How do I use the 3D view and the lighting study?

The 3D view shows the same project state as the 2D floor plan: floors, walls, openings, stairs, furniture, devices and planned cable routes. Every user can open it without any extra activation. You need a browser with WebGL; without it, PlanElec shows a notice and you keep working in 2D without restrictions. In Lighting mode you place lights, compare the Everyday and Evening scenes, set a date and time for sun position and shadows, and read a heatmap with guidance values in lux. The lighting study supports planning and client conversations: it only calculates direct artificial light without reflections and does not replace a standards-based lighting design.

What do I need for the 3D view?

You do not need a special plan or role. Whether and how 3D appears depends on your browser and on the width of your workspace.

While the notice replaces the model, tools that only work in 3D and the image export of the lighting scene are unavailable. Switch to 2D with the view switcher instead.

How do I open the 3D view?

1. Open a project in the studio.
2. In the view switcher at the top of the workspace, choose 3D or, on a wide screen, 2D + 3D. On a phone, 2D / 3D sits in the header.
3. The model appears with the active floor. Success check: the walls, rooms and devices of your floor plan stand in space.

Some work modes open in 3D directly: Lighting and Energy start in the 3D view, all other modes in 2D. Selection and project state are shared between 2D and 3D. Whatever you select in one view is also selected in the other.

How do I move around in the 3D view?

The camera controls sit at the bottom left of the view:

• Fit view brings the whole model into frame.
• Reset view restores the starting perspective.
• With a selection, Show selection (the camera flies to the selected object) and Open in 2D (back to the floor plan with the same object in focus) are added.

For several storeys, choose Active floor, Stacked or Exploded in the floor bar or at the top right of the view. In Furniture and Lighting modes an extra button cycles through Walls up, Wall cutaway and Walls down. Both modes start with the cutaway so you can look into the rooms. In Electrical mode the walls stand at full height, because devices and cables sit on the walls themselves. The wall view is a display setting and does not change your project.

3D takes heights and floor positions from your floor plan. How to stack floors correctly is explained in Align floors and building origin.

How do I furnish rooms?

Furniture helps you align sockets, switches and lights with how a room will be used. It is part of the floor plan and appears in 3D automatically.

1. In the mode bar, choose Furniture.
2. Open the Furnishings & outdoors catalogue. Categories range from Living to Kitchen, Kitchen appliances, Sanitary and Outdoors.
3. Pick an item and place it on the floor plan.
4. Switch to 3D or 2D + 3D. Success check: the item stands in the room at the same spot as in 2D.

In Furniture mode you can also grab an item in 3D with the selection tool and move it. A short click only selects; a real drag moves. Releasing creates one undo step. The catalogue is a selection of common furnishings, not a complete manufacturer catalogue. Many electrical devices appear in 3D as simplified bodies rather than accurate product models.

How do I place lights in Lighting mode?

1. In the mode bar, choose Lighting. PlanElec opens the 3D view with the Lighting planning and Lighting study panels; the light and lighting preview layers are on, cables and dimensions are hidden.
2. Place lights from the device palette. It also offers the Spot Grid: drag a rectangle or click in the room.
3. In the Lighting planning panel, edit Luminous flux (lm), Colour temperature (K), Beam angle (°), Tilt (°), Mounting height (m) and Group per room. Identical lights in a room are bundled in one row; change them together or expand the row.
4. Move lights directly in 3D if needed: in Lighting mode the selection tool grabs lights. Ceiling lights move freely within the room, wall lights follow the nearest wall.

The Status column shows Draft or Linked. A draft is a light point without a link to the electrical design. To link it:

1. Open the row's Menu and choose Link to circuit.
2. Under Circuit or existing light point, choose the target.
3. Confirm with Adopt into electrical plan. Success check: the status changes to Linked.

Only this adoption creates a consumer or links an existing light point. PlanElec does not derive power or wiring from the lighting preview. Plan switching points and circuits as usual, see Switch chains, circuits and cable routes.

New lights get default luminous flux values: pendant light 800 lm, spotlight 400 lm, wall light 300 lm. Enter the values of the lights you actually plan before you judge the heatmap.

How does the lighting preview work in 3D?

The lighting preview shows how the artificial light of your fittings looks in the furnished room. It is illustrative: the panel states explicitly that it is “no lux calculation or lighting compliance assessment”.

1. In Lighting mode, open the Lighting study panel.
2. In the Preview section, switch on Lighting preview. It is off when you open a project.
3. In the Scene section, choose Everyday or Evening. For each scene you save a Scene name, the Ambient brightness and, per light or light group, on/off and dimming.
4. Show Light cones when you want to check direction and beam angle.
5. Use Export scene as image to export a PNG of the current camera. Success check: the image carries the scene name and the illustrative-preview notice, without selection or hover highlights.

Scenes are saved per floor in the project and follow undo and project sync. They change neither wiring nor electrical power values.

On touch devices the preview starts in reduced quality; you can switch at any time. Light points beyond this budget stay visible on the plan but do not contribute light to the preview. Room surfaces and furniture receive shadows. Simplified models and transparent planning walls limit what the image can tell you.

How do I set sun position and shadows?

The Sun section of the Lighting study panel is labelled Daylight study · Brussels location. It aims a sun light with cast shadows in 3D.

1. Set the North orientation: click Set north and drag the north arrow, or choose whether north is up, right, down or left on the plan. 0° means north at the top; rotation is clockwise. The orientation applies to the whole project.
2. Choose a Date.
3. Set the Time with the slider, in 10-minute steps, in the Europe/Brussels time zone.
4. Read the sun's azimuth and elevation below the slider. Success check: light and shadows in 3D move with the time. When the sun is below the horizon, the panel shows Sun below the horizon.

Sunlight and shadows are only active in Lighting mode. The sun position comes from an astronomical approximation for a fixed site in Brussels; there is no project-specific location yet. Your browser remembers date and time per project; they are not saved in the project and not shared. The daylight study shows sun direction and shadows but does not calculate daylight values in lux and does not feed into the heatmap.

What does the illuminance heatmap show?

The heatmap calculates, per room, the direct illuminance from your lights on a workplane at 0.8 m. It appears as a coloured area on the 2D floor plan. Because Lighting mode starts in 3D, switch to 2D or 2D + 3D to see it.

1. In the Lighting study panel, open the Illumination section and switch on Illuminance heatmap (on by default).
2. Switch to 2D. Success check: rooms with lights are shaded in colour.
3. Read the Results by room table: Ē (lx) is the mean, Emin (lx) the lowest value, Emin/Ē the uniformity, Guidance (lx) the comparison value.
4. The Status column compares the mean with the lower guidance value: Reached at or above it, Just below from 80 %, Too low below that.

The calculation takes brightness and dimming of the active scene into account. Moving a light recalculates only the affected room. Each floor uses at most 4,000 calculation points.

These guidance values are reference points PlanElec uses for the status. They are not normative requirements, and the panel states below the table: “This is not a standards-based lighting design.”

A room shows Cannot calculate when it has no calculation points or when one of its lights has no known mounting height above 0.8 m. When the mounting height is missing from the plan, PlanElec uses the type and floor defaults.

What does the lighting study not calculate?

If you need verifiable evidence, calculate the lighting with dedicated lighting design software and the manufacturer's photometric data. PlanElec gives you room geometry, light positions and mounting heights as a starting point.

Why don't I see a model, shadows or values?

For more help, see Solve common problems.

Further reading

• Place and connect electrical symbols
• Switch chains, circuits and cable routes
• Align floors and building origin
• Import and calibrate a floor plan
• Plan a PV system