The 3D view

Open the 3D view

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   Step 1: Switch to 3D

   Press 3, or click 3D in the view switch at the top right. Split shows the plan and the 3D view side by side, and ` steps through 2D, Split and 3D.

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   Step 2: Pick a camera

   Orbit turns around the model. Dollhouse looks in from above with the upper storeys cut away. Walk puts you inside at eye height. The view opens in Orbit.

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   Step 3: Choose the lighting

   The lighting menu shows the current choice. Pick Day, Evening or Night. The view starts in Day.

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   Step 4: Light it by the sun

   Click Sun to set the time of day, the month, the city and which way north lies. See Light the plan by the sun.

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   Step 5: Add a roof

   The roof starts hidden. In Orbit, click Roof to show it over the top floor. The arrow beside it opens Roof settings. See The roof.

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   Step 6: Set the display

   Open Display for Show floors below, the Quality and the Renderer. See Quality and renderer.

Lengths show in the project’s units, except the roof overhang, which is always in cm, and the floor spread, which is always in metres.

The 3D bar

The bar under the camera controls holds your saved camera views and the clapperboard for a walkthrough video. See Camera views and tours and Make a walkthrough video. This browser remembers Roof, Explode, Whole building, Quality and Renderer.

Move around the model

Click an object to select it, the same as on the plan. The line at the bottom left lists the controls for the current camera and how to go back to 2D (`). It hides on a narrow panel. The chip at the bottom right names the floor shown.

In Orbit, with the roof hidden and Whole building off, the outside walls nearest you drop away when you look down at the plan from 30° or more above the horizon, so you can see into the rooms. With the roof on, they stay.

Move and turn furniture in 3D

Click a piece of furniture in Orbit or Dollhouse to show its handles. Locked and hidden items get none, and none show while you walk. Each drag is one undo step. With the item selected, Del deletes it, R turns it 90° (⇧R the other way) and ⌘D duplicates it, as on the plan. These keys work in the 3D view on its own; in Split view the plan takes them.

See every floor

• Whole building shows every storey. It appears once the project has more than one floor, and starts off.
• With Whole building off, you see the open floor. Show floors below in Display greys the floors under it. It starts on.
• In Dollhouse with Whole building on, Explode opens Explode floors, a slider from 0 to 4.0 m that spreads the storeys apart so you can look into each one.

The roof

In Orbit, Roof shows a roof over the top floor; click it again to hide it. The arrow beside it opens Roof settings. The roof is saved with the project, so the elevations and their PDFs draw the same roof. Whether the 3D view shows it is a setting of this browser.

Pitch and Overhang show only for Gable and Hip; a flat roof has only Finish. A gable or hip ridge runs along the longer side of the top floor. When the top floor is not a rectangle, a pitched roof covers its bounding box, and the panel says so.

How tall the roof is

There is no height field. The eaves sit on the tallest wall of the top floor, and the ridge rises above them by half the building’s width across the ridge times the tangent of the pitch. So Pitch and the building’s width set the ridge height. At 30°, a house 8 m wide gets a ridge 2.3 m above the wall tops. For storey and wall heights, see Heights and levels.

The slider moves in whole degrees, so pick the nearest one, such as 27° for 6:12. Three US templates carry an exact 6:12 roof, which reads 26.6°: the 3-bed ranch with 2-car garage, the 3-bed ranch with finished basement and the 4-bed two-story.

Light the plan by the sun

Click Sun to open the sun and compass panel. Move the Time of day slider or pick a Month to light the plan by the sun. Back to Day / Evening / Night returns to the lighting presets.

• While the sun is on, the panel says where it is, such as 32° above the horizon, in the SW, or The sun is below the horizon.
• The north angle and the location are saved with the project. Each turn of the dial is one undo step. The angle also turns the north arrow on the plan and in the print set, and decides which side is the north elevation.
• The hour and the month last for this session only and are not saved with the project. Times are local solar time.

Quality and renderer

While you walk, the quality changes only the detail of the shadows.

Split view

• Split puts the plan on the left and the 3D view on the right. Draw on the plan and watch the model change.
• Drag the divider between the panes to share the width, from 25% to 75% each side. Double-click it to go back to half and half. With the divider focused, the left and right arrow keys move it 5% and Home centres it. This browser remembers where it is.
• The 3D / Elevation switch at the top left of the right pane chooses what Split shows beside the plan: the 3D model or the open elevation. It starts on 3D, and Right pane in View options sets the same thing.

On a phone or tablet

Drag to orbit and pinch to zoom. On a narrow screen the camera choices become a menu, like Lighting. Split is not offered on a phone.