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ASSET Software

Editing the Panorama

Glare and reflection from the sun can cause the ASSET software to incorrectly record the shading information. This will be evident when a section of the sunpath line is shaded red though it is over open sky, or, vice versa, when the sunpath line is not shaded red over an obstruction. This can be easily fixed by editing the panorama picture file.

Also, if you would like to analyze the panorama as if an obstruction(s) were removed, you can edit out the obstruction in the panorama and re-run the analysis.

To edit the panorama, you will need photo editing software. The PC version of the ASSET software includes a free image editing program, Paint.NET. For newer computers, you may need to install an additional file, dotnetfx.exe, included on you ASSET Software disk, in order to install paint.net.

If you have a favorite photo editing program that lets you cut/remove/brighten/darken sections of the photo, by all means, use it. If, for any reason, you would like to revert to the original panorama, simply follow the instructions to Open Pictures from the ASSET Program menu, and the panorama will be recreated from the original pictures.

Important Notes:

It is highly recommended that you close the program in which you open the panorama file before returning to the ASSET program -- the large panorama file uses extensive computer resources.

You must save the modified panorama with the original name and file extension "panorama.jpg" in the project folder (replacing the original panorama) in order for the ASSET software to overlay the solar path and run the calculations.

Changes made to "sunpath.jpg" are overwritten when the "Update" button is pressed, therefore changes are best made to "panorama.jpg".

PC with Paint.net

Open the Panorama for editing

1. Click the Panorama button (The file will open in whichever program is linked to JPG files on your computer -- to change the program associated with JPG files in Windows, open a folder and select Tools→Folder Options from the menu, then in the "File Types" tab, select the JPG extension and change the related program to your photo editor)
2. -or- Open the "panorama.jpg" file from your project's directory, usually C:/ASSET/Projects/ProjectName (right click, and use the "Open With.." option to select a program)

Portions of clear sky are shown shaded? (red lines on solar path)

1. Sometimes one block section of the panorama appears much darker or lighter than the other adjacent sections. This usually happens when pictures are taken at mid-day (full sun = most camera glare).
2. Highlight the area using either rectangle select, lasso select or elipse select (vertical tool bar on left).
3. From the main menu bar (top of screen) select: Layer, Adjustments, Brightness/Contrast and adjust accordingly. We've had good luck increasing brightness by 20 and decreasing contrast by 20 over large areas.
4. Click the save icon on the toolbar.

Some trees and buildings are not shown shaded?

1. Same reason and solution as the previous case.
2. Highlight the area using either rectangle select, lasso select or elipse select (vertical tool bar on left).
3. From the main menu bar (top of screen) select Layer, Adjustments, Brightness/Contrast and adjust accordingly. Try decreasing brightness by 20 and increasing contrast by 20.
4. Click the save icon on the toolbar

Removing obstructions

1. Highlight the area to be removed using either rectangle select, lasso select or elipse select (vertical tool bar on left).
2. From the main tool bar (top of screen) select: Cut (scissor icon).
3. Simply cutting out square blocks (where obstructions use to be) is often sufficient, and gives a nice cubism effect.
4. Instead of cutting, another option is to use the color select tool (dropper) to copy the color of the sky, and the fill tool (paint bucket) to fill the selected area with sky color.
5. Click the save icon on the toolbar

Once you are finished editing, and the modified panorama has been saved, CLOSE the photo editor and return to the ASSET Software. In the ASSET Software, click the "Update" button to view your modifications.

Because the panorama and solar path image files are quite large, we recommend you compress the complete project when you are done in order to save disk space.

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