tools can be used to insert designPH window components without launching designPH, although some functions will be not be available. When the Launch Button (4 - PHI logo) is clicked, the Run Analysis button will become available:
and the Main Dialog (5) window will appear.
The Main Dialog
The primary designPH user interface is provided through a dialog window. The main dialog is only shown after designPH is launched; this is so that it only takes up screen space when it is needed, to ensure the minimum interruption when doing other modeling work in SketchUp. The main dialog window is used for entering both the full details of the building properties and also for viewing detailed information on the analysis results. The dialog window is divided into a number of tabbed sheets, detailed below. These can be selected by clicking on the title. Within each sheet are a number of collapsible panels, which helps to organize the different tables of information. The panels can be collapsed or expanded by clicking on the disclosure triangle at the top left.
Overview sheet
(v1.5+)
This shows the energy balance bar chart and an overview of the project characteristics and summary of the analysis results.
Heat Balance sheet
This shows an overview of the annual heat losses and gains and the annual heat demand.
Areas sheet
This shows lists of all the elements found after the model analysis, with details of the user-defined and automatic properties that are assigned to them. Most of the tables will be empty until an analysis has been run.
U-value editor sheet
Here custom assemblies can be created and their U-values calculated, when the construction build-up is known.
Assemblies sheet
Libraries of U-values for user-defined and certified components. The default assignments used for the automatic analysis are also shown here.
Components sheet
Libraries of window frame and glazing types with their U-values and g-values.
Climate sheet
Here the climate data for the project can be selected. Choose from over 400 locations in the PRO version.
Export sheet
(v1.5+)
This shows the selective export options. See Export to PHPP for more details.
Dashboard
The ‘dashboard’ is a text block that floats at the top left of the model window and provides a quick overview of the key data; the currently selected climate, the Specific Space Heat Demand (Qh) and the Treated Floor Area (TFA) from the last analysis result.
Climate: Innsbruck Qh: 14.3 kWh/m²a TFA: 148 m² (Estimated for 2.0 storeys) Heat Loss Form Factor: 2.81
Climate: displays the name of the currently seletected climate data set (see Set the Climate). If a climate is not selected, the default "PHPP Standard" climate is used.
Qh: The calculated specific annual space heat demand in kWh per m2 per year.
TFA: Treated Floor Area in m2. The display will always show a comment in brackets afterwards which indicates the source, it can either be estimated or user-defined (using manually drawn surfaces). See Treated Floor Area for more details.
Heat Loss Form Factor. This is the ratio of the area of the thermal envelope to the treated floor area, or a measure of ‘compactness’ – the lower this number, the more compact the building is and the lower the heat demand.
Toolbars
Main analysis tools
Analysis and export tools
Launch button
| Launch designPH or re-initialise the model if already launched |
Run Analysis button
| Run the analysis on the selected part of the model (or the whole model if no selection is made) |
Render by Area Group button
| Render model surfaces by area groups (default for analysis) - a colour code is assigned to each of the thermal area groups |
Render by Heat Loss button
| Render model surfaces by heat loss per unit area - surfaces are rendered according to a graduated scale |
Render by Components button
| Render surfaces by component - a unique colour code is assigned to each component ID used in the model |
Restore Materials button
| Clear the analysis rendering and restore presentation materials to the model surfaces |
Face Info tool
| Hover the cursor over a face in the model to get information about its properties |
Projected Footprint tool
| Automatically generate the projected footprint area as a surface below the model (analysis must be run first) |
Export to PHPP8 button
| Save a PPP file to import the model to PHPP8 for further analysis and verification |
Export to PHPP9 button
| Save a PPP file to import the model to PHPP9 for further analysis and verification (designPH 1.1.x only) |
Export to PHPP-IP button
| Additionally, PHPP-IP (US Imperial) owners will see a further one or two export buttons if designPH is activated using a PHPP-IP registration code. |
Window tools
Tools for inserting and modifying windows
Insert window tool
| Insert a designPH window component. See Insert Window Tool for more details. |
Convert face to window tool
| Hover over a rectangular face in the model to convert it to a designPH window |
Toggle window frame installation tool
| Set the thermal bridge factor (0/1) for each frame edge (use for coupled windows) |
The Context Menu
The context menu appears when an object in the model is right-clicked (Windows) or CTRL-clicked (Mac) with the mouse pointer. The functions added by designPH will depend on whether the selected object is a Group, Face, Edge or window Component.
The context menu is a quick way to edit properties of surfaces and windows. For more information, see sections Add windows and Assign properties to surfaces.
Older versions
If you are still using an older version of designPH, you will see some differences in the user interface. It is highly recommend to update or upgrade to the latest version to get the benefit of the latest features and improvements.
designPH 1.1
| Run analysis | |
| Info tool | |
| Export to PHPP8 | |
| Export to PHPP9 |